Have I been the victim of an outright con?

stojio

Hi people, I really hope someone can help me here, as I'm sure this is just a typical case of the big guy stomping on the little guy...

I bought insurance for my laptop from PC World some time ago. It cost me £250 and covers accidental damage.

The power lead, however, is not covered.

Unfortunately my laptop came into contact with water, and along with the power lead it broke!

When I took it back, they sent it away and it came back supposedly repaired, but had different problems.

I sent it away again 3 more times, and each time it came back with different problems.

Now they are saying I need to give them the power lead I have been using, to rule out that as the problem. Whenever i tell them that the power lead belongs to a friend, who is unwilling to give it to me for X amount of weeks, they tell me that I have to buy a new one, at the cost of £70.00.

My response to this is that I'm not prepared to fork out for a power lead when they obviously can't fix the computer. But they keep saying, and I quote the manager here "If you do not have a power lead, we cannot guarantee the laptop will be repaired, and they cannot write it off" (so basically I wont get a replacement if I don't buy a new power lead).

Is this even legal??? There is nothing in my warranty that says I need a power lead when returning the item for repair, and that if i don't have one, the guarantee is void. So have I been mis-sold my warranty?

I really need a replacement computer, as it has now been 4 months, and i feel they are taking me for a ride BIG TIME.

HELP! What can I do??

Thanks in advance folks ~

~ Stojio

liz105

To be honest I have heard a lot of bad things about that company so wouldnt be surprised if they were trying to wriggle out of paying up.

stojio

yikes. NOT what i wanted to hear. i was thinking trading standards may be the way to go, but i wouldn't know where to begin!

themmackas

If you give trading standards a ring they are usually very helpful and will advise you on the best way to go next.

kristianwilliams

PC world wanted to charge a mate of mine £400 to fix a pc. I looked at it and replaced a £5 lead.

PC world is not the place to go for repairs at all. They are absolutely awful, completely inept. Another Laptop had the Video chips on the Motherboard die, (which does happen alot since they get so hot) and so the screen was broken (fuzzy lines, unable to read screen even when boot up) and what did they tell the owner????

Re install windows.

Im sorry but thats a level of Inept i have never heard off. Best bet is to take it to a small private company to have it checked out (local retailers or repair men). These people work on word of mouth most times, so they would rather fix it at the lowest possable cost to you so you'll go back and tell friends, then like PC world which is get as much money out of you as they can.