Am I being unreasonable?

morgs_

This might take a bit of explaining but I will try and lay it out as clearly as possible.

Purchased a pre-built computer system from one of the major companies, via the internet, in August 2015. It came with a 3 year warranty, the 2nd and 3rd year of which were return to base.

The PC was issue free until June 2018 when it developed an issue where the PC would start and then shortly after it would crash. Contacted the customer services, who were excellent and arranged for the PC to be returned to them under the warranty. So far, so good.

Problems started to arise with slow communication and any lack of progress. Things took so long that the warranty actually expired while the PC was with the company, which was over a month after they received it. PC was then not returned, until a month after the warranty expired. The day after it returned the PC faulted with exactly the same issue it had been sent in for.

Fast forward to now and after the PC has been sent back to the company and returned twice, the issue still persists. The belief from this end is that given the issue is the one that was occurring while the PC was under warranty still, the company should still be responsible for all costs related to this, regardless of the time past and the fact the warranty has expired. They have offered to pay delivery and labour costs but not for any parts that need replacing.

All that's wanted is to have the PC working as it should have been if the repair was carried out correctly while it was under warranty.

Is it unreasonable to expect them to cover all costs given the situation, or is the offer they have made fair? If not unreasonable, what would suggested course of action be?




A summarised timeline from the 100s of emails and hours of phone calls that may help to give a clearer picture:

29/06/18 - Issue first raised (Computer crashed to black screen and then re-booted to screen saying overclocking failed)
06/07/18 - PC Collected. Various delays in initial month and then, staff member left who had been dealing with it and not picked up, so further delays. CPU cooler and mainboard replaced. Packaging and delivery costs paid by us under terms of 2nd & 3rd year return to base warranty. Delivery costs subsequently reimbursed due to poor customer care standards.
05/08/19 - 3 Year Warranty expiry
06/09/18 - PC returned

07/09/18 - Issue reported as still present! Plus developed an issue of excessive noise from CPU cooler fans
14/01/19 - PC collected (delay due to approx 2 months of attempt at remote diagnosis + very busy time personally between November & January). No parts replaced, just adjustments to BIOS and installation of software that should have been carried out on the previous repair. Delivery and labour costs paid by company due to how quickly issue occurred previously.
29/01/19 - PC returned

07/03/19 - Issue reported as still present (had been occurring for circa 1 week previous to report)
23/05/19 - PC collected (delay due to attempts to remote diagnose again) CPU cooler replaced again. After numerous back and forth emails and phone conversations amounting over 2 hours longs, company agreed to pay delivery and labour.
22/06/19 - PC Returned

22/07/19 - Issue reported as still present (occurred on 21/07/19 after second use of PC. Had been unable to test previously due to house move)

spadoosh

If im being really honest im going to say I think youve been quite lucky to have had it as good as you have. Id say theyve been working on good will for a while and im pretty confident that will be running out soon.

Idve rejected your warranty claim from the 07/03/19 onwards due to you having accepted the repair for the previous month.

Dont knwo the company and dont know the warranty details though.


Either way, it doesnt look like theyre doing a good job at repairing it so wouldnt be keen to send it back again. I think id be looking at the self diagnosis route but then im guessing you wouldve already looked at that first or are not confident playing around with computers?

Im not a huge fan of warranties, theyre rarely worth the paper theyre written on although as mentioned, you seem to have done ok.... to an extent.. with this one.


Do you know what the problem is? Think fixing it yourself will be the easiest/best but depends on the problem and what its likely to cost.

morgs_

Thanks for the reply spadoosh. That's kind of what I figured, particularly given the lengths of discussion for no costs the last time. I meant to say, following the communications and what had happened on the previous (2nd) occasion we were under the impression that everything was being carried out FOC.

When you say about 'accepting the repair,' is this judged by the time passed (circa 3 weeks)?

As you say, given their lack of success in repairing the PC so far, there has been questions about sending it back already. Have a reasonable understanding with PCs and suspecting the PSU but of course would prefer no cost to achieve the working PC. Plus without replacing it can't be sure that is the problem and have concerns of further costs and/or more expensive components. When if the issue had been correctly diagnosed in the first place.

If knowing the company makes a big difference let me know but would prefer not to share at this point, as still trying to resolve it amicably.

spadoosh

morgs_ wrote: »

Thanks for the reply spadoosh. That's kind of what I figured, particularly given the lengths of discussion for no costs the last time. I meant to say, following the communications and what had happened on the previous (2nd) occasion we were under the impression that everything was being carried out FOC.

