Am I entitled to a full refund?

Anoni58

Thanks all! I haven’t yet responded but perhaps I can ask for “some” good will instead rather than a full refund, I would agree they can have a chance at a repair, I wouldn’t say they repaired it though, since they only advised me to google drivers on Acer. 

They didn’t have it to hand or run any diagnostics to determine what an issue was, or ask for any error codes nothing. Just based on a simple description of the troubles I was facing. 

Appreciate you all for the time it’s taken for you to read and respond. 

I guess I’ll just respond and hope I’ve caught them on a kind day! 

screech_78

We would deduct £108 for 13 months use on a £600 product. 

Have seen a few go to small claims and none have went in customer’s favour (not to say that none haven’t, just of the ones I’ve seen) but I’d try push for a little more than the £400 offered. 

saajan_12

Two separate issues..
On the returning to retailer, I think them accepting there is an issue and offering £400 is a good result. Even if you could argue a longer expected life, you might get another £50-100 but may not be worth the hassle. 

On the warranty, check the terms and whether any of the correspondence can suggest the repair is not yet complete. After it stopped working again an hour after downloading the drivers, did you follow up again? 

Anoni58

Thank you! (Again). 

I felt the offer was a little low - I know how I feel in regards to a refund and ideally anyone would, would like a full refund or replacement for a faulty product. 

Saying that, I do acknowledge their reasonings I just feel their offer is a tad low based on a few factors. I was just wondering whether it was worth the fight. 

I have now replied and I just hope they able to offer a bit of goodwill based on the factors brought to them prior to this. 

They were aware on 2 separate occasions regarding the fault. 

First time I was told to Google the issue and search for drivers via the Acer website. Without knowing the real issue and no diagnostics run. 

Second time I was told that they aren’t trained to deal with anything else and I needed to speak to Acer to distinguish the fault. 

Following that the report from Acer I sent that to Argos. 

I was merely following advice both sides really. 

They were aware then there was a period over Christmas and New Year for minimal contact. Which leads us to now. 

Fingers crossed, all the advice has been eye opening. 

Olinda99

I don't think tech depreciates a linearly and I would bet that a £600 laptop 13 months later is worth less than £400 so if it was me I would accept it

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

screech_78 said:

We would deduct £108 for 13 months use on a £600 product. 

Have seen a few go to small claims and none have went in customer’s favour (not to say that none haven’t, just of the ones I’ve seen) but I’d try push for a little more than the £400 offered. 

Whilst I don't agree with this 6 year idea (mainly as it ignores consideration for price with regards to satisfactory quality),with products like this it probably favours the consumer, whilst I would hope a laptop would last longer than 6 years by that time it's probably passed the point where you've had your use out of it.

screech_78

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

screech_78 said:

We would deduct £108 for 13 months use on a £600 product. 

Have seen a few go to small claims and none have went in customer’s favour (not to say that none haven’t, just of the ones I’ve seen) but I’d try push for a little more than the £400 offered. 

Whilst I don't agree with this 6 year idea (mainly as it ignores consideration for price with regards to satisfactory quality),with products like this it probably favours the consumer, whilst I would hope a laptop would last longer than 6 years by that time it's probably passed the point where you've had your use out of it.

If this was me dealing with a 13 month old laptop, I probably wouldn’t make any deduction. I’d offer a replacement or if the customer would accept, a gift card for the full purchase price to choose something else. 

OP, is the exact same laptop still available? Really, they should probably be offering a replacement, but if a previous repair has failed and you’re rejecting it, I suppose they only have to offer a partial refund. I do think the deduction is a bit much though. 

Okell

@Anoni58 -  sorry if you've already explained, but who was the warranty with?  I presume Acer, but was it Argos?

Assuming it was Acer, then it seems to me that your problem - as far as I can follow your story - is that while the warranty was still current you never approached Acer and you dealt solely with Argos, who appear to have handled it (rightly?) as a Consumer rights issue.  If you had wanted to claim under the warranty Argos wouldn't have been able to help you

You then only went to Acer after their warranty had expired.  After it had expired it's irrelevant whether it had expired by one day or two years - it's still expired.

I don't think Argos have necessarily done anything wrong here - except that when you first approached them and they suggested a DiY repair they perhaps could have suggested that you might be better off going to Acer while the guarantee was still current.  But I don't think they were obliged to advise you of this.

As it is, under consumer protection legislation you are not entitled to a full refund and Argos can deduct from your refund an amount to reflect the 13 months of use you have had of the product.

A partial refund of £400 on a £600 purchase sounds a little low to me, and @screech78's suggestion of £500 sounds more reasonable.

Up to you how much you want to haggle...

Okell

screech_78 said:

We would deduct £108 for 13 months use on a £600 product. 

Have seen a few go to small claims and none have went in customer’s favour (not to say that none haven’t, just of the ones I’ve seen) but I’d try push for a little more than the £400 offered. 

Are you saying that of the cases you know of that have gone to court, that the court's have generally gone along with the view that deductions for use should be based on an expected product lifetime of 6 years (72 months)?

I don't criticise traders for taking that line of argument - given a limitation period of 6 years - but it seems wrong to adopt it as a blanket approach when some goods should reasonably be expected to last a lot longer than 6 years  eg fridges

Olinda99 said:

I don't think tech depreciates a linearly and I would bet that a £600 laptop 13 months later is worth less than £400 so if it was me I would accept it

I don't think it depreciates linearly either, but the deduction in the refund is for use and not for loss in value

How you put a price on either is another matter...

screech_78

Okell said:

screech_78 said:

We would deduct £108 for 13 months use on a £600 product. 

Have seen a few go to small claims and none have went in customer’s favour (not to say that none haven’t, just of the ones I’ve seen) but I’d try push for a little more than the £400 offered. 

Are you saying that of the cases you know of that have gone to court, that the court's have generally gone along with the view that deductions for use should be based on an expected product lifetime of 6 years (72 months)?

I don't criticise traders for taking that line of argument - given a limitation period of 6 years - but it seems wrong to adopt it as a blanket approach when some goods should reasonably be expected to last a lot longer than 6 years  eg fridges

Yes. Of all the cases I’ve seen go to small claims that we have defended on the basis that customer is unhappy with a partial refund, I haven’t seen one go in customer’s favour yet. The only cases I see are ones my team have dealt with (director/executive level) and almost always, it’s not customers disputing the amount as such, it’s them wanting a full refund. I haven’t  come across any for a fridge or fridge freezer yet. Almost always TV’s and apple products. 

As I said, I don’t see them all so it’s not to say it hasn’t happened.

It’s usually appliances that are 3+ years old too, don’t think I’ve seen many which are 1-2 years old as like I said, my team would almost certainly replace or come to an arrangement with the customer regarding a refund on a 13 month old product.