Definition of repairable?

Oscar60

Hi,
My laptop casing cracked around the screen hinge so I took it into PC World to see if it could be repaired. The guy told me that it would cost £50 plus parts, he also said that he thought the parts would be between £10 & £30, although he did say that they weren't meant to give estimates.

Long story short, I paid the £50 and sent it off. A few days later I get a call and they tell me that the repair will cost £360. The laptop was only about £200 brand new so I told them not to bother.

The Service terms state that the £50 up-front service charge is "non-refundable unless we can't repair your product". They now won't refund the £50 because they say that the product is repairable, but plainly its not economically repairable. I told them that if they waived the fee I'd buy a new laptop then and there, but they won't shift.

It seems to me that anything is repairable if you're prepared to spend enough money and I don't think that their terms are fair. Do i have a case and if so does anyone have any advice on how I should go about retrieving my £50?

Thanks,
Oscar60.

neilmcl

Do you expect them to spend time diagnosing the issue for free?

naedanger

Oscar60 wrote: »

Hi,
My laptop casing cracked around the screen hinge so I took it into PC World to see if it could be repaired. The guy told me that it would cost £50 plus parts, he also said that he thought the parts would be between £10 & £30, although he did say that they weren't meant to give estimates.

Long story short, I paid the £50 and sent it off. A few days later I get a call and they tell me that the repair will cost £360. The laptop was only about £200 brand new so I told them not to bother.

The Service terms state that the £50 up-front service charge is "non-refundable unless we can't repair your product". They now won't refund the £50 because they say that the product is repairable, but plainly its not economically repairable. I told them that if they waived the fee I'd buy a new laptop then and there, but they won't shift.

It seems to me that anything is repairable if you're prepared to spend enough money and I don't think that their terms are fair. Do i have a case and if so does anyone have any advice on how I should go about retrieving my £50?

Thanks,
Oscar60.

I think you have a reasonable case - as the natural reading of repairable would be economically repairable and paying £360 to repair a laptop that only cost £200 is not even borderline economically repairable.

Unfortunately the problem is to enforce your rights you would need to take them to court (and there is no guarantee you will win, in which case you will have wasted time and money as there is a court fee to pay).

It would be easier just to send a letter of complaint to their head office, with all the information you have given here.

In your position, I would probably boycott PC World (and any associate companies) if I did not receive a satisfactory response.

cono1717

The problem is that currys/pc world would argue that it is repairable. Can you get the same spec laptop as the one that broke for less than the repair cost? Possibly - but that doesn't mean the laptop can't be repaired it will just cost a lot more as a result of advances in parts (older parts cost more)

macman

neilmcl wrote: »

Do you expect them to spend time diagnosing the issue for free?

I think in this instance, even a PCW 'techie' (sic ) would be able to do the diagnosis. A cracked body around the hinge is fairly obvious and the only repair is to replace the broken body, which of course involves a full stripdown and rebuild-hence it's not worthwhile.
OP, don't ever take things to PCW/DSG for repair,because mostly they don't have a clue. They can't do most laptop repairs in house anyway, which was why it was sent off elsewhere. PCW just add their considerable cut on top.
£50 is at the top end of the charge for diagnostics, but not outrageous- independents would probably charge around £30. Or take one look at it and say: 'that's not economic to repair'.
The terms are fair, because what is 'economic' to one person is not to another. If they quoted a repair cost of say £100, that might be acceptable to some, but not to others. They're entitled to recover their reasonable costs.

arcon5

naedanger wrote: »

I think you have a reasonable case - as the natural reading of repairable would be economically repairable and paying £360 to repair a laptop that only cost £200 is not even borderline economically repairable.

Unfortunately the problem is to enforce your rights you would need to take them to court (and there is no guarantee you will win, in which case you will have wasted time and money as there is a court fee to pay).

It would be easier just to send a letter of complaint to their head office, with all the information you have given here.

In your position, I would probably boycott PC World (and any associate companies) if I did not receive a satisfactory response.

Not really.
Would you say a car cant be fixed because it needs new brakes costing £200 on a cost that cost £150

naedanger

arcon5 wrote: »

Not really.
Would you say a car cant be fixed because it needs new brakes costing £200 on a cost that cost £150

In general, I would say if it costs more to repair an item than it costs to buy the item brand new then it cannot be repaired economically. (Obviously this is only relevant to items where a brand new version is better than an old version.)

So if a car costs more to repair than it costs to buy brand new then I would say it cannot be repaired economically.

arcon5

naedanger wrote: »

In general, I would say if it costs more to repair an item than it costs to buy the item brand new then it cannot be repaired economically. (Obviously this is only relevant to items where a brand new version is better than an old version.)

So if a car costs more to repair than it costs to buy brand new then I would say it cannot be repaired economically.

I was more than anything disagreeing with the interpretation of 'repairable'. The point in offering an alternate viewpoint of course being to demonstrate op may have a difficult time persuading them he has a case for a refund.

Although personally i'd be massively peeved if I was him, i'd be going back complaining it was sent in on the basis the 'estimate' was a reasonable price, not 15x more..

naedanger

arcon5 wrote: »

I was more than anything disagreeing with the interpretation of 'repairable'. The point in offering an alternate viewpoint of course being to demonstrate op may have a difficult time persuading them he has a case for a refund.

Although personally i'd be massively peeved if I was him, i'd be going back complaining it was sent in on the basis the 'estimate' was a reasonable price, not 15x more..

I think we are agreed.

I was giving the argument I would make to PC World. However I agree they could argue otherwise, and I would not be certain a court would accept my argument over an alternative one. (And as the amount involved is only £50 I do not think it worth risking a court fee pursuing the matter legally.)

Personally I thought the op made PC World a very reasonable offer (i.e. give him back his £50 as a discount on a new laptop) and I am a bit surprised it was not taken up. I would hope if he complains in writing they reconsider.

If they don't then I too would be very annoyed at PC World and would consider boycotting them in future.

foxtrotoscar_2

Was the repairer made aware what the OP paid for the laptop?

Zandoni

neilmcl wrote: »

Do you expect them to spend time diagnosing the issue for free?

I'd expect them not to take the repair when it would easily cost more than the laptop is worth.

OP I'd go in the store and talk to the manager, tell him what you was told when you took I took it in.