Curry's laptop refund given as e-gift card !!

Ianm42

Bought an expensive laptop from Currys in Aug 2021 for £1349, ordered on-line pickup in store.
Trackpad started misbehaving earlier this year, so taken to local Curry's to be sent off for repair.
After a month get an email with link to Curry's e-gift for £1349 as laptop is "unrepairable", had to phone to find out why, can't get spare parts.
However this e-gift card is useless to me, the original laptop is no longer sold by Curry's, though is available next day from Dell and there are no equivalent or in fact any at same price point available from Curry's. I have no need to purchase any other products at all, let alone £1349s worth of goods from Curry's.

So I need to convert or get the money back onto the credit card to buy a laptop elsewhere.

Is it right for Curry's to issue an e-gift card as refund for failed repair ? And not back to credit card ? As a "refund" it is not very helpful.

Been round and round Curry's phone system & web chat system, all people giving different answers about refunds, but not actually been able to get in contact with anyone who can do anything about getting money back on credit card ? Any suggestions please ?

Do I need to "write a letter" to head office quoting consumer rights over faulty products ?

Olinda99

well whatever the law you have done very well as Currys would be entitled to reduce the refund substantially as you have had a year's worth of use.

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree.  Be careful what you wish for.  You need to weigh up the alternatives.  They could reduce a credit card refund to reflect a year's use.  After six months of ownership, your consumer rights entitle you to a replacement, a refund or a repair (retailer's choice).  A replacement, like a refund, can be moderated to reflect use to date.  

Is a £1349 voucher better than, say, an £900 credit card refund?

pinkshoes

I agree with the others 

To answer your question, no you do NOT have to accept an evoucher.

But... as it was over 6 months they're entitled to make a deduction for the use you had, so if a laptop shelf life is about 4 years then expect a proportional deduction.

(Or you might be lucky and they issue the full cash refund...)

Keep_pedalling

I find it hard to believe you can’t find a similar spec laptop from their current offerings even if it it not a Dell. Which model did you buy?

400ixl

For that price in the 2021 Dell range I would have thought a Dell XPS 13 with an 11th gen Intel i7 processor, 16Gb RAM and a 256 or 512 SSD.

Ianm42

Keep_pedalling said:

I find it hard to believe you can’t find a similar spec laptop from their current offerings even if it it not a Dell. Which model did you buy?

I can find suitable replacement direct from Dell but not for sale in Curry's.

Was a Dell Inspiron 16 Plus. Needed a 16" 3K screen, suitable built graphics card, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD for the use it was destined for. Was just the job when it worked.

More worryingly I have another two of these same models, not so high specced, at home, and NOT bought from Curry's and one of them the track pad is starting to cause issues after only 6 months. Aaaah.

Brie

If you're having problems with a Dell product I'd suggest you go direct to them to get things sorted.  Then at least you'll have credit with the right people.  Assuming if their products are so bad that you want something else from them.

born_again

Is this under their "Care & Repair" as they call it now. Where I think that is in the T/C when a item can't be fixed you get vouchers.

Rather than a "Consumer Rights" return?

400ixl

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/dell-inspiron-16-plus-7610-16-laptop-intel-core-i7-512-gb-ssd-blue-10226700.html matches your spec, but only has a 512Gb SSD. At £989 you could buy a separate 1Tb SSD drive to upgrade it for around £80.

Ianm42

400ixl said:

l matches your spec, but only has a 512Gb SSD. At £989 you could buy a separate 1Tb SSD drive to upgrade it for around £80.

Nearly but not quite the same, only an RTX3050 with 4Gb, was originally the much more powerful RTX3060 with 6GB.