Faulty laptop..costing me more to return hard drive?

lab-dab

The laptop is now back with me and have said the HD and motheboard have been replaced.

When i switched it on it said straight away the little bubble thing that pops up that there is not enough disk space and to delete unwanted items???? It had in it a 80gb HD so i hope they have replaced it with one.. what can this pop up mean?

Also, the battery had little life left in it so i've plugged in my power cable that was returned with it and it is beeping/buzzing and not showing up on the light as charging, until i moved the laptop then this was flashing... now the laptop battery has gone so i can't even switch it on.

Phoned them and the computers are down and i have to ring back to get it repaired AGAIN!!

Also, awaiting call about my hardrive which is still missing!

albertross_2

Maybe they have put an old second hand motherboard or battery in that they found on a shelf, charging/power problems, especially with the round power socket are quite common. Try removing the battery and powering up.

It sort of goes back to the point I was trying to make earlier, you give a laptop to a service department, and you expect an accurate diagnosis and repair. But due to time/cost/target pressures, laziness, or sometimes incompetence, you often get a couldn't care less about your data/bodge job to shut you up, so they can move on to the next job.

lab-dab

albertross wrote: »

Maybe they have put an old second hand motherboard or battery in that they found on a shelf, charging/power problems, especially with the round power socket are quite common. Try removing the battery and powering up.

It sort of goes back to the point I was trying to make earlier, you give a laptop to a service department, and you expect an accurate diagnosis and repair. But due to time/cost pressures, laziness, or sometimes incompetence, you often get a couldn't care less about your data/bodge job to shut you up.

Yep I certainly feel like i've had a botch job

Their CS is appaling and i spoke to one of the managers yesterday who very calmly told me and reassured me he would sort this for me by 6pm last night, no call.. ive phoned today and he isnt at work today. Things like this make you think what am i battling against if a manager can't even help properly. Apparantly its been passed on to someone else who will ring me by 5pm - we'll see!

I have just done as you said albertross and still nothing.

The battery does actually look different when i've taken notice as it is a slightly different shade of black and there is a chip on it which wasn't there in the beginning.

Could it be the power lead that has caused all of these problems as that is making a funny noise and bipping almost like the sound of a CD going round in a player with a skip on it...

albertross_2

Sounds like maybe they have also given you a different (and useless) battery. Is it the same laptop case?

By power lead, do you mean a transformer/psu brick, if so, does it make these noises when it isn't plugged into the laptop?

BritBrat

Are you sure they have not sent back you broken PC as it was when you sent it away?

Backing up your data is for you to do and no fault of anyone else if you do not do it.

That's the bottom line, had you done that the problem would be simple as you just want a working PC, but we all do it and don't back up everything at every moment so we all will lose data at some time.

My whole PC gets backed up every week with increments in between to a external hard drive, my email and some system files get backed up at 8:00PM every evening. Other things get backed up on close down.

I guess I am better than most but I will still lose data.

With most people now having access to CD/DVD burners important photo's and the like should be backed up to that even if you waste some disk space.

I wish you well, but unless you can get the old disk back I would forget about ever seeing the data again, but if you do get it back you may have a very small chance without spending lots of money to get the data back.

When my daughter was at Uni, I used to backup all her data to my ISP's free webspace so even if the whole house burnt down the data would still be accessable, that was not the main option but a backup of a backup option, I still use that for some data backup even now.

If the PC is less than a year old I would ask for a new one not a repaired one.

lab-dab

Sorry, I went as the power cable blew my house electric and took 10mins to come back on??!

It is my laptop case etc and as far as i know has a new HDD and MB not sure about anything else or what else was checked.

The laptop battery has now gone flat and i'm unable to charge it as the power lead is beeping, making a funny noise and not charging the laptop. Also, i dont know why the laptop was saying that there was not enough disk space left when it did come up so no idea what they have replaced it with.

I have found out that my HDD has been destroyed.. I know it is my fault I hadn't backed it up at which i have severely learned my lesson but i'm really annoyed that when i booked this in i was told that my HDD would be returned to me and i've been since told many stories since and basically now... their procedure has recently changed (they got an email yesterday) in that the manufacturer said none are to be returned to customer and mine was only ever a request ... doesnt mean they honour it.... doesn't help me as i was never told this at the time but i've gone down the road and have no joy from them what so ever! I've spent two/three days on the phone to them, many phone calls so i guess i've lost this one.

My 28days is up at the beginning of next week from which i have to have the laptop fixed by and i can request a new one.. i will ring tomorrow to get a new date for it to be sorted and see whether its done by monday... i'm, hoping not truthfully.

Can anyone tell me if there was a way i could have got the info off the laptop before it was sent back without opening it and voiding the warranty if the HDD had gone somehow?

BritBrat

Well if you paid £30 for data retreval did you not then have a contract?

Maybe you can push a little harder for compensation as they knew you wanted the data and the delay has lost you any hope of getting it.

lab-dab

BritBrat wrote: »

Well if you paid £30 for data retreval did you not then have a contract?

Maybe you can push a little harder for compensation as they knew you wanted the data and the delay has lost you any hope of getting it.

I paid the £30 instore but they refunded it to me when it wouldnt work due to no power on.. they then advised me as they didnt have facilities instore to get it done elsewhere beforehand. Then they told me it would void the warranty and i was told by the store and the call centre the day i booked it in that i could ask for my HDD back.

I am going to write and complain to both depts but i feel like it will be a waste of time as all they will say is the data is my responsibility i agree on that score but not the run around, false or misleading information they have given me and you are right the delay has definately lost me any chance as one manager said to me if it was in the workshop he would try to get it back to me... however, this was the same manager who said he'd get back to me..

I said today i wanted a new laptop not a fixed one and they told me i had to go through the 28day procedure.. no doubt it will work to their advantage. Has anyone ever managed to overide this and demand a new one?..

They certainly live up to their reputation.

Thanks for everyones help.. i'll keep plugging away at it.

BritBrat

Make sure you keep notes that you requested a new one with names, dates and times.

Better still get it in writing as I feel you may run out of the year warranty time if they keep messing about.

I would set a time scale, fix it or replace it.

I never take these insurance deals normally, but I bought my daughter a laptop from Comet and also took the 3 year insurance, well it died after it's 1st repair nearly 3 years on. But the good news is we got a new laptop delivered to replace it very quickly.

I was really impressed no arguing at all and replaced with no problem, so not all insurance schemes are bad.

I said today i wanted a new laptop not a fixed one and they told me i had to go through the 28day procedure.. no doubt it will work to their advantage. Has anyone ever managed to overide this and demand a new one?..

I don't understand that, everyone has a years warranty so what are they working to?

Let them have the 28 days and fixed or not take it back to where you bought it for a new one.

lab-dab

BritBrat wrote: »

I don't understand that, everyone has a years warranty so what are they working to?

Let them have the 28 days and fixed or not take it back to where you bought it for a new one.

I think the 28 days is their rule to say within the 1yr warranty period they will guarantee to fix it within 28days otherwise they will give you a code to go in to store with and ask them to write your original off and get a new one..

I have until monday for their 28 days to be up -since i rang for them to pick it up. Its thursday tomorrow so dont think they will have time to get parceline to pick it up and fix it by monday BUT as i said i think they'll work it to their advantage and will probably have someone on the case immediately...or am i just being paranoid now??

I'm still most upset about my photographs as it was all my sons newborn pictures, christening and his first 5months. I am stupid for not backing it up and the more i read about the fact i could have maybe got the info off beforehand or the fact they have skipped it really upsets me :mad: I wish i'd done as another poster said and asked here first.