Consumer Rights Act - laptop

PurpleCreature

A lady has purchased a laptop which has specialist software for sight loss installed on it, from a business which specialises in products for blind people.
She has had this laptop for 15 months and it is no longer working. She's sent it back to the business, who said that these laptops do not come with enough storage to deal with updates. They have since said that the mainframe is faulty, and it would cost £700 to replace, so she should buy a new laptop.
They then called back to say they can offer a deal on a new laptop, and she mentioned the Sale of Goods Act and that the laptop was not fit for purpose, and did not last a reasonable time. He said there was nothing they could do about this, other than offer her a reduced price on a new laptop.
Does she have any rights here, or should she just give in and get a new one? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Robin9

 

If the business advertises with RNIB then RNIB may well be interested.

Okell

If she has sent it back to the retailer* and they have admitted that:

PurpleCreature said:

... She's sent it back to the business, who said that these laptops do not come with enough storage to deal with updates. They have since said that the mainframe is faulty, and it would cost £700 to replace, so she should buy a new laptop...

then I would have thought that she might well have a valid claim against the retailer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015  (not the Sale of Goods Act) in that the laptop is not of satisfactory quality.

The retailer is allowed one attempt either to repair or to replace the laptop at no cost to the purchaser.  If they can't do that or if it fails a second time the purchaser can claim a refund, but note that after 6 months from original purchase the reatiler is entitled to deduct from the refund an amount to reflect the consumer's use of the laptop for 15 months.

That's my initial view but wait and see what others think.


*has to be the retailer, not the manufacturer unless one and the same

Alderbank

Since she mentions the Sale of Goods Act, does the lady use the laptop in connection with her trade or profession, for example for training blind people in IT skills?

If she is a consumer she will be entitled to have the hardware repaired or replaced if the seller agrees that the failure of the motherboard (I assume when she says mainframe she means motherboard) is due to an intrinsic fault present when she bought it, rather than caused after purchase as the result for example of overheating. If they dispute that, she would need to get an independent report from a computer repairer.

Software is less straightforward. Who knew at the time when she bought it that a future software update in 12/15 months from purchase would not run on the machine she was buying?

eskbanker

PurpleCreature said:

She has had this laptop for 15 months and it is no longer working. She's sent it back to the business, who said that these laptops do not come with enough storage to deal with updates. They have since said that the mainframe is faulty, and it would cost £700 to replace, so she should buy a new laptop.
They then called back to say they can offer a deal on a new laptop...

It sounds like she's dealing with a pretty dodgy organisation who are trying to pull the wool over her eyes - if this laptop was new, there's no way that storage capacity should be any sort of limitation for applying software updates!  Does she have any friends or family who are technically literate enough to help her challenge the company's assertions?

PurpleCreature

eskbanker said:

PurpleCreature said:

She has had this laptop for 15 months and it is no longer working. She's sent it back to the business, who said that these laptops do not come with enough storage to deal with updates. They have since said that the mainframe is faulty, and it would cost £700 to replace, so she should buy a new laptop.
They then called back to say they can offer a deal on a new laptop...

It sounds like she's dealing with a pretty dodgy organisation who are trying to pull the wool over her eyes - if this laptop was new, there's no way that storage capacity should be any sort of limitation for applying software updates!  Does she have any friends or family who are technically literate enough to help her challenge the company's assertions?

Thanks. They are a reputable company, but as they are quite small, they maybe feel they can't afford to take a hit. The computer was sold knowing that the specialist software was a crucial part of it, so on that basis alone I feel she should be getting an exchange. It's quite frustrating. She doesn't want to cause too much of a scene, as she needs support from them going forwards.

SiliconChip

It all sounds a bit dubious, as stated any new computer ought to have enough storage to handle updates, unless it's a low capacity Chromebook and the specialist software requires a lot of storage both to install and to update.

Can you tell us what the computer is and how much storage it has (both used and available)?

I'd suggest that any competent independent computer shop should be able to install a larger capacity storage device, if that is indeed the issue, and ensure that all the necessary software is transferred or reinstalled. The seller should be able to do that but I'm not sure I'd trust them to, it might be better to pay significantly less than £700 to have it done properly.

Ergates

PurpleCreature said:

eskbanker said:

PurpleCreature said:

She has had this laptop for 15 months and it is no longer working. She's sent it back to the business, who said that these laptops do not come with enough storage to deal with updates. They have since said that the mainframe is faulty, and it would cost £700 to replace, so she should buy a new laptop.
They then called back to say they can offer a deal on a new laptop...

It sounds like she's dealing with a pretty dodgy organisation who are trying to pull the wool over her eyes - if this laptop was new, there's no way that storage capacity should be any sort of limitation for applying software updates!  Does she have any friends or family who are technically literate enough to help her challenge the company's assertions?

Thanks. They are a reputable company, but as they are quite small, they maybe feel they can't afford to take a hit. The computer was sold knowing that the specialist software was a crucial part of it, so on that basis alone I feel she should be getting an exchange. It's quite frustrating. She doesn't want to cause too much of a scene, as she needs support from them going forwards.

They wouldn't have to take the hit - they should be able to deal with the manufacturer.

eskbanker

SiliconChip said:

It all sounds a bit dubious, as stated any new computer ought to have enough storage to handle updates, unless it's a low capacity Chromebook and the specialist software requires a lot of storage both to install and to update.

Can you tell us what the computer is and how much storage it has (both used and available)?

I'd suggest that any competent independent computer shop should be able to install a larger capacity storage device, if that is indeed the issue, and ensure that all the necessary software is transferred or reinstalled. The seller should be able to do that but I'm not sure I'd trust them to, it might be better to pay significantly less than £700 to have it done properly.

The thought crosses my mind (in the context of the reference to 'mainframe') that there could be some misinterpretation and/or misunderstanding going on, and the tale of insufficient 'storage' may actually mean memory capacity in relation to running bloated new versions of software, but yes, it would be useful to get to the bottom of what the problem (if any) really is.

PurpleCreature

Thanks very much to everyone for taking the time to reply. The lady has decided not to push things with the company. She needs their support in the future, so doesn't want to rock the boat too much. They have offered her a heavily-discounted laptop with more storage capacity, so she is going with that. Many thanks again for all your input.

Ergates

PurpleCreature said:

Thanks very much to everyone for taking the time to reply. The lady has decided not to push things with the company. She needs their support in the future, so doesn't want to rock the boat too much. They have offered her a heavily-discounted laptop with more storage capacity, so she is going with that. Many thanks again for all your input.

If it's a decent discount and it's an item she'd need replaced anyway, then this is more or less the same outcome anyway.  A partial refund followed by buying a new laptop at full price VS a discount off a new laptop.