Using SOGA to reclaim repair payments (after repair has been paid for)

mickmick468

Hi all,

wondering if anyone can help me with this.

On december 27th 2012 i bought a laptop (for my son to use), and it worked perfectly, no issues whatsoever.

In January this year (2014) i "swapped" it with him as i had assisted him in buying a decktop PC for him to play games on.

As i wanted a fresh laptop, one not containing any of his games etc, i asked him to carry out a factory reset, which he did, so that i could start from scratch.

when i had the laptop myself, i started it up, and it asked me to put in a password etc etc as a new laptop would do.

I connected to the internet, and began to download and install 90+ updates (as would be expected)

and then the fault happened:


Windows update finished, i was asked to reboot laptop

During this reboot an error was shown saying PXE-E61 error on the laptop screen (google showed this to be a boot path issue, fixed by booting into the laptop BIOS and adjusting the order the laptop uses to boot up)

I went into BIOS, and selected f9, f9 is the "default settings" option, i saved this and went to reboot again.

on this reboot the laptop did not work, it had "died".

I tried to reboot a few times, but it would not work.

I then contacted the company i bought the laptop from, and was advised that i would need an engineers report to proceed with any claim.

I found a company, took my laptop into them, and they carried out a series of tests and they said the main board had died and needed replacing.

I sent this report back to the company i bought the laptop from and they replied with a list of other companies who were "approved specialists".

Emails were exchanged back and forth explaining that the company was a specialist and in their "professional opinion" the laptop had an inherent fault that i had not caused (all words that the SOGA 1979 like to have in them)

The company i bought from were adamant that no matter what the report said i did not have a claim as i could not prove the fault was inherent etc.

After that i sent the laptop in to the manufacturer, who themselves diagnosed a main board replacement, which i have agreed to pay for as i want my laptop back (the amount they charged was almost exactly the cost i had in my head that i was willing to pay for what was in effect a 1 year old laptop)


To cut a long story short, can i use the SOGA to claim money back from the company i bought the laptop from AFTER i have already agreed with the manufacturer to pay for the repair that was needed?

in summary:

laptop was bought December 2012 from online retailer
laptop failed January 2014 after 13 months no fault use
manufacturers warranty 12 months
seller claiming no responsibility
i have already paid for the repair

thanks in advance

Mick

unholyangel

It is possible (grant v electro centre) but obviously it may come down to what a judge would decide on the day.

Its good that you gave them a chance to fix it. Their approved engineers.....what was wrong with the one you gave them? Did they know the result of the manufacturers tests?

Bantex_2

How much did the repair cost?

mickmick468

laptop purchase was 475
repair was 255
engineers report 25
(my time priceless)

Mick

mickmick468

i would be happy with a contribution to the costs, but the seller has so far just got progressively more slopey shouldered as the emails have gone on. So i'd like to get as much off him (the company) as possible now.

I also havent yet told the seller i have paid for the repair

shaun_from_Africa

If the original purchase was made using a credit card or other form of credit, it might be worth considering a "section 75" claim against the credit supplier.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Basically, in the case of breech of contract, S75 gives you the same rights against the credit supplier as you have against the retailer and as you have a report stating that there was an inherent fault, you should have a good chance of winning this claim.

Ideally it would have been best to attempt this claim before getting the repair carried out, but as you will be able to prove that you made an attempt to get the retailer to abide by the SOGA, this may not be too much of a problem.