Second Hand Laptop Consumer Problem.

WoodruffsDad

My wife recently bought a pre-owned Dell laptop from a local computer shop. It is still within its guarantee.

First of all, battery life was literally minutes. It went back to the shop who installed a "new" battery but life is still only just over an hour.

Then my wife discovered that it was "freezing" when she tried to work on a spreadsheet. It went back to the shop who said that the problem was with the pre-installed Microsoft Excel and they installed a free alternative, LibreOffice.

Now, the laptop is freezing in all programmes including email.

My wife has had enough of it and no longer has any confidence in the machine. We have asked them to take it back and refund her money in full but the shop's response is that they need the laptop back to check it and repair it.

My wife has, as I said, lost all faith in the machine and wants a refund of the £200+ she paid.

Can we insist that the shop takes the laptop back now and issues a full refund? If so, what should we say to them in legal terms?

pinkshoes

I'd say that as it has failed 3 times already, she should push for a refund, although I believe it is up to the shop whether they repair, replace or refund.

WoodruffsDad

pinkshoes wrote: »

I'd say that as it has failed 3 times already, she should push for a refund, although I believe it is up to the shop whether they repair, replace or refund.

That's bad news as my wife has no confidence in the machine and no confidence in the shop's ability to carry out a proper "fix"!

frugal_mike

It's difficult to know exactly what the legal position is here. The Sale of Goods Act says that before 'acceptance' occurs the consumer is entitled to reject faulty goods for a full refund. Acceptance occurs after one of several things, including the consumer telling the retailer that they accept the goods, the consumer doing anything that is inconsistent with the retailers ownership of the goods, or a reasonable time passing.

When your wife first returned the laptop I think it very likely that acceptance had not occurred at that point (because it sounds like it was very soon after the purchase). Accepting the repair at that point would not be deemed to be acceptance of the whole laptop.

So the question is, how long passed between the subsequent returns? This will likely determine whether acceptance has occurred or not.

If acceptance has occurred then as pinkshoes says the retailer has the right to repair, replace or refund. They can pick whichever is cheapest to them.

tinkerbell28

Depends, I don't buy into this whole acceptance thing. Not after so many faults. As if you wanted to make a claim under SOGA and being fit for purpose. A court would look at it and on probabilities decide if you should get a refund.

I had a situation where a faulty washing machine went wrong for a 3rd or 4th time towards the end of the year I'd had it. To me that was totally unacceptable and I lost faith. Retailer said the same as yours.

I took professional advice from 2 sources. Both said the same. No outcome was guaranteed, however for 3 or 4 faults in a year, (I can't remember exactly how many) I had a good case of not fit for purpose. So I could launch a small claim and they gave me the exact bit I'd claim under.

I sent a LBA and they gave me a much higher spec machine, as I was confident I'd win with so many repairs. If yours is in a short space, I would not write a SOGA claim off.

WoodruffsDad

What's an LBA and a SOGA please?

tinkerbell28

Letter before action. Sale of goods act.

frugal_mike

WoodruffsDad wrote: »

What's an LBA and a SOGA please?

• LBA: Letter Before Action. This is what you send before initiating a claim with the Small Claims Court, and is a last chance for a company to do as you request.
• SOGA: Sale of Goods Act. This is the legislation that gives consumers rights when buying goods or services from retailers. When goods you have bought are faulty this is usually what you use to get the retailer to provide a solution.

neilmcl

frugal_mike wrote: »

If acceptance has occurred then as pinkshoes says the retailer has the right to repair, replace or refund. They can pick whichever is cheapest to them.

But, any remedy they provide must not cause a significant inconvenience and be completed with a reasonable time. I'd argue that the having had to deal with 2 repairs already a third could be looked on as a significant inconvenience.

jacques_chirac

neilmcl wrote: »

But, any remedy they provide must not cause a significant inconvenience and be completed with a reasonable time. I'd argue that the having had to deal with 2 repairs already a third could be looked on as a significant inconvenience.

I would agree to a point - it depends how long the repair would take. My local computer repair place has a 24 hour turnaround, which would not cause significant inconvenience. On the other hand if each repair was taking a fortnight, that certainly would be inconvenient.

unholyangel

jacques_chirac wrote: »

I would agree to a point - it depends how long the repair would take. My local computer repair place has a 24 hour turnaround, which would not cause significant inconvenience. On the other hand if each repair was taking a fortnight, that certainly would be inconvenient.

Inconvenient yes, but significantly so? Would depend on circumstances I think.

OP, you said your wife was working on spreadsheets, just to double check that this was a personal consumer purchase and not purchased for business?