£1500 Laptop - Now faulty 13 months after purchase

Safe'n'Sound

I'll try to keep this as simple as possible: -

Bought online from a vary large company
Bought via UK website
Delivered to UK address & resident
Fault makes the laptop unusable
Not dropped or damaged or misused in anyway

Officially, as of today, the 12 month warranty has expired by 1 month

Can anyone advise if I have any other action I can take apart from personal expense?

Thanks

elsien

If you want to argue that a laptop at the price level should last longer than 13 months, you’re going to need an independent report with regards to the fault.
Might be worth contacting the manufacturer directly though to see if they are willing to do something first, 

cx6

Who are the 'very large company'

Safe'n'Sound

cx6 said:

Who are the 'very large company'

HP (Hewlett Packard UK)

cx6

Send it back to HP for out of warranty repair. It seems to be a fixed price.  Ask for a goodwill payment towards it as it is not that old.

https://www.hp.com/uk-en/campaign/out-of-warranty/laptop.html

TELLIT01

You could try speaking to Trading Standards to see if a £1500 laptop should reasonably be expected to last more than 13 months.

Safe'n'Sound

TELLIT01 said:

You could try speaking to Trading Standards to see if a £1500 laptop should reasonably be expected to last more than 13 months.

Thanks, hopefully this won't be needed but I'm guessing if they don't 'assist' me, then I'll probably contact TS to see where I sit. Fingers cross.

Thanks for everyone's help tonight.

Manxman_in_exile

I'd expect a £500 laptop to last longer than 13 months let alone one costing £1500!

Why can't the OP approach the seller in the first instance and say the laptop doesn't conform to contract in that it it isn't of satisfactory quality and/or is not fit for purpose?  (Covered by s9 and s10 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)

In particular, s9(3)(e) refers to "durability" as a factor that can be taken into account when assessing quality.

If HP say that as it's more than 6 months after purchase the OP must get an independent report confirming that the laptop does not conform to contract, then the OP can decide at that point how he wants to proceed.  Get an independent report that he might not be able to recover the cost of (depending on what the report says), or pay for a repair out of warranty.

If I'd paid £1500 for a laptop and it died after 13 months my first course of action would be to complain to the retailer, not look into paying for the repair myself - not unless there was absolutely no other option.

visidigi

You don't need to ask TS - don't waste your time.

If HP won't help you when asking politely then you have to get a report from a specialist and present it to the seller to prove the product was inherently faulty from new.

Safe'n'Sound

Manxman_in_exile said:

I'd expect a £500 laptop to last longer than 13 months let alone one costing £1500!

Why can't the OP approach the seller in the first instance and say the laptop doesn't conform to contract in that it it isn't of satisfactory quality and/or is not fit for purpose?  (Covered by s9 and s10 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)

In particular, s9(3)(e) refers to "durability" as a factor that can be taken into account when assessing quality.

If HP say that as it's more than 6 months after purchase the OP must get an independent report confirming that the laptop does not conform to contract, then the OP can decide at that point how he wants to proceed.  Get an independent report that he might not be able to recover the cost of (depending on what the report says), or pay for a repair out of warranty.

If I'd paid £1500 for a laptop and it died after 13 months my first course of action would be to complain to the retailer, not look into paying for the repair myself - not unless there was absolutely no other option.

I received an initial 'it's out of warranty' reply after my first interaction with them. I wanted to be armed with the correct information for my next move, hence the advice asked for here. I must admit, the responses have all sounded positive and as you have said yourself, £1500 cost and failing after 13 months are 2 different parameters that don't sit too well with the best of us.

Thanks again

Manxman_in_exile

It's got nothing to do with a warranty.

You are exercising your statutory rights* under the Act I quoted above.  

That's what you tell HP.  If they argue there's nothing wrong with it, you could ask them if all purchasers of their laptops should only expect them to last 13 months - because if they do, then it's not a very good advert for their products!

They might want you to get an independent report from a computer engineer confirming the machine failed because it is faulty and not because of anything you've done to it.  You have to pay for the report but if HP accept its findings they should cover the cost.

You don't want to start paying for repairs yourself on a 13 month old laptop except as a last resort.

*If (or hopefully when) HP accept the laptop is not of satisfactory quality and/or not fit for purpose, ss19 - 24 of the Act I linked to explain what remedies you might have.  I'm sure others can explian them better than me...