Computer repair

martini_slim

Hi there, I bought a handmade computer a year and a half ago and it broke. The suppliers, computer planet, agreed to take it back to fix it. I sent it back fine but was anxious about them wiping my hard drive since I had 4 months of work on there (I’m a composer). They sent me an email confirming they would not wipe any data off the computer’s hard drives. I just received it back and nothing is there, just a blank windows 10. What are my rights in this case? I am in complete shock as writing music is not something I can just replicate very easily, there was 4 months worth of work on there that wasn’t backed up (since I wasn’t expecting my computer to die this quickly). Please help with any advice, thanks very much, Alex 

giraffe69

If the machine has been wiped(which is pretty common when it goes away for repair) and you have no back up (or even cloud back up) then you are, I'm afraid, up the creek! You probably don't want to hear this but backing up is essential and not just because your computer might fail.
You can complain to the company and enclose the email that said they wouldn't wipe it and you might end up with some sort of gesture but it still, sadly, won't bring the files back.

The_Fat_Controller

Why on earth haven't you backed up your work for over 4 months ?

I am just a home user but back up all my important stuff once a week whilst I can still remember what I have downloaded or changed.

What exactly was wrong ?

Maybe the hard drive failed and needed to be replaced anyway.

What have they told you regarding the repair ?

Aylesbury_Duck

Agree with the above I'm afraid.  You might get a gesture of some sort (if the data loss was ther error) but that won't get your work back.

martini_slim

I, of course, realise the error of my ways but have I got any legal consume rights when it comes to data loss. If the hardware wasn’t functional, as in the motherboard, which was seemed to be the problem, and they assured me they wouldn’t wipe any data, then presumably it’s their fault and I should have some rights to them fixing it somehow. In this day and age where data is prevalent, I would have thought there’d be something enshrined in consumer law. 

powerful_Rogue

martini_slim said:

I, of course, realise the error of my ways but have I got any legal consume rights when it comes to data loss. If the hardware wasn’t functional, as in the motherboard, which was seemed to be the problem, and they assured me they wouldn’t wipe any data, then presumably it’s their fault and I should have some rights to them fixing it somehow. In this day and age where data is prevalent, I would have thought there’d be something enshrined in consumer law. 

No. You would have been expected to back up your data. These days cloud storage, CD's, SD cards, memory sticks and HD/SDD are so cheap, there is no reason not to back up.

martini_slim

powerful_Rogue said:

martini_slim said:

I, of course, realise the error of my ways but have I got any legal consume rights when it comes to data loss. If the hardware wasn’t functional, as in the motherboard, which was seemed to be the problem, and they assured me they wouldn’t wipe any data, then presumably it’s their fault and I should have some rights to them fixing it somehow. In this day and age where data is prevalent, I would have thought there’d be something enshrined in consumer law. 

No. You would have been expected to back up your data. These days cloud storage, CD's, SD cards, memory sticks and HD/SDD are so cheap, there is no reason not to back up.

Thanks, that’s very helpful!

powerful_Rogue

martini_slim said:

powerful_Rogue said:

martini_slim said:

I, of course, realise the error of my ways but have I got any legal consume rights when it comes to data loss. If the hardware wasn’t functional, as in the motherboard, which was seemed to be the problem, and they assured me they wouldn’t wipe any data, then presumably it’s their fault and I should have some rights to them fixing it somehow. In this day and age where data is prevalent, I would have thought there’d be something enshrined in consumer law. 

No. You would have been expected to back up your data. These days cloud storage, CD's, SD cards, memory sticks and HD/SDD are so cheap, there is no reason not to back up.

Thanks, that’s very helpful!

Not a problem. Sometimes you don't realise the value of backing up data until you have lost it.

martini_slim

powerful_Rogue said:

martini_slim said:

powerful_Rogue said:

martini_slim said:

I, of course, realise the error of my ways but have I got any legal consume rights when it comes to data loss. If the hardware wasn’t functional, as in the motherboard, which was seemed to be the problem, and they assured me they wouldn’t wipe any data, then presumably it’s their fault and I should have some rights to them fixing it somehow. In this day and age where data is prevalent, I would have thought there’d be something enshrined in consumer law. 

No. You would have been expected to back up your data. These days cloud storage, CD's, SD cards, memory sticks and HD/SDD are so cheap, there is no reason not to back up.

Thanks, that’s very helpful!

Not a problem. Sometimes you don't realise the value of backing up data until you have lost it.

Thank you for being the ultimate font of knowledge when it comes to consumer rights. I’m obviously on the right forum. 

TrickyDicky101

What do you hope to gain from Computer Planet?  They presumably can't retrieve your files if lost so what outcome do you want?

dreamypuma

Have you actually spoken to computer planet? Are you certain the data you need hasn't been saved in a separate partition on your hard drive?