Faulty laptop (warranty period nearly over) - offical refund request ignored - suggestions please?

Schnurrbart

Hi, advice needed please.

Purchased a refurbished W10 laptop from Dell in October 2019. One-year warranty on product.

Straight out of the box it was practically unusable (e.g. took several minutes to perform any basic operation after a mouse-click).

Called their ‘support’ line. Couldn’t get advisor to properly understand due to language barrier - she told me to let the computer “warm up”!

Sent message explaining problem using Dell’s online contact form – response was to ask me to call them (which I told them in my message I’d already done).

Sent email to their complaints dept. requesting return for full refund. This was completely ignored.

Tried getting remote assistance to fix issues. Performance was better for a short while.

For various reasons I went back to using my older W7 laptop. Just tried using W10 one again, but loads of performance issues – not as chronically sluggish as before, but still slow enough to be unusable (OS and internet), and important updates keep failing.

Just want to return the useless thing and get my money back before warranty period expires. Contacting them directly has already proven to be pointless on several occasions (not just the ones mentioned above). They’ve had plenty of opportunities to put things right.

What’s my best option? Section 75 claim, small claims court, or something else?

TIA.

Aylesbury_Duck

Schnurrbart said:

Hi, advice needed please.

Purchased a refurbished W10 laptop from Dell in October 2019. One-year warranty on product.

Straight out of the box it was practically unusable (e.g. took several minutes to perform any basic operation after a mouse-click).

Called their ‘support’ line. Couldn’t get advisor to properly understand due to language barrier - she told me to let the computer “warm up”!

Sent message explaining problem using Dell’s online contact form – response was to ask me to call them (which I told them in my message I’d already done).

Sent email to their complaints dept. requesting return for full refund. This was completely ignored.

Tried getting remote assistance to fix issues. Performance was better for a short while.

For various reasons I went back to using my older W7 laptop. Just tried using W10 one again, but loads of performance issues – not as chronically sluggish as before, but still slow enough to be unusable (OS and internet), and important updates keep failing.

Just want to return the useless thing and get my money back before warranty period expires. Contacting them directly has already proven to be pointless on several occasions (not just the ones mentioned above). They’ve had plenty of opportunities to put things right.

What’s my best option? Section 75 claim, small claims court, or something else?

TIA.

After this long?  Unless it's proven to be faulty (and it's up to you to prove that) then you're going to have trouble exercising any consumer or warranty rights.  What are the terms of the warranty?

Have you cleaned it up, removed all the bloatware and installed Windows a clean installation?  That often sorts out slow performance on budget/low-spec laptops which don't have the power to run all the rubbish that comes with them plus whatever you add.

mattyprice4004

None of the above - if it's just a rubbish laptop, you have no right to return a year later. 
If it's faulty, return it to them and ask them to sort it. 

Schnurrbart

Thanks Aylesbury_Duck.

GIven that it's still under warranty, I don't think the length of time since purchase is relevant. It could develop a fault a week before the end of the warranty period and still be covered - that's the whole point of a warranty! Plus I have records showing my above-mentioned attempts (and others) to get the issues fixed at the start of this year, so it's not like I've left things til the last minute. As explained, they ignored the refund request I sent to their dedicated complaints email address. Phone support was useless. Will copy & paste relevant warranty terms at end of post.

I cleaned it up to the best of my limited technical ability. Ran all available Windows updates plus Dell SupportAssist updates. Not sure what stuff is and isn't bloatware. Only things I added were Firefox, Glary Utilities and Junkware Removal Tool (now defunct). Even with any cr*p that may be on it, I don't see how that could slow the OS down to the point where even the simplest of operations (e.g. clicking on a file to open contents) takes several minutes to complete. If I'd installed something virus-ridden or full of bloatware, then maybe (at a stretch), but it was like this out of the box!

Haven't tried clean installation - was aware of it as an option. Concerned that something will go wrong, but I suppose there's little to lose. Maybe I'll contact Dell one last time, though I expect they're even more likely to fob me off now warranty period is nearly up. Not sure how I'd prove that it's not fit for purpose, except by showing my emails (to small claim court or whatever) documenting the problems and my attempts to get Dell to fix them (which I'd be more than happy to do). Record a video showing slow performance perhaps? Genuinely don't know what else I could do, it's not like I could invite a claims handler round to see for theirselves!

Thanks again for replying, but bottom line is I was sold a dud laptop, which is still under warranty and therefore still subject to the terms of that warranty. Request for refund or replacement via online form was ignored (TOS doesn't mention refunds, but I'd have thought that basic consumer rights apply as per clause 5.1). Official complaint to complaints dept. was ignored. Surely these are valid grounds for replacement (under TOS) or a claim under statutory consumer rights since Dell aren't fulfilling those TOS obligations? I just wanted to know which organisation it was best to approach with a claim.

From the Terms Of Sale document sent upon purchase (I note it says "material fault", but surely this would include significant OS/software failure?):

5.1 You have statutory rights in relation to the Products sold to you. For example, Products sold to you shall be of satisfactory quality and conform to their Product Description. Those rights are not affected by this Dell Product warranty.

