17 Month old DELL Laptop Won't Turn on DELL Says Too Bad EU Law Doesn't Apply to Them

londoner2009

I bought a brand new Dell XPS 11 Laptop from the DELL UK Website approx 17 months ago, for a while it would take more then one attempt to turn it on, but it would turn on.

Then I was using it perfectly fine. Turned it off and the next day it wouldn't turn on.

I have contacted DELL via their Twitter DELL CARES handle and been messaging them back and forth but they basically say it's over 12 months, too bad.

I was under the impression in the EU we have at least 24 months protection from good not working?

When I told this to DELL they said, at first no it's 12 months cos we're Americans and Laptop is American. I pointed out that I ordered from a DELL UK website and the Laptop has the words Limerick, Ireland stamped on it.

They then referred me to some terms & conditions page where they say you only agree to 12 months warranty.

I was under the impression it is against the European law to change terms that make the consumer worse off then you are under consumer protection law.

How can I take this further? All I want is for DELL to take the laptop, fix it and send it back or be able to drop it off in some kind of repair centre (in London ideally) and get it sorted out at their cost.

A laptop should last more then 17 months, all my other laptops work fine, some are 8+ years old with zero issues, this is my only DELL Laptop and the newest and most expensive laptop I own - I expected it to last a lot longer then this.

unholyangel

Your impression is wrong I'm afraid.

The EU does give consumers 2 years warranty, but its not warranty in the sense of a manufacturers warranty - its a legal warranty, meaning you must have a minimum of 2 years to take legal action against the seller for any breach of contract. Not that you should be given a no quibble repair/replacement for 2 years.

The limitations period under english law is 6 years from purchase and under scots law is 5 years from discovery - so far far more than the minimum required by the EU directive.

On top of that, that same EU directive places a 6 month time limit - meaning that any fault found after that date and its up to the consumer to prove the fault is inherent before the seller needs to offer a remedy.

Marktheshark

You need to letter before action them for the estimated cost of repair and see what they come back with, state to avoid legal action they can offer a solution under the sale of goods act, either a repair, replacement or refund.
Send by certified post to the Legal officer/ legal department of the company trading name that sold it to you.

My oldest works for Dell and this is how to get them to forward it on to a home visit engineer if it is less than 24 months.
They will do nothing until they get a correct LBA

Altarf

If you paid with a credit card, don't bother dealing with Dell, just use the Section 75 protection that makes the card company jointly and severally liable.

BrentMeister

Marktheshark wrote: »

You need to letter before action them for the estimated cost of repair and see what they come back with, state to avoid legal action they can offer a solution under the sale of goods act, either a repair, replacement or refund.
Send by certified post to the Legal officer/ legal department of the company trading name that sold it to you.

My oldest works for Dell and this is how to get them to forward it on to a home visit engineer if it is less than 24 months.
They will do nothing until they get a correct LBA

Not the best advice i've seen given on here.

1) Without Dell inspecting the PC to establish what the actual fault is, they wont be able to give an estimate on how much it would cost to fix it.

2) What legal action are you talking about? It's over 6 months so the onus is on the OP to provide an independent report stating that the fault is an inherent one. Making idle threats of legal action when the company are currently in the right won't help the OPs case.

unholyangel

Altarf wrote: »

If you paid with a credit card, don't bother dealing with Dell, just use the Section 75 protection that makes the card company jointly and severally liable.

The problem with that is that section 75 only makes the creditor jointly & severally liable - meaning OP has the exact same rights with the creditor that they do the retailer.

In other words, given the retailer arent (until the lack of conformity is proven to be inherent) obliged to provide a remedy, then neither will the card company.

BrentMeister

Altarf wrote: »

If you paid with a credit card, don't bother dealing with Dell, just use the Section 75 protection that makes the card company jointly and severally liable.

Chances are the credit card company will also ask for the same independent report to show the PC as being inherently faulty.

naedanger

londoner2009 wrote: »

I bought a brand new Dell XPS 11 Laptop from the DELL UK Website approx 17 months ago, for a while it would take more then one attempt to turn it on, but it would turn on.

Then I was using it perfectly fine. Turned it off and the next day it wouldn't turn on.

