Laptop Not Fixed but Still Need to Pay?

jimmylad007

Hi guys. So two days ago I took my laptop, that will not turn on, to my local independent computer shop for a diagnosis.

This morning, they phoned me up and said that it is irreparable, but I still owe them £40 for looking at it. I told them that it seemed unfair to charge so much if they've not done anything, but they just responded with I still need to pay for the time taken to take it apart, inspect/test it and put it back together.

They didn't tell me there would still be a fee in the case of it not being repaired, and admittedly I didn't ask if there would be one either. Yes I wish that I did, but it's too late now.

Have I any rights at all?

unholyangel

Just ask them for proof they complied with their obligations under the consumer contract regulations which requires traders to make certain information available to consumers before the consumer is bound by the contract.

Part of the information they need to tell you (regardless whether its a on-premises, off-premises or distance contract) is the total price of the goods or service (inclusive of any taxes etc) or - where the price cannot be calculated in advance - how the price will be calculated.

So if they charge a set fee for diagnosis, they should have given that price. If the diagnosis fee can vary perhaps depending on how long it takes them, they should have said it will be £x per hour.

powerful_Rogue

The law being the law, can't argue with that. However I do disagree with it in this situation.

The company as you said, "the time taken to take it apart, inspect/test it and put it back together."

Feels wrong that they should be out of pocket.

fozmcfc

Some companies do say, no fix, no fee.

In this case, a few options, you could ask about maybe splitting the fee and offer £20 and point out, they should have made it clear, that a fee would apply, even if they couldn't fix it.

Or offer them, the laptop and say, they could use it for spares.

Or you could look to sell it on Ebay as faulty/ for spares. Unless it is utter rubbish, you should manage to get £40 for it.

Gavin83

Surely you somewhat assumed they wouldn't look at from the goodness of their hearts? They are a business after all. I don't know why it is that the computer industry more than any other seems to have the expectation of free work. If a mechanic looked at your car and told you it couldn't be repaired would you still expect it for free?

Anyway what did they say was wrong with it?

dekaspace

Gavin83 wrote: »

Surely you somewhat assumed they wouldn't look at from the goodness of their hearts? They are a business after all. I don't know why it is that the computer industry more than any other seems to have the expectation of free work. If a mechanic looked at your car and told you it couldn't be repaired would you still expect it for free?

Anyway what did they say was wrong with it?

Actually in the pc industry no fix no fee is more common than set price in this sort of scenario at least amongst trustworthy organisations.

At very most some say they charge but deduct the cost from any parts i.e if it needs a new ram stick that costs £30 thats all they charge.

The ones that expect a fee are normally the ones that hope customer says no so they keep it then gut it of usable parts and sell them on for profit.

I remember asking a local pc shop to rebuild a laptop as I didn't have the tools knowing it was working and was told £20 for it

unholyangel

Gavin83 wrote: »

Surely you somewhat assumed they wouldn't look at from the goodness of their hearts? They are a business after all. I don't know why it is that the computer industry more than any other seems to have the expectation of free work. If a mechanic looked at your car and told you it couldn't be repaired would you still expect it for free?

Anyway what did they say was wrong with it?

Not sure why you'd think they get it more than any other industry.

For example if you call a travel agent, broadband/phone/tv provider etc, they may spend considerable time going over various products or issues with you and you won't be charged any fee for it.

If they had told their customers "okay we'll take a look and see whats wrong but if we can't repair it or you decide not to go ahead with the repair, there will be a £40 diagnostic fee" then perhaps people would stop expecting it to be free.

If it is common in the industry, then imo its even worse. Its a risk they're fully aware of yet do nothing about. Where's the logic in that? Some people just seem to like making life more difficult for themselves.

AndyPix

£40 is excessive imho, for unscrewing a couple of screws and poking around with a multimeter


What did they say was wrong with it ?
There is no such thing as irrepairable.

bris

AndyPix wrote: »

£40 is excessive imho, for unscrewing a couple of screws and poking around with a multimeter


What did they say was wrong with it ?
There is no such thing as irrepairable.

Well there is if you can't get the parts, millions of laptops are obsolete with no hope of sourcing parts such as screens and mainboards.


Not the same thing (but similar) a few years ago when our video camera went on the blink I was told it would be £55 just to diagnose the problem with repair costs extra. I was also told there would be a fair chance it couldn't be repaired so we passed on this and bought a new one.


Moral of the story, I was warned in advance so had a choice. The OP has a point and should have been pre warned.

shaun_from_Africa

AndyPix wrote: »

£40 is excessive imho, for unscrewing a couple of screws and poking around with a multimeter

As it's a shop, there is a good chance that they are VAT registered in which case the £40 becomes about £33 for the shop.
Once you factor in the time to disassemble the laptop (and as you know, some laptops can be quite fiddly and time consuming), £33 might not be too much.

AndyPix

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Once you factor in the time to disassemble the laptop

No laptop on the planet takes longer than 5 or 10 minutes to get inside - and they are supposed to be professionals

bris wrote: »

Well there is if you can't get the parts, .

Cant be @ssed to look for the parts more like ..


I guess the issue here is that is is not economically repairable. But unless they state what is wrong with it then we will never know ..


Simply saying, "it's not repairable - giz 40 quid" is not acceptable