Reclaiming postage for Lenovo laptop?

wealdroam

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

Hi,

Well an update.

Lenovo have now returned the laptop having replaced the main baord, so a hardware issue. As I suspected they are refusing to entertain reimbursing the cost of returning the faulty laptop for repair.

I have checked consumer rights in Ireland and it is covered by the EU consumer rights directive. It says on the Irish consumer rights website that if you have to return an item because it is faulty, the cost should be borne by the supplier.

So, what should be my next steps?

Many thanks

Your next step is a Letter Before Action to the seller.

At least, that would be my suggestion if the seller were in the UK.
Buying from abroad does make things a little more difficult.
Perhaps The UK European Consumer Centre can help you.

jimmy_cricket

Wealdroam,

Thank you!

Just called these people and they were incredibly helpful and drafted a letter for me to send over the phone. They also suggested that digital river was a way of processing payments and so my contract is with Lenovo

Will post back on outcome

unholyangel

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

Hi,

Well an update.

Lenovo have now returned the laptop having replaced the main baord, so a hardware issue. As I suspected they are refusing to entertain reimbursing the cost of returning the faulty laptop for repair.

I have checked consumer rights in Ireland and it is covered by the EU consumer rights directive. It says on the Irish consumer rights website that if you have to return an item because it is faulty, the cost should be borne by the supplier.

So, what should be my next steps?

Many thanks

Your rights are against the supplier - that would have been digitial river, but you may now struggle if the fault has already been repaired and I doubt lenovo have issued a report stating it was an inherent fault. Nothing to stop you asking them to reimburse postage though - if they say no because of warranty repair perhaps try arguing you were mitigating your losses (and by default, their liability) and perhaps if the warranty says user damage wont be covered, use that to show on the balance of probabilities, the lack of conformity was inherent (irish law will be similar to our own with EU directives - but there may be some differences).

unholyangel

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

Wealdroam,

Thank you!

Just called these people and they were incredibly helpful and drafted a letter for me to send over the phone. They also suggested that digital river was a way of processing payments and so my contract is with Lenovo

Will post back on outcome

Digital river are most definitely not (at least in this case) a payment processor.

1.1These terms of sale ("Terms") apply to all purchases of products (including, without limitation, hardware and/or software) ("Products") or services ("Services") which are sold through this website ("Site") by: (a) Us, the Seller, Digital River Ireland Ltd., Unit 153, Shannon Free Zone West, Shannon, Co. Clare, IRELAND (references to "us", "we" or "our" being construed accordingly) to (b) you, the purchaser (references to "you" or "your" being construed accordingly).

jimmy_cricket

unholyangel wrote: »

Your rights are against the supplier - that would have been digitial river, but you may now struggle if the fault has already been repaired and I doubt lenovo have issued a report stating it was an inherent fault. Nothing to stop you asking them to reimburse postage though - if they say no because of warranty repair perhaps try arguing you were mitigating your losses (and by default, their liability) and perhaps if the warranty says user damage wont be covered, use that to show on the balance of probabilities, the lack of conformity was inherent (irish law will be similar to our own with EU directives - but there may be some differences).

They have admitted liability, sending out the service sheet that states the main board has been replaced. They also included a letter with the Lenovo logo on it and signed Lenovo client services

unholyangel

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

They have admitted liability, sending out the service sheet that states the main board has been replaced. They also included a letter with the Lenovo logo on it and signed Lenovo client services

So they've actually stated that the fault was inherent (ie perhaps soldering wasn't done correctly)? Or did they just say the motherboard was faulty and so was replaced?

jimmy_cricket

unholyangel wrote: »

So they've actually stated that the fault was inherent (ie perhaps soldering wasn't done correctly)? Or did they just say the motherboard was faulty and so was replaced?

Hi,

There is a service sheet included with the returned laptop with a tick against the statement "laptop repaired - your unit has been repaired"

And against a list of components replaced a tick against "main board". Would it matter whether a component or soldering? It still broke within five weeks of delivery

unholyangel

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

Hi,

There is a service sheet included with the returned laptop with a tick against the statement "laptop repaired - your unit has been repaired"

And against a list of components replaced a tick against "main board". Would it matter whether a component or soldering? It still broke within five weeks of delivery

Even under UK law its tricky.

The right to a repair/replacement/remedy only kicks in if the goods fail to conform to contract. Its down to the consumer to show the goods fail to conform however if the goods do fail to conform within the first 6 months, its assumed to be inherent. After the initial 30 days you can request a repair or replacement but the retailer can refuse if your chosen remedy is disproportionately costly.

Of course you've got a repair - but probably without ever approaching the retailer and giving them the opportunity to bring the goods back within conformity of the contract or to prove that the goods were not inherently faulty. And that could cause your claim for damages to fail.

You could have (not saying you did, just an example) dropped it which caused a fracture in the mobo in some manner even when not damaging the case - would still result in a faulty mobo but wouldn't be covered by your statutory rights as it only covers lack of conformities which are inherent in nature. With no old mobo to inspect, theres no way now to determine whether it was inherent or not.

jimmy_cricket

unholyangel wrote: »

Even under UK law its tricky.

The right to a repair/replacement/remedy only kicks in if the goods fail to conform to contract. Its down to the consumer to show the goods fail to conform however if the goods do fail to conform within the first 6 months, its assumed to be inherent. After the initial 30 days you can request a repair or replacement but the retailer can refuse if your chosen remedy is disproportionately costly.

Of course you've got a repair - but probably without ever approaching the retailer and giving them the opportunity to bring the goods back within conformity of the contract or to prove that the goods were not inherently faulty. And that could cause your claim for damages to fail.

You could have (not saying you did, just an example) dropped it which caused a fracture in the mobo in some manner even when not damaging the case - would still result in a faulty mobo but wouldn't be covered by your statutory rights as it only covers lack of conformities which are inherent in nature. With no old mobo to inspect, theres no way now to determine whether it was inherent or not.

Perhaps, but if they thought user damage then the would not have repaired under warranty. I would argue that by replacing the main board they have implicitly accepted that the laptop had an inherent fault.
Thinking back, there were a few issues with the way it worked. For example, the keys are backlit and are meant to auto change according to ambient light. It didn't but not an issue I was bothered about as I have the backlight turned off. It now works as described. It is also MUCH faster, so I'm guessing that these issues are inherently linked.

unholyangel

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

Perhaps, but if they thought user damage then the would not have repaired under warranty. I would argue that by replacing the main board they have implicitly accepted that the laptop had an inherent fault.
Thinking back, there were a few issues with the way it worked. For example, the keys are backlit and are meant to auto change according to ambient light. It didn't but not an issue I was bothered about as I have the backlight turned off. It now works as described. It is also MUCH faster, so I'm guessing that these issues are inherently linked.

Which is why I said you can perhaps use the warranty information to suggest on the balance of probability that the fault was inherent - but without them explicitly stating the nature of the fault was inherent, its not exactly a sure thing - its also possible they don't check the nature of the fault and only look for obvious signs of physical damage (which is why I gave an example of a crack on the mobo with no outside damage).

As I said though, no harm in at least asking/arguing the toss with them, just personally I wouldn't pursue it beyond that as I think it could go either way and for the sum involved, the initial outlay in filing & hearing fee would probably be higher. Not to mention time spent on it you wouldn't get back or compensated for.