When you say about 'accepting the repair,' is this judged by the time passed (circa 3 weeks)?

As you say, given their lack of success in repairing the PC so far, there has been questions about sending it back already. Have a reasonable understanding with PCs and suspecting the PSU but of course would prefer no cost to achieve the working PC. Plus without replacing it can't be sure that is the problem and have concerns of further costs and/or more expensive components. When if the issue had been correctly diagnosed in the first place.

If knowing the company makes a big difference let me know but would prefer not to share at this point, as still trying to resolve it amicably.

Yeh kind of, obviously i dont know all the details but its quite a long time after getting it back which is normally understood to mean youre happy with it.

I get where youre coming from in wanting things right but im just a bit reserved when it comes to getting an actual resolution. Personally id be chasing the customer service route but as soon as it meant sending the PC away id start working the problem out myself as warranties and repairs are a pain in the bum. Obviously it largely depends on the computer as to expense of parts and then youve got about 4 years use of said parts will leave little residual value in it.

morgs_

Would 3 weeks be considered a long time, especially given the fault that occurred was the same? If it was 3 months before the fault came back I could understand more.

I guess I'd say I'm happy to pursue a complaint if I believe it to be justified. I'm not looking to take the !!!! but just want the original problem sorted. I do completely agree that is a pain in the !!!! though! As a guide, it was reasonably top end when purchased (circa £2k at the time). I have no need in the near future to upgrade it, so replacing parts would purely be to ensure it is working.

steampowered

It sounds like this is the same issue that has been re-occurring ever since you returned the PC in 29 June 2018.

As it is the same issue, the company never fixed it properly in the first place. As you returned the PC for repair in June 2018, within the warranty period, I think the company should fix the problem.

You wouldn't need to be returning the computer to the company over and over again for the same thing if they fixed it, as they were required to do under the warranty.

Fosterdog

Was the PC modified by yourself in any way? Overclocking is usually something end users do themselves to push the limits of the hardware above the manufacturer recommended speeds. It's usually done for gaming purposes.

morgs_

It sounds like this is the same issue that has been re-occurring ever since you returned the PC in 29 June 2018.

As it is the same issue, the company never fixed it properly in the first place. As you returned the PC for repair in June 2018, within the warranty period, I think the company should fix the problem.

You wouldn't need to be returning the computer to the company over and over again for the same thing if they fixed it, as they were required to do under the warranty.

This was my take on it.

Was the PC modified by yourself in any way? Overclocking is usually something end users do themselves to push the limits of the hardware above the manufacturer recommended speeds. It's usually done for gaming purposes.

No modifications by myself, it came overclocked from new.


I decided to send an email yesterday afternoon, highlighting again that it was still the original issue that was occurring. They called me back last night and I'm pleased to say they have agreed to cover the cost of everything related to the original issue.

Thanks for your replies all and I will try and remember to post any final conclusion.

DoaM

Did they ever say what was the actual fault/remedy?

morgs_

A belated follow up to this, apologies for the delay.

In fairness to the company, after a couple of discussions they agreed to cover anything that would have been relevant when the warranty was still active. When I returned the PC to them, they diagnosed that it was the CPU that was at fault. They claimed that due to the age of the PC, they would have to send it to Intel for repair as they no longer had them in stock. This was despite them showing my exact CPU as available for next day delivery on their site... I wasn't going to fight it too hard though, as I appreciate the situation and ultimately, just wanted to have a reliable PC again.

Well this was all carried out and the PC returned to me, all seemed okay for a week before...yep, exactly the same issue. Went through their online chat and tried a couple of suggestions but the issues kept persisting. It was then suggested to put it back to completely stock settings and see how I got on, with an offer to look at trying new settings if stable.

Since going back to stock settings, the PC has been stable. I'd prefer it to be running the overclock still but I'd far rather have the reliable PC I have again. It runs everything I need for now, so I would say I'm satisfied, even if not completely happy. After over a year of trying to get to this stage, I just don't have the energy to press anymore. I still don't believe they have got to the bottom of the underlying issue but as it works, I'll take it!

DoaM

Thanks for coming back.

It sounds like one or more components in your system simply can't handle the overclock. Typical culprits can be:

* CPU cooling is insufficient
* a RAM module is "on the edge"
* the RAM modules are not properly matched
* the mobo has a component fault that causes issues when overclocked