Refurbished Laptop Fault - Do I have any rights?

DesignerLuke

Hello everyone,

I'm annoyed by the way a tech company selling on eBay (as well as the manufacturer) is dealing with my complaint and wondered if I actually have any rights or if I have to pay up (time and money).

To give some background info on the subject:
I purchased a manufacturer refurbished 2016 model laptop on November 30th 2016 from an online UK company. The laptop was bought through the companies eBay shop and was listed as having a 3-month RTB warranty only. Upon receiving the laptop, everything seemed fine, however fast forward to last Thursday and a major fault occured out of the blue rendering the laptop unusable. This is especially frustrating as I use it daily for work. I tried to resolve the issue with Microsoft, assuming the issue was with the software but this is not the case.

I contacted both the manufacturer who refurbished the laptop; Asus and the supplier but neither are willing to help anymore without me sending it back for repair (all at my cost and time). I understand that only the 3 month RTB Warranty was stated on the eBay listing but I can't help thinking that I should be allowed to have parts repaired/replaced at no extra cost. The fact that the laptop is manufacturer refurbished is where I am most unsure about my rights.

Any advice or clarity anyone could give on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Luke

LABMAN

As your purchase is for business use your rights are more limited.

DesignerLuke

Thanks for the reply.

The laptop was purchased as a personal expense (before I became self-employed) but since setting up my own business, it has been mainly used for work. Does that make any difference?

DavidP24

If you bought this on a personal account with personal money (not a biz bank account) it was effectively a consumer purchase. Whether you use it for work is irrelevant, what matters are the two contracting parties to the agreement.

It does not matter that the laptop was refurbished, the consumer rights act 2015 covers you as it would if you bought a second hand car from a dealer.

The 3 month warranty is merely their warranty, it does NOT affect your statutory rights.

Specifically that the product must last for a reasonable period of time, be of reasonable quality and fit for purpose.

You can reject goods in 30 days after that you have to give them an opportunity to fix it, if they decline to fix it, remind them of the act and put them on notice that if they do not take their obligations under the act seriously, you will get the computer repaired by a 3rd party and take them to the small claims court to recover your costs.

The time a computer is supposed to last can be subjective, but the price you paid is often a consideration. For example I heard a case on radio where a guy paid just under £3k for a dell gaming laptop, first of all they gave the same kwap about warranty but eventually collected it, repaired it, it failed again and they replaced it.

Dell over performed here slightly in that they did not make a deduction for the use already had and for betterment.

Your contract is with the seller, you must give them the opportunity to fix it, I would get a local quote and offer them the choice to pay it which may be cheaper than Courier.

DesignerLuke

That's great news (for me)!

I will get my info together and request that the seller takes the laptop back and repairs it again. If they don't, I will get a local quote and proceed accordingly.

Thanks for your advice!

DoaM

DesignerLuke wrote: »

That's great news (for me)!

I will get my info together and request that the seller takes the laptop back and repairs it again. If they don't, I will get a local quote and proceed accordingly.

Thanks for your advice!

Again? Has it already been back for one repair? Or are you confusing refurbishment with repair?

DesignerLuke

No, it was purchased as 'refurbished' and has not been repaired since. What I meant is that I asked them to take it back for repair (at their cost) yesterday which they refused.

The laptop is a 2016 model so I doubt it had ever been a terrible state before being refurbished and sold on to me.

DavidP24

It is astonishing that in this country we have these consumer laws and the ones before but even the biggest stores quote this warranty as if it is their only obligation.

DesignerLuke

This is their latest reply:

'Hi, this is a refurbished model - not new - and was advertised and supplied with a three month warranty which ran until 1st March 2017

The machine is now two months out of warranty.

As advised previously Microsoft didn't carry out any hardware tests on the machine - they only tried to install their own software.

We are yet to see any evidence regarding a hardware fault from you but we have offered to have the machine inspected and the returns address has been supplied.

We would not be responsible for a third party repair agent to carry out any work on the machine.

We have offered to have the machine inspected but until this happens it would be unfair for us to comment on a machine we are yet to see.

Cheers'

The thing is I have done all I can for them to identify the problem resulting in 3+ hours of troubleshooting sessions with Microsoft. Two Microsoft technicians are fairly sure there is a fault with the SSD hard drive given the lack of progress I was able to make with the troubleshooting so I'm not sure what other 'proof' I can provide.

I'll be honest, I think it'd actually cost me more to take the issue to a small claims court (I estimate the part/parts that will need repairing will cost £200 max) than to give in and let them repair it but I really don't want to or think it's fair on me to go down that route now. It's ridiculous that they expect me to pay more for a refurbished 2016 model laptop (after estimated repair costs) than it would cost me for a brand new version of the same laptop which would still be under a standard 1-year warranty.

DoaM

Letter Before Action followed by an MCOL claim if they don't abide by their legal obligations?

Or ... how did you pay? (Hopefully by credit card - or at least some of it - that way you could initiate a Section 75 claim with the card provider).

unholyangel

DesignerLuke wrote: »

This is their latest reply:

'Hi, this is a refurbished model - not new - and was advertised and supplied with a three month warranty which ran until 1st March 2017

The machine is now two months out of warranty.

As advised previously Microsoft didn't carry out any hardware tests on the machine - they only tried to install their own software.

We are yet to see any evidence regarding a hardware fault from you but we have offered to have the machine inspected and the returns address has been supplied.

We would not be responsible for a third party repair agent to carry out any work on the machine.

We have offered to have the machine inspected but until this happens it would be unfair for us to comment on a machine we are yet to see.

Cheers'

The thing is I have done all I can for them to identify the problem resulting in 3+ hours of troubleshooting sessions with Microsoft. Two Microsoft technicians are fairly sure there is a fault with the SSD hard drive given the lack of progress I was able to make with the troubleshooting so I'm not sure what other 'proof' I can provide.

I'll be honest, I think it'd actually cost me more to take the issue to a small claims court (I estimate the part/parts that will need repairing will cost £200 max) than to give in and let them repair it but I really don't want to or think it's fair on me to go down that route now. It's ridiculous that they expect me to pay more for a refurbished 2016 model laptop (after estimated repair costs) than it would cost me for a brand new version of the same laptop which would still be under a standard 1-year warranty.

What exactly have they said to you? Because what you've posted seems to suggest they are willing to inspect it - so what is it that is causing you issue?