Obtaining a refund on defective lap top from Amazon Seller

Fairydust75

I bought a lap top (using a credit card) from a seller on Amazon on 16th November. We checked it turned on to check it was okay, turned it off, then wrapped it up for our son to open Christmas day,. Within a couple of hours, two black lines appeared on the screen, which then overheated. There was a smell of burning and then the plastic casing at the top of the screen, near the camera (where the two black lines ran to) started to melt!

I have contacted the Amazon Seller and they said:
* Please contact Hewlett Packard to get a customer reference number as the lap top is under warranty.

Challenging this, quoting the Sale of Goods Act 1979, they then said that because I purchased on 16th November then i was outside of my 28 days guarantee.

To which I cited the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Act 2003 where I have up to 6 months to return the product and request a refund.

I have also spoken with an Amazon adviser online. She contacted the Amazon seller and requested a returns label and address but they have now said:

"Hi

Thank you for contact us regarding your laptop.

As we said, we are the seller authorised by HP to sell Hp products, if the product has any technical problem, the first step you need to report it to HP and technical department will help with you. if you do not trust this laptop and want it to return to us, you need to tell Hp and get reference number with return request or replacement. please conatct hp first and tell them your laptop's problem with your Serial number on the laptop. then we will depand on the reference number to sort it out for you. thank you!":mad:


Who is right here? Should I still contact HP? Would this affect my rights to a refund?

Any advice much appreciated as my son is currently without a Christmas present!

Thanks

George_Michael

As your seller has stated in writing that you should contact HP, this would be the best way to go.
You could insist on the seller dealing with the problem but all this would probably do is to delay the time it takes to get your problem resolved as you would sent the laptop to the seller who would in turn send it to HP.

As you paid with a credit card, you will also have legal rights with the card issuer, but I wouldn't be surprised if HP simply replace the laptop with a new one.

Just because the laptop was bought under 6 months ago doesn't automatically mean that you can get a refund.
The 6 month period simply refers to the time before which a fault is assumed to be have been present since the item was manufactured unless the retailer can prove otherwise.

Fairydust75

Thanks

But then who would be liable for return costs?

George_Michael

Legally, it is the retailer who would be responsible, but actually getting them to cover this may not be easy.

There is another option open to you.
The Sale of goods act states that a consumer must be given a reasonable time to inspect and test goods to confirm that they are as described, and if they are not, they can reject the goods for a full refund.
This timescale isn't defined in law but depends on circumstances.
You could well argue that as it was bought as a present, the first time you had to test it was after Christmas.

If you try this and the retailer refuses your request for a refund, you should then contact your credit card issuer and inform them of the problem.
Tell them that you wish to reject the laptop as per your Sale of goods act rights and that you want to pursue a "section 75" claim against them. (This is S75 of the consumer credit act and it makes a credit supplier equally responsible with the retailer for any breech of the contract)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Fairydust75

That's great thank you. My husband has contacted Barclaycard already and they are sending us a dispute form out - I'm assuming this to be the Section 75 claim but thanks for the link, I will take a look. It helps to be really informed about these things!

visidigi

Contact HP, they come and collect it, repair it and return it - at zero cost to you.

Should take less than 10 days.

A S75 claim won't work on a warranted product which can be as easily repaired as this.

George_Michael

visidigi wrote: »

A S75 claim won't work on a warranted product which can be as easily repaired as this.

I disagree.
If the OP has the legal right to reject the laptop as the fault was discovered within a reasonable time from purchase (and I realise that this "reasonable time" is open to debate) and the retailer refuses the refund, then there is every reason to assume that a S75 claim will be successful.

visidigi

Remember this was bought on 16th and went faulty on the 25th, 40 days ish after purchase (wrapped or not the law isn't any different).

Reasonable would be up to a week - not 6...besides....

You think the credit card company will pay out on an item you have in your possession which has a manufacturers warranty that would cover the repair?

They won't pay out on something you can have repaired at no cost. These banks, in this situation are far from stupid.

George_Michael

visidigi wrote: »

Reasonable would be up to a week - not 6...besides...

Don't forget what Trading standards state about a reasonable time:

The period during which you can reject the goods is not clearly defined in law and can depend on the type of goods you have purchased and the facts of the case

&

The law does not say what a reasonable time is to inspect goods and reject them - this will depend on the circumstances. - Think about what an impartial person in a court would think is reasonable in the circumstances.

http://sogahub.tradingstandards.gov.uk/sites/default/files/insession_pdf.pdf


An impartial person my well consider that as the laptop was bought as a present and it would not be reasonable for the purchaser to fully imspect and test it before wrapping it up, 6 weeks is a reasonable time.

bris

George_Michael wrote: »

I disagree.
If the OP has the legal right to reject the laptop as the fault was discovered within a reasonable time from purchase (and I realise that this "reasonable time" is open to debate) and the retailer refuses the refund, then there is every reason to assume that a S75 claim will be successful.

It was bought on the 16th November, do you think everything purchased then is a Christmas present?

They have no right to a refund or a S75 claim, it will be repaired under warranty.

George_Michael

bris wrote: »

do you think everything purchased then is a Christmas present?

No, but as the OP clearly stated that this item was bought as a present, we can only go on the information provided, unless of course you are saying that the OP is lying.