LG Won't Give My Laptop Back to Me

Vande

In April this year I decided to purchase a more expensive laptop so that I could be more efficient at doing ebay listings, especially as my dad had left a lot of collectables, and I wanted to sell them as he had requested so I could move on.  So I purchased one by LG from Amazon.  It worked amazingly for the first few weeks, but then suddenly one day I watched helplessly as the battery ran down, and nothing I could do would make it recharge.

I rang LG and they said they would send me a new charger to try.  I think looking at my phone records that this was on 21 June.  I waited a long time and the charger never arrived.  So I phoned them again, and they said to purchase a charger from a shop and then they would refund me.  However the other one should still be on its way.  I purchased one and sent them the receipt.  Eventually half of a charger arrived - the part that plugs into the socket, not the important part which actually does the charging.  My refund of the £65 never arrived, and still hasn't to this day.

For several more weeks the laptop seemed fine with the new charger I had bought.  Whenever I tried to use it on battery though, the screen flickered.  I rang them about this in August and they said to send it back.  They collected it and kept it for less than a week before returning it saying they couldn't reproduce the problem their end.
I carried on using it for a couple more weeks, but then the charging issue started again, and as before I had to helplessly watch the battery running down without being able to get any power in, even though I was still using the new different charger.

I rang them again, and they said to send it to them a 2nd time.  I did this on 1st September.  Ever since them I have been ringing them at least once a week trying to find out what's happening, and it is a different excuse almost every time, ranging from "we will be sending it back to you within a week", "our repair department has moved", "we are doing further tests to be sure".  However much I pleaded and said I need it as I am trying to work from home on it, they would not do anything.  In the end, to shut me up they agreed to give me compensation to cover my distress, but they would not decide how much until I get the laptop back.

I rang Trading Standards.  They said I should have gone to the company I purchased it from first, not the manufacturer, despite it being under their guarantee.
So I requested a call from Amazon.  They seemed quite sympathetic, and said if I can get it back from LG they will take over dealing with it instead, and they also sent me an e-mail confirming this.

According to my mobile I have called LG at least 17 times over the months this has been going on in its various stages.

pinkshoes

Stop phoning LG and WRITE to them with proof of postage. Write and give them 7 days to return your laptop.

Your warranty is with LG but your consumer rights are with Amazon.

Vande

pinkshoes said:

Stop phoning LG and WRITE to them with proof of postage. Write and give them 7 days to return your laptop.

Your warranty is with LG but your consumer rights are with Amazon.

Okay thanks.  I am moving house soon, so I'd better get straight onto that.  Otherwise they will be having to return it to a completely different address, which will just complicate things further...

Vande

Surprised there wasn't more reaction to this.  Is it normal for a manufacturing company to take someone's item and keep it for 6 and a half week (so far)?
How long would they have to have it before it could be classed as stealing?

[Deleted User]

It's not a question of length of time, it's whether there's intent to deprive.

theonlywayisup

Vande said:

Surprised there wasn't more reaction to this.  Is it normal for a manufacturing company to take someone's item and keep it for 6 and a half week (so far)?
How long would they have to have it before it could be classed as stealing?

Never.

But in answer to your other questions perhaps the block of text put a lot off?

You appear to have gone down the warranty route, so your rights on the warranty return are with the warranty provider and subject to those terms.

How much was the laptop and how did you pay?

Manxman_in_exile

If you had originally gone to the people you had bought the laptop from (especially if the problem was just a duff charger) you would probably either have had this all sorted out by now or you would have had a refund.

You've made the same mistake that many people make of trying to resolve the problem under warranty rather than by using the more powerful rights given you under consumer protection legislation (Consumer Rights Act 2015).  The legislation gives you statutory rights that can be enforced in law and can't be taken away from you.  A manufacturer's warranty only gives you whatever they want to give you.  Guess which gives the consumer a better deal?

As others have said, unless LG intended to permanently deprive you of the laptop (which, let's face it, they haven't) it's never going to be theft and you look a bit daft suggesting it might be.

Don't 'phone them - instead write to or email them outlining the ongoing saga and say that when you last returned it to them (or whatever you did - I can't follow what has and has not happened) you expected them to fix it within a reasonable time-frame and that six weeks is not a reasonable time-frame.  Tell them you want it back, working, within 14 days (or whatever other period you think is reasonable).

Vande

theonlywayisup said:

Vande said:

Surprised there wasn't more reaction to this.  Is it normal for a manufacturing company to take someone's item and keep it for 6 and a half week (so far)?
How long would they have to have it before it could be classed as stealing?

Never.

But in answer to your other questions perhaps the block of text put a lot off?

You appear to have gone down the warranty route, so your rights on the warranty return are with the warranty provider and subject to those terms.

How much was the laptop and how did you pay?

It's not one big block, there are some paragraphs - just not spaces between the paragraphs :-D  I couldn't really make it any shorter as it is such a long saga.

The laptop was £1299 and I paid with it using Amazon's own credit card.

Vande

Deleted_User said:

It's not a question of length of time, it's whether there's intent to deprive.

Not sure you would know this if they just keep it indefinitely.

Vande

Manxman_in_exile said:

If you had originally gone to the people you had bought the laptop from (especially if the problem was just a duff charger) you would probably either have had this all sorted out by now or you would have had a refund.

You've made the same mistake that many people make of trying to resolve the problem under warranty rather than by using the more powerful rights given you under consumer protection legislation (Consumer Rights Act 2015).  The legislation gives you statutory rights that can be enforced in law and can't be taken away from you.  A manufacturer's warranty only gives you whatever they want to give you.  Guess which gives the consumer a better deal?

As others have said, unless LG intended to permanently deprive you of the laptop (which, let's face it, they haven't) it's never going to be theft and you look a bit daft suggesting it might be.

Don't 'phone them - instead write to or email them outlining the ongoing saga and say that when you last returned it to them (or whatever you did - I can't follow what has and has not happened) you expected them to fix it within a reasonable time-frame and that six weeks is not a reasonable time-frame.  Tell them you want it back, working, within 14 days (or whatever other period you think is reasonable).

As I said in the original post - which I have now added spaces to between the paragraphs - I have tried everything to get it back, so not sure how that is much different to being deprived of it.  Doesn't seem that daft to me.

By the time I get it back, if I do, the thing I bought it for - listing my late father's stuff, will have been finished, as I have had to struggle through it over months and months using an ancient laptop instead.

Thank you to those who have confirmed what Trading Standards said, that I should have gone to the seller first.  But that is hindsight now that I have already made the mistake of rushing to the guarantee/warranty first.

I didn't think people wrote letters anymore, so I am very surprised that in instances like this a letter is still better.  But thank you also for telling me about that, as it is indeed one thing I hadn't tried yet.

ItsComingRome

Vande said:

Deleted_User said:

It's not a question of length of time, it's whether there's intent to deprive.

Not sure you would know this if they just keep it indefinitely.

No, you would know this. You might be permanently deprived if they kept it forever but for it to be theft here needs to be intent.

You currently have no proof that they have intended to permanently deprive you of your goods.  And I don't see what they stand to gain by holding onto your duff laptop, other than a load of earache from you.

Write them a letter, as you've already been advised, requesting the return of the laptop in a reasonable timeframe or else you will take them to court.  Then issue court proceedings if they fail to do so.