5.2 Dell warrants that Dell Product shall: (i) conform to its Product Description, (ii) be free from material defects for a period of one year from date of delivery, and (iii) that Dell branded spare parts shall be free from defects for 90 days from the date of delivery or for the remainder of the applicable Services (Basic Warranty) or statutory warranty period, if longer. 5.3 Under the Basic Warranty, subject to clauses 5.3.1 – 5.3.4 inclusive and clause 5.4 below, Dell shall repair or replace the Dell Product if it develops a material fault in the period of one year from date of delivery, on condition that: 5.3.1 the Dell Product has only been subject to normal use in a domestic, non commercial, non research environment in a manner which is consistent with the specification, functionality and service standards described in the Dell Product Description, 5.3.2 reasonable care has been taken of the Dell Product, and it has only been subjected to reasonable wear and tear; 5.3.3 the fault has not been caused or contributed to by wilfully or negligently caused damage, or any accident, or being in environmental conditions harmful to the Dell Product, or by third party software or hardware, which has not been supplied by Dell, loaded onto or connected to the Dell Product; 5.3.4 the part which develops the fault has not been previously modified or repaired by any third party.

Schnurrbart

mattyprice4004 said:

None of the above - if it's just a rubbish laptop, you have no right to return a year later. 
If it's faulty, return it to them and ask them to sort it.

Hi, mattyprice4004.

As per OP, it hasn't been a year yet - laptop is still under warranty til end Oct.

I requested a return at least twice, as already mentioned. First time they just said "Phone Customer Support" - which I told them I'd already done to no avail (hence why I was now writing). Second time they ignored my email to their complaints dept.

Aylesbury_Duck

The pertinent term seems to be "material defect" then.  Under consumer rights, after this period of time the onus would be on you to show that the problem constitutes a material defect, which would normally be from an independent inspection - pretty easy to obtain in the case of IT kit like this.  As you are wanting exercise your rights under warranty instead, it seems to me there's the same obligation on you - to show that the problems are a material defect and not a result of things arising from 5.3.1 to 5.3.4 inclusive.  Put simply, they appear unwilling to refund you on your opinion that there's a material defect.  That doesn't strike me as being unreasonable.  If you had an independent view that there is a material defect you may be able to force them to act under warranty.

JJ_Egan

Warranty Repair or Replace , Not usual to include a refund in warranty T&C .

Thats what your post says you are claiming under .

Consumer Rights  Repair  Replace or Refund ( less usage ) and vendor has the choice .

DoaM

You don't say which laptop this is. Post the Dell tag number and we'll be able to give better assistance.

Jumblebumble

DoaM said:

You don't say which laptop this is. Post the Dell tag number and we'll be able to give better assistance.

Let me guess
Celeron or Pentium  with 4GBRam and 500GB HDD

Schnurrbart

Thanks again Aylesbury_Duck - very helpful post. Not sure I'd be prepared to cough up for an independent inspection of a sub-£300 laptop (when there's still no guarantee that the claim under warranty would be successful) unless it could be done very cheaply, but that's my problem - it's a perfectly good suggestion that you've made.

"Put simply, they appear unwilling to refund you on your opinion that there's a material defect" - interesting point. I noted the time elapsed between (for example) clicking on a file and the file being opened - and repeated this test several times. Does this amount to a mere opinion or an empirical observation? Is it just an opinion that it takes on average three minutes if that claim comes from me, but a fact if that claim comes from a third party? Three minutes is three minutes regardless of who the observer is (open to debate from a philosophical point of view, but let's not go there). Rhetorical questions, I'm not asking you to answer! But the point is, I told Dell that each action took several minutes to complete, which to my mind is a fact derived from repeated observations, not an opinion.

JJ_Egan - thanks. I should have made it clear in my OP that I told Dell I'd accept a replacement (if unwilling to refund). I did clarify in a subsequent post ("Request for refund or replacement via online form was ignored") but should have stated that in OP to begin with. But whether I requested a refund or a return (or, in my case, either) they simply ignored my email.

I didn't expect a lightning-fast, super-powered beast of a machine for the price I paid, but I did expect to receive something suitable for general basic use, and a reasonable level of after-sales service - looks like I was wrong on both counts!

Anyway, I'll try the clean installation. If that doesn't work, I'll bang my head against the wall with Dell Customer Support, no doubt get fobbed off again, and consider this an expensive lesson; from the responses so far, trying to claim under consumer rights is a non-starter.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply.

Schnurrbart

Jumblebumble said:

DoaM said:

You don't say which laptop this is. Post the Dell tag number and we'll be able to give better assistance.

Let me guess
Celeron or Pentium  with 4GBRam and 500GB HDD

From my invoice: "Inspiron 15 - 3581 Laptop - 0Ghz - 1000.00Gb HD - 4000.00Mb Mem--"

From laptop System Properties: "Intel Core i3-7020U CPU @ 2.3 GHz"