Faulty PC (custom built) - retailer saying not their problem help!

jemz999

Hello All,

I'm really really at my wits end with this and a friend referred me to post here for help.

Me and my husband wanted a new PC for him, I looked up a place with good reviews and found a PC shop. We told them what we wanted and they gave us a quote and we paid deposit then on pick up of the PC total cost was £1630 so not cheap!! (all paid on my credit card)

Almost as soon as we got it, it started crashing. It was an error called Nvlddmkm. My husband emailed the retailer as soon as it happened and they gave a few suggestions. This went back and forth for a few weeks and the problem persisted. My husband also scoured tech forums and seeked advice to both try himself and to send to the guy at the shop. Still kept happening.

We were sick of this back and forth so we asked for a refund, they said that they have a return to store warrenty so we had to take it in for them to fix. We agreed to take it in physically for them to test it out. (just to clarify that he has proof of these errors via the pc event log and also video of the crash happening).

It went to the store and they tested it for about a week. They did not experience the error once. So as far as they are concerned there is nothing wrong with it. Which is hard to swallow when you spend your life savings on a £1,600 pc that crashes every few hours. (which we can easily prove with the event logs and video of it happening)

So they're saying that we should be looking at our monitors or cables etc. Since we got it back, we switched both of the monitors and the cables for new ones and the error is still happening. we emailed them saying it happened and their latest reply is:

"I am sorry to hear that, considering the amount on testing we done on the desk and did not experience the issue once, I would suggest maybe looking at your monitors or monitor cables.

The monitors are the only other likely thing it could be, and was something we were unable to test.

Of course, you are welcome to bring your monitors to the store and we are happy to use them for a few days and see how they are.

Hope this helps"

After 3 months of back and forth and still not having a useable computer to use - is this reasonable for them to not be refunding?

Irrelevant to the consumer side of things, but my husband is also autistic, so these kind of things stress him out even more and it's honestly just got us at breaking point with it crashing every few hours.

If anybody can advise if we have a case for a section 75 refund I'd be extremely grateful!.

Please ask any other clarifying questions if necessary.

Thanks in advance.

Jemma

NotRichAtAll

what version of windows are you using?

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/54045/the-nvlddmkm-error-what-is-it-an-fyi-for-those-s/

also please link the spec of your new machine what parts you have be precise as possible, i am going to guess drivers or voltages easy enough to sort if your abit savvy

boo_star

You do need to stop laying it on so thick. If £1600 is your life savings, what are you going to do in a year or two when your PC is obsolete?

Also, £1600 is incredibly cheap for a modern gaming PC.

Basic consumer rights laws apply here, you need to get an independent report stating an inherent fault. Right now the PC shop appears to have tested it and come up blank, and to be honest it doesn't seem like they're trying to screw you over.

Flo2108

boo_star wrote: »

You do need to stop laying it on so thick. If £1600 is your life savings, what are you going to do in a year or two when your PC is obsolete?

Also, £1600 is incredibly cheap for a modern gaming PC.

Basic consumer rights laws apply here, you need to get an independent report stating an inherent fault. Right now the PC shop appears to have tested it and come up blank, and to be honest it doesn't seem like they're trying to screw you over.

What’s the need in the first two paragraphs?

A. A £1,600 PC won’t be obsolete by any means in 2 years, or even 5 years.
B. £1,600 isn’t ‘incredibly’ cheap for a modern gaming PC. You can build a PC that will run 95% of games at 1080p, 60fps for a grand.

boo_star

Flo2108 wrote: »

What’s the need in the first two paragraphs?

A. A £1,600 PC won’t be obsolete by any means in 2 years, or even 5 years.
B. £1,600 isn’t ‘incredibly’ cheap for a modern gaming PC. You can build a PC that will run 95% of games at 1080p, 60fps for a grand.

Because it doesn't help anyone to say things like that and honestly makes people in shops roll their eyes. It's basically "what if a child had <insert nonsense here>?" Stick to the facts which are that the product appears to be broken.

A £1600 PC will be virtually obsolete in a couple of years. The fact that you can still play games on it is irrelevant. And yes, it is incredibly cheap for a modern gaming PC. A good graphics card is now getting close to half that.

But you're just another sockpuppet account anyway so what's the point?

unholyangel

boo_star wrote: »

A £1600 PC will be virtually obsolete in a couple of years. The fact that you can still play games on it is irrelevant. And yes, it is incredibly cheap for a modern gaming PC. A good graphics card is now getting close to half that.

My £650 gaming laptop (which had all the specs of a alienware worth nearly 3 times as much) isn't obsolete after 6 years. My cpu & gpu are still benchmarked higher than most new "gaming" rigs.

And generally, desktops are cheaper than laptops.

Once upon a time a top end rig might have been obsolete within 2 years, but that horse has long bolted.

boo_star

unholyangel wrote: »

My £650 gaming laptop (which had all the specs of a alienware worth nearly 3 times as much) isn't obsolete after 6 years. My cpu & gpu are still benchmarked higher than most new "gaming" rigs.

And generally, desktops are cheaper than laptops.

Once upon a time a top end rig might have been obsolete within 2 years, but that horse has long bolted.

I can't accept that a £650 laptop that's 6 years is going to play much of anything new (bar perhaps some indie games) now.

Not happening.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

m0bov

You already have evidence, take it back with an LBA and give them 7 days to refund. Also cc in your cc company. Detail the chain of events, copies of the evidence. Keep it brief and to the point.

unholyangel

OP, how did you pay for it?

unholyangel

boo_star wrote: »

I can't accept that a £650 laptop that's 6 years is going to play much of anything new (bar perhaps some indie games) now.

Not happening.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

With a cpu and gpu benchmarked in the top end still (and higher than most modern ones), why wouldn't it?

soolin

unholyangel wrote: »

OP, how did you pay for it?

credit card according to the OP.