Questions about if I have a claim

jenniewb

I'm just about to start an unenviable hassle of trying to get my money back on a PC monitor which has broken 3 years after it was purchased.

As it was purchased in 2013 the old rules apply not the new electronic 2015 rules.


I have no idea how long a PC monitor is supposed to last- I thought 3 years is more than reasonable to expect it to last but I wanted to check in case there is a list of expected times?


I bought the monitor online from a UK based company but the monitor itself is by Asus though from what I understand the people I should raise my complaint to should be the retailer, even after 3 years and not Asus themselves- please correct me if I am wrong.


Next question is; the monitor was purchased for me by my father which I repaid the money for to him over time meaning effectively I paid for it by paying him back but on the bill the store will have is his name though the email account we ordered with was mine, the bank details will be his.

He isn't at all techie, has the patience of a gnat and I know will not want to argue this out at all. I will be trying to talk to the company myself but I can see there being problems with this when I want a refund or at least a cheque back and my dad does not live with me and it's not easy to get in contact with him either.
Is there anything my dad can do to stop him needing to act as a middle-man?

hollydays

Could you do the initial contacts by email? You write the email on ' behalf' of your dad, but his name is on it?

JJ_Egan

Monitor 3 years i would not expect a fault dependant upon price and brand.
It may have an extended warranty from the manufacturer .
As it has worked for three years the vendor is unlikely to accept the fault is inherent .So you need an independent report and in my view its not worth paying for one on a 3 year old product .You are not going to get a refund at best a repair or part refund taking into account 3 years usage .

sjbrun

You would probably only get a partial refund after 3 years of around 20% of the purchase price.

To get that you would probably have to prove it is faulty at the time of purchase by getting a report.

It just depends how much hassle you want to go through for the little refund you could get back.

Le_Kirk

Is this the same monitor as in the Techie section? Have you now actually proved it is the monitor, not the cable or graphics card?

jenniewb

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Is this the same monitor as in the Techie section? Have you now actually proved it is the monitor, not the cable or graphics card?

I've since checked the cables, not yet the graphics card but being that the screen has black splodges on it and they aren't pixilated in their appearance I'm going to assume it's the screen.


I've got a credit card I can borrow on to get a new screen and if this doesn't check out as fine I can take the screen back (owing to the return policy of the store which I checked first with). I wont be able to do this until the late evening but will know in enough time to start the process at the weekend if it is the monitor.


But to answer your question, yes it is the same screen.

arcon5

You bought it off your dad. Your dad bought it from the shop. So if they do pick up on this point you won't have a leg to stand on

Alice_Walker

How much did the monitor cost, what is the spec? The retailer may require an independent report confirming the fault is inherent, the cost would be reclaimable if it is but you would have to pay if not. Given that you're only likely to get a proportionate refund, it may be more cost effective to buy a new one.

Leo2020

jenniewb wrote: »

I've since checked the cables, not yet the graphics card but being that the screen has black splodges on it and they aren't pixilated in their appearance I'm going to assume it's the screen

It could be a liquid leak internally within the screen. This is often caused by damage/pressure to the screen. It ofen occurs with laptops as people press on the screen when opening rather that holding the edge.

Is there any chance you or someone else has damaged the screen?

Of course it may not have been user error I had problem with a monitor which developed what looked like burn marks. I had been on holiday at the time and when I first switched it on after returning they were there.

jenniewb

Got a new monitor! Using with the old cables it works perfectly. I can only assume the faulty part was the old monitor.


I have since phoned the company I ordered from (I may have purchased it back from my dad but it was me who ordered it and he who paid).


I was told by the company whom I phoned to ask for advice, that it sounded like a fault. They said I needed to conact the manufacturer and when I said that wouldn't work and they'd just tell me to return to the retailer they out me on hold before advising me to write to someone else within their company which is what will be my next step. It is only 3 years old and for it to break down so early on I can only assume it's a fault and the person I spoke to seemed to agree.


I've used many PC monitors and prior to this owned a Dell PC monitor and have never seen this happen. I know to be careful when cleaning and had not touched the monitor for several hours as I was out all day prior to it not working. There was/is no one around to mess with the screen so I've no idea why it was perfectly fine the minutes before I left and yet not when I turned the computer back on when I got back home.

Alice_Walker wrote: »

How much did the monitor cost, what is the spec? The retailer may require an independent report confirming the fault is inherent, the cost would be reclaimable if it is but you would have to pay if not. Given that you're only likely to get a proportionate refund, it may be more cost effective to buy a new one.

The monitor was around £170 if I remember correctly, the make was Asus and the model was the VS238H. What I will say is prior to this, I had ordered and received a faulty monitor from the same company who are otherwise a reliable company, the faulty monitor that time was just black and flickering when I turned it on so weather it's a batch problem or what I don't know.
I've since replaced the monitor with £120 and pretty much was the one of the cheapest I could find in stock at my local PC World.


I am guessing a proportional refund and that's fine because I did manage to use it for 3 years prior to it failing. But I'd have expected more than 3 years of life for the price (and the brand) and I am more interested in if and how I do this and what to look out for being that the company have already made one mistake by trying to tell me my issue was with the manufacturer and not the retailer. I feel like I need to arm myself with the facts rather than go in blindly and let the company dictate what happens and if anything is refunded, how much and so on.

Leo2020 wrote: »

It could be a liquid leak internally within the screen. This is often caused by damage/pressure to the screen. It ofen occurs with laptops as people press on the screen when opening rather that holding the edge.

Is there any chance you or someone else has damaged the screen?

Of course it may not have been user error I had problem with a monitor which developed what looked like burn marks. I had been on holiday at the time and when I first switched it on after returning they were there.

I've no idea how the lines or black blobs appeared. The PC screen was fine, totally fine before I left some 8 hours earlier. I turned the PC off (fully off) as I normally do and have done with my computer for years and years. I went out, leaving my PC at home, alone. No animals, no other people, not even a pot-plant near it and it was out of the sun because I always draw the curtains so the sun cannot shine on the screen, as per-usual as I do whenever I leave my computer to go out.
When I got back I turned on the computer as per-usual but the screen had vertical lines. These got worse and then horizontal lines appeared the longer I continued to use the computer. I did try to use the screen and just minimised everything but the lines and flickering parts just got too bad to ignore. As I made my mind up to search for a new monitor when I had the time the next day, I could see black blobs appearing around the Windows start tab. (And just to confirm, I don't have a touch-screen monitor so I've no idea why this was where the blobs appeared.


I have no idea what could have caused this, I had not treated the computer or the monitor differently from previously at all and I normally consider myself a careful user because unless I'm paying with credit, I can't just go out and replace things like this.
Put it this way, (touch wood) my washing machine and fridge- the only white goods I could afford at the time are still going strong some 15 years after I purchased them. Not by luck but because I am careful with them, keep them clean and don't go using them for anything other than what they are designed for. I'm not saying luck didn't play a part, but just to illustrate that I am normally very cautious over everything I use because I think it makes the difference.

takman

jenniewb wrote: »

I was told by the company whom I phoned to ask for advice, that it sounded like a fault.

I think your completely missing the point of what everyone is saying!. Not only do you have to show its faulty you have to prove that it's faulty due to a manufacturing fault when it was made over 3 years ago!.

If something becomes faulty but isn't due to a manufacturing fault then you have not got a leg to stand on and you won't get any money back!.