I have contacted DELL via their Twitter DELL CARES handle and been messaging them back and forth but they basically say it's over 12 months, too bad.

I was under the impression in the EU we have at least 24 months protection from good not working?

When I told this to DELL they said, at first no it's 12 months cos we're Americans and Laptop is American. I pointed out that I ordered from a DELL UK website and the Laptop has the words Limerick, Ireland stamped on it.

They then referred me to some terms & conditions page where they say you only agree to 12 months warranty.

I was under the impression it is against the European law to change terms that make the consumer worse off then you are under consumer protection law.

How can I take this further? All I want is for DELL to take the laptop, fix it and send it back or be able to drop it off in some kind of repair centre (in London ideally) and get it sorted out at their cost.

A laptop should last more then 17 months, all my other laptops work fine, some are 8+ years old with zero issues, this is my only DELL Laptop and the newest and most expensive laptop I own - I expected it to last a lot longer then this.

If you have exhausted Dell's own complaint process you could consider following the alternative dispute resolution process described in the following link:

https://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukcorp1/terms-of-sale-alternative-dispute-resolution

I suggest you make clear that you believe that Dell Products sold you a laptop that was inherently faulty (i.e. the fault existed when you purchased it) as it was not sufficiently durable given the price you paid. Also explain why you believe the fault existed from the date of purchase (ideally with an independent report confirming the fault was most likely inherent).

[I have no personal experience of this alternative dispute resolution process so do not know if it is any good.]

PS I have now seen Altarf's post number 9 below and, based on their experience, think you should try the section 75 approach first.

Altarf

unholyangel wrote: »

The problem with that is that section 75 only makes the creditor jointly & severally liable - meaning OP has the exact same rights with the creditor that they do the retailer.

In other words, given the retailer arent (until the lack of conformity is proven to be inherent) obliged to provide a remedy, then neither will the card company.

My experience of actually using section 75 (on a number of occasions with different card companies) is that whereas retailers can be very unhelpful (Currys / Dixons / PC World, yes I am looking at you), the card companies can't be bothered to argue.

I have no idea whether this is because they actually have people properly trained in consumer legislation (unlike the numpties in Currys / Dixons / PC World) or that anything they pay out they just claw back from the retailer or they just make so much money they don't care.

All I know is where the retailer has told me to "go away", the card company has paid up.

To give you some actual examples -

10 month old phone where a mark had developed on the screen where my thumb rubbed. Retailer refused (as did the manufacturer), the card company provided a full refund including (weirdly) the initial £10 top up.

Four year old fridge freezer. Retailer refused to do anything. Manufacturer paid half, card company paid the other half.

Two year old monitor. Retailer refused to do anything. Card company paid the full amount.

So you may be correct in theory, but in practice it is an awful lot easier to get your money back from a card company than from a difficult retailer.

Altarf

naedanger wrote: »

PS I have now seen Altarf's post number 9 below and, based on their experience, think you should try the section 75 approach first.

And my experience is that the card companies have dedicated section 75 teams that are not 'customer facing' so won't take calls directly (although they may make them).

Contact your card company and tell them you want to make a section 75 claim and ask them to send you a claim form.

Fill in the form with the details and sit back and wait. Most usually take up to 28 days to deal with the claim.

If they accept the claim you should get a letter asking you to sign and return to accept the settlement they are proposing.

If you do, the credit appears on your account shortly afterwards.

Occasionally they want the goods returned, but my experience is most frequently they don't.

Marktheshark

BrentMeister wrote: »

Not the best advice i've seen given on here.

1) Without Dell inspecting the PC to establish what the actual fault is, they wont be able to give an estimate on how much it would cost to fix it.

2) What legal action are you talking about? It's over 6 months so the onus is on the OP to provide an independent report stating that the fault is an inherent one. Making idle threats of legal action when the company are currently in the right won't help the OPs case.

Free to take any advice they like, I have inside information as to what they will respond to and how they will respond from someone who spends 8 hours a day working fixing Dell laptops on customers own homes.
They like most companies have an escalation chart with fobbed off as number 1.
They are ways to get an escalated to repair status and this is the most common way most of his customers have received a repair from Dell.