Currys Knowhow Small Claims Court help

Jjblue1

Hi all.

Been in dispute with Currys PC World for over a month now. I'm just about to file a claim in the small claims fast track & as it's my first time I'd appreciate any advice, hints, tips & views on success as it will cost me £60 to file the claim.

I won't give chapter & verse but in summary Knowhow in Currys PC World charged me £81 for a hard drive repair & then lost my laptop somewhere between repair centre & the store. Forum readers won't be surprised to hear of the appaling customer service since they lost the laptop.

They have finally offered £530 to spend in their store only and a refund of £50 towards the repair cost. I am arguing that under the Consumer Rights Act they owe me a full refund as they did not take reasonable care. The offer amount is for the minimum spec for the laptop lost. (Originally I got a text saying £300!!). My laptop was a Samsung which is no longer sold in the UK. I want Intel 5 & 17.3" screen as that was my original. They have offered an Acer (bargain brand in my view) & their next one up is £690. I have compromised & said I think I can find one for £550 online. They won't pay over £530.

So we only £51 apart but it's the principle...

I sent a letter before action with a deadline of today but no response.

I'm planning on now claiming..
- 550 for laptop
- 81 repair refund
- 135 for my time on 43 phone calls, 5 emails & 1 letter using courts advised rate of £19 per hour
- 60 refund of court fee

Given I have tried so hard to reach an amicable settlement does this seem reasonable?

They do not have a formal complaints policy nor will they accept Alternative Dispute Resolution.

The annoying man in the customer services team first of all said Consumer Rights Act doesn't apply as I didn't buy anything! Then won't refund the full repair amount as "you're getting a new laptop"...don't get me started on the fact I wouldn't need one if they hadn't lost it.

In the letter before action I stuck to the 550 plus 81 repair, an apology for losing the laptop (not once offered one) and assurance that my personal data is not at risk given they have no clue where laptop is & they had the password to fix the laptop.

Thanks for reading my rant guys :beer:

marliepanda

The court may not award you the cost of a NEW laptop as you have not lost a new laptop, I assume, your laptop was at least a couple of years old?

Honestly I would take the £530, and a lot of your claim costs are unreasonable, but that is just my layman opinion.

Yes you wouldnt have to if but etc, but they have, and they have to put you back in the position you were in. You did not have a new laptop, you had a X year old laptop.

pappa_golf

They have finally offered £530 to spend in their store only


and after the way they have delt with you , why should you ever bother buying from them


So we only £51 apart but it's the principle...


you are not £51 apart ! you want to buy elsewhere!

susancs

Welcome to the MSE forums. I agree with marliepanda that they have to put you back in the position you were before they lost your laptop, so could either offer you a refurbished laptop of the same if they can source it or the value of the laptop in used condition ( you could look on sites like eBay to see what the laptop is sold for now to see if the offer is in line with the current market value). if the offer is in line with or better than the second hand value then you would gain little in my opinion by going to small claims court.

bris

Your not entitled to a new laptop, the small claims court would agree with them on this and your court costs would not be awarded.


£530 seems like a good deal simply because if you paid for a repair then it's obviously out of warranty.


Don't forget there are numerous versions of the i5 processor and a new i3 would surpass an old i5 so they are not like for like.

ThumbRemote

bris wrote: »

Your not entitled to a new laptop, the small claims court would agree with them on this and your court costs would not be awarded.


£530 seems like a good deal simply because if you paid for a repair then it's obviously out of warranty.


Don't forget there are numerous versions of the i5 processor and a new i3 would surpass an old i5 so they are not like for like.

Except they are not offering cash, they are only offering store credit. So even with the offer, OP is not put back in the position they were previously.

zenmaster

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Except they are not offering cash, they are only offering store credit. So even with the offer, OP is not put back in the position they were previously.

They previously had a broken laptop, now they have £530.

Alternatively, Currys could locate a similar broken laptop and return it. Then they would be in exactly the same position that they were previously.

Sounds like betterment to me.

unholyangel

OP basically has 2 choices. Accept their greater offer of store credit or chance that all he's offered is actual losses.

OP, when you were reading the court rate of £19 per hour, did you ever read the context surrounding it? Because what you're quoting is the litigant in person rule which relates to fast track claims - not small claims (and theres much more to it which also means it doesn't apply but thats it boiled down). You will not be able to claim anything for the time you have spent dealing with it.

Second, technically the £81 repair cost claim would probably fail. The initial position of the law is to put you in the same position you would have been in had the contract been completed. That would be with a x year old working laptop and payiing the £81 for the repair. If they were only offering the diminished value of your laptop, they'd be more likely to refund this. If they're offering above what the proportionate value of your laptop was, you've probably got no chance of getting them to refund the extra £31.

I can't tell how fair their offer of £530 + £50 refund is, I have no idea how old the laptop is or its cost from new. However you may want to adjust your expectations to account for that.

Fosterdog

Samsung really weren't a high end brand for laptops, I got a 15" one for OH for a little over £300, the same spec from many other brands at the time would have set me back more like £600. Don't get me wrong it's been a nice laptop but high end it certainly is not and quite easily compatible to Acer as a brand.

Samsung stopped doing laptops a few years ago now so the youngest yours would be is a 2012-2013 model possibly as early as 2010-2011. If you were to try and buy the same model as a refurbished or second hand laptop (which is all you are entitled to) you would be looking at around £200-£250 maximum and that is being quite generous. If you push for a cash refund all they have to do is look at fair market value for the same/similar laptops of its age and condition and that is all you would get.

The Acer they have recommended (making an assumption based on only one Acer 17" laptop they sell for £530) is going to be a better spec than your original it will have a newer version of probably the same processor i5 in this case, 8gb RAM the old one was probably 4-6gb a 1tb hdd, old likely to be a320gb or 500gb, improved wifi card and range, USB 3 ports, and everything else just generally upgraded over the last few years.

Even if yours matched it spec for spec and was one of the top models it would be the older and slower version of the same hardware being used.

Their offer of a brand new £530 laptop plus £50 is very generous

Cycrow

bris wrote: »

Don't forget there are numerous versions of the i5 processor and a new i3 would surpass an old i5 so they are not like for like.

This is especially true for laptops where most laptop i5's are only dual core (same as the i3)