claiming compensation from Team KNOWHOW for unsatisfactory service

melanierogers2020

Hi,
I'm looking for advice on how to claim compensation from Team KNOWHOW for a coverplan agreement which has provided unsatisfactory service over a 3 year period. I've been given their customer services email address after complaining over the phone and am requesting a refund on the grounds that they have failed to respond adequately/at all to resolve a technical issue with my equipment, thus provide the service they promised and have been paid for. 

From my understanding, I can use the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as they did not provide their promised service within a reasonable time, with reasonable skill or at a reasonable price. I appreciate that their coverplan is effectively an insurance however, and that the nature of such is that you pay even when no service is required, but from my assumption -  when called to use this service, they have an obligation to respond and seek to address the problem.

Is there any legislation that protects us as consumers when we have received unsatisfactory service from such a situation? I'm looking for advice on where I can find such legislation or if not so I know to which degree I can pursue my complaint.

Many thanks in advance.

societys_child

Small claims court, maybe.

What haven't they done that they should have?

JJ_Egan

Plus where does the reasonable price come in have you not paid for cover .

Unsatisfactory over each of the three years ??

As above if we knew more may suggest more .

eddddy

If it's an insurance product, the policy documents should tell you what the complaints process is, including escalating it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Generally, you should get a better outcome from the ombudsman than you would from a court. The ombudsman looks at things like whether you've been treated fairly - which a court wouldn't look at.


(But that assumes that what you have bought is an insurance policy. For example, Currys seem to have 'Care & Repair Plans' which are not insurance products.)

melanierogers2020

Thanks @eddddy - thats interesting. Ive been tryong to find information about teh policy on their website under their T's and C's but cannot find anything. I was under the impression their care and repair plans if paid for monthly was like an insurance in that if nothing went wrong, you couldnt reclaim the money, but that if something did, they would repair under T's and C's?
I was trying to avoid bogging things down with detail, but appreciate that it was a bit vague.
I purchased a laptop from currys, and took out a coverplan agreement provided by team knowhow, paid for monthly. At the time of purchase I was assured if anything were to go wrong, I would be provided a temporary replacement/courtesy device whilst repairs were made on the coverplan bought. On several seperate occasions I contacted them as I was having problems with the screen blacking out rendering it unusable - most likely a loose wire, but I dont know enough about laptops to start messing with this. I use my laptop for the day to day running of my clinic (diary management, patient notes and communications), so this was significantly inconvinient.  On each of the several times I contacted them to seek repairs, no laptop replacements were available, to which I can understand as this service must be in high demand and logistics make it difficult to provide a replacement/courtesy device for every repair. They advised they would contact me when one became available, hopefully within a few weeks. After 6 months and no contact, I called again, same outcome. This went on for 3-4 times, and escalated further up the call centre management chain to no avail. I've since cancelled my coverplan and am seeking to claim back for the payments made for the service they said they would provide, but on request, failed to.

George_Michael

melanierogers2020 said:

From my understanding, I can use the Consumer Rights Act 2015 

As the name suggests, the act you refer to only provided legal rights to consumers and from your last post, it sounds as if the laptop could well be classed as a business purchase.

melanierogers2020 said:

I use my laptop for the day to day running of my clinic (diary management, patient notes and communications), so this was significantly inconvinient.

It would also be worth checking to see if the Coverplan agreement  applies to goods used for business purposes.

davidmcn

As above it doesn't sound like you're a consumer. If you want suitable IT support for a business, you shouldn't really be dealing with Curry's in the first place. They're appalling enough if you're genuinely a consumer.

sharpe106

Anybody that calls themselves something like team knowhow are bound to know nothing. As using it for business purposes they can probably quite easily argue it is a business transaction rather than consumer.

But not looking at that part, how many times you requested to use them? When did you first try to use it and fail, as I doubt you can cancel for all 3 years if the first time you tried to use it was only 6 months ago.

 Have they actually even seen the laptop Since you have had it?