Broken Laptop - 7 months old - Retailer and Manufacturer Denying Responsibility

tightauldgit

So I have an ASUS laptop which I bought in July 2021 and the other day I opened it up and the screen has cracked internally creating a beautiful rainbow effect and rendering the laptop useless. It wasn't dropped, it wasn't bashed and I didn't open it with a pickaxe - I just opened the screen as normal and it doesn't work anymore! 

I bought the item from Hughes Ebay shop and paid with credit card via Paypal - it cost about £375 so not a hugely expensive laptop but not pocket change either. 

When I contacted Hughes they put me on to ASUS and I exchanged emails with their customer support centre and they said while it was caused by opening the laptop they deemed it 'customer caused damage' and said it wasn't covered under the warranty. 

So I wrote to Hughes and stated that I didn't think the laptop was fit for purpose and that I would prefer a refund if possible. Their 'director' responded saying that they also consider it 'customer caused damage' and that it wasn't covered under the warranty. I replied stating that I wasn't making a warranty claim but exercising my rights under the CRA 2015 as it wasn't fit for purpose or of sufficient quality if the laptop is broken after 7 months of normal use. 

This morning they have replied and basically told me to !!!!!! - reiterating that they consider it customer caused damage, that it's up to me to prove that it isn't and that if I take it to court they will pursue me for their costs in defending. 

Spoke to CAB this morning and they have kind of confirmed what I already knew about my rights but I seem to be at an impasse in terms of providing evidence that the laptop has broken due to being of rubbish quality rather than because I ran it over with my car. They've advised I take it somewhere to be assessed but that's going to cost money and I don't see how anyone can reliably comment on what caused the damage - i know i didn't break it through misuse, but there's no way of anyone else knowing that.

So what would you suggest? Should I just write it off and see if I can do a replacement of the screen myself or is it worth pursuing? It seems as much about the principle of the thing as it does the money now as Hughes director came across as a right little turd in his emails but equally money is tight and I can't afford to be spending money pursuing a lost cause and opening myself up to their costs too. 

Can my Credit Card company or Paypal help?

m0bov

Need to get a report that says, on balance of probability, its an inherent fault.

Jenni_D

How do you normally open the laptop? Where do you put your fingers to open it? (If you grab the corner of the lid then that will put a torsional force across the screen which could stress it and cause it to crack - so this would be user damage. If you grab the centre-top of the lid then any stresses should be minimal - it is normal to open a laptop this way - thus any damage is unlikely to have been user damage).

Did you login to your Paypal account to make the payment by credit card, or did you do so as a Guest? (This matters).

tightauldgit

Jenni_D said:

How do you normally open the laptop? Where do you put your fingers to open it? (If you grab the corner of the lid then that will put a torsional force across the screen which could stress it and cause it to crack - so this would be user damage. If you grab the centre-top of the lid then any stresses should be minimal - it is normal to open a laptop this way - thus any damage is unlikely to have been user damage).

Did you login to your Paypal account to make the payment by credit card, or did you do so as a Guest? (This matters).

I've never really thought about how I open the laptop but I guess I would normally open from the middle. I'm not particularly rough with my stuff and I have had plenty other laptops last me for years and years with no issues. Of course, the thing from my POV is that they have no way of telling that and I have no way of proving it. So I'm not really sure how I can demonstrate that it wasn't customer-induced if that's where the burden of proof lies. 

To me it shouldn't really matter how I open it unless I'm doing something egregious - it should last more than 7 months with 'normal' usage. 

On the Paypal thing, I'm really not too sure. It was bought on Ebay so I would have paid through the normal Ebay checkout process and most of my details are already saved. I assume that means I was logged in although I probably wouldn't have physically entered my log-in details to do so.  

tightauldgit

m0bov said:

Need to get a report that says, on balance of probability, its an inherent fault.

That's what CAB more or less said but 

1. That's not going to be free - might end up costing as much as just doing the screen repair myself. 
2. I don't see how anyone can conclude that other than taking my word for it that I didn't misuse it
3. I'm not even aware of who would do such a thing nearby me, we're kind of rural 

So I'm more and more thinking that I just have to eat **** on this one and make a mental note not to buy from Asus or Hughes again in future. 

Jenni_D

My own laptop is an Asus and it has been fine. (Bought from Amazon).

If the fault had developed before 6 months were up then it would have been deemed inherent and the seller would have had to prove otherwise. As it was more than 6 months then the burden of proof changes to the consumer.

tightauldgit

Yeah, the annoying thing is that it is actually less than 6 months of usage because it sat in the box unused for more than a month but that's neither here nor there when it comes to my consumer rights.

I've had ASUS stuff in the past and generally it's been alright, I'm using an ASUS TUF laptop right now to type this but equally I'm not happy to keep buying from a company that fobs off customers with 'it's your fault it broke' if something goes wrong. 

I've written to ASUS again to see if they are willing to do any better but not holding my breath. 

First and last time buying anything from Hughes. 

The one good thing I have learned about is the difference between using your Credit Card directly and via Paypal as I didn't know that made a difference. So I'll be avoiding using Paypal as much as possible in future. I tended to use it for convenience but now i know it loses me the support of CC companies I won't be doing that if possible. 

cx6

Take Hughes to the Small C Court it is cheap and easy to do.

The judge will decide on the balance of probabilities. You have nothing to lose by trying

Do a LBA first

Remember it is Hughes you will sue, not Asus.

Jenni_D

As it happens, mine is an ASUS TUF too.  

tightauldgit

Jenni_D said:

As it happens, mine is an ASUS TUF too.  

These things seem to be built like the proverbial brick outhouses - i had one die when it got wet and then come back to life a week later! Which is oddly enough why I had to buy the other one that's now broken - I bought it thinking the old one had died and as soon as I ordered it the old one recovered! They're just a bit big and bulky for carrying around on trips etc so the little Vivobook was ideal but they just seem too flimsy 

I seem to spend half my life in court these days (divorce is awesome!) so I'm reluctant to start another case - I'd have probably been happy enough if Hughes had even offered me £100 as a goodwill payment and I could have fixed it myself with a new screen but I'm just miffed about how they've dealt with it and how they can magically determine it's 'customer induced' without any evidence.

Other than one photo of the screen they have nothing to determine it's customer induced. They haven't even looked at it or offered to unless I pay for the repair.

Jenni_D

Whilst I don't tend to carry it about that much (apart from in the home, since it is a "gaming" spec machine so the battery doesn't last too long - certainly not all day) it's not that bulky or heavy. Mine is the FX505GT with "TUF Gaming" on the box.