Section 75 is a washout. What on earth can I do now??

[Deleted User]

I'm unable to proceed with the section 75 claim as Chillblast has still not collected my PC. So I think my next step is to contact the financial ombudsmen service? (can't link unfortunately) 

MattMattMattUK

[Deleted User] said:

I'm unable to proceed with the section 75 claim as Chillblast has still not collected my PC. So I think my next step is to contact the financial ombudsmen service? (can't link unfortunately) 

The FOS will not accept your claim, you would either need to wait eight weeks or get a deadlock letter from your bank to be able to do that. I also think at the current point they are totally right to reject your S75 request. You need to be a little bit more realistic, it is the festive period, couriers are overloaded, it will get resolved but it might take a little longer than usual.

You can either throw your toys out of the pram and it will get sorted in the new year, or you can be rational about it and it will get sorted in the year, the only difference between the two options is your blood pressure.

visidigi

I think you need to just take a step back a moment. While you might feel aggrieved at how long its taking to get it returned, you are trying to use a courier service at its most busy time of year and they have attended twice in the 9 days since the fault was determined. 

Whilst the laws say it should be done without delay, there are certain elements that go into that calculation, attempts, whether they fail or not, show resolution is being attempted by the seller.

Timeline:
Ordered 29th (which is a Saturday, not a Friday)
Presumably delivered either Monday the 1st or Tuesday the 2nd of December. 
Fault Develops on 10th of December.
Engineer visits 11th December confirms it needs to be RTB.
2 collection attempts are made in the 9 working days since. 
Due to the failures Chillblast say they will use a different courier - but it will take time to arrange.

You need to lay out what you want from Chillblast, succinctly, without words like 'outrageous', sticking to either your desire to collect and repair/replace the PC or to refund you - one requires you to enforce your statutory right to a refund, the other will require you to wait for the diagnosis/repair.

When you categorically decide which you would prefer then you should draft the required communications, including an LBA if applicable.

And no, I don't work for chillblast.

born_again

[Deleted User] said:

I'm unable to proceed with the section 75 claim as Chillblast has still not collected my PC. So I think my next step is to contact the financial ombudsmen service? (can't link unfortunately) 

1st you would need to go through Capital one complaints, before you can go to FOS one they have either issued a deadlock letter or 8 weeks have passed.

I can see Cap One point, you have had a PC less than a month & have not given the retailer chance to fix it.

S75 is never a quick process. 

Why do you think a retailer should refund before they have the item back & checked if it is faulty?

[Deleted User]

Ergates said:

[Deleted User] said:

eskbanker said:

[Deleted User] said:

But when I got a response from Capital One, I just stared at the email in disbelief. The individual said:

"After reviewing the information you have provided to date, we need some further information to help us progress our investigation and establish whether we can help you with your claim.
As per visa terms and conditions goods should be return to the merchant. so please return the goods to the merchant". 

That response indicates that they're treating it as a chargeback claim rather than a s75 one, which is common practice among card providers, as it's to their advantage to do so, even though the customer has the statutory right to claim under section 75.

I can understand why you're frustrated at what you consider to be "outrageous delays", but realistically escalation to card provider or FOS or CAB, or anybody else, is highly unlikely to expedite matters so concentrating on the retailer will be more productive IMHO - the Consumer Rights Act (20(15)) does require a retailer to refund within 14 days of agreeing that the consumer is entitled to one.

The problem with accepting a replacement from Chillblast is the fact that the PC effectively became dysfunctional after just 11 days suggests their quality control is not ideal. Also, perhaps it is the combination of hardware that precipitated the fault.

Not really, that would depend entirely on what the fault is.

If the problem is caused by a fault in the build, then yes.

If it is caused by a failing component, then no.  Chillblast don't make the components, and any part that worked for 11 days after purchase would have passed any testing performed on it.

Well, you probably know more than I do. I thought there might be an incompatibility between something like the motherboard on the one hand, and RAM, CPU or whatever on the other?  But if the fault is related to my specific PC and not to that model, then getting a replacement would be OK. But that wouldn't stop my nervousness when I get my replacement! 

[Deleted User]

MattMattMattUK said:

[Deleted User] said:

I'm unable to proceed with the section 75 claim as Chillblast has still not collected my PC. So I think my next step is to contact the financial ombudsmen service? (can't link unfortunately) 

The FOS will not accept your claim, you would either need to wait eight weeks or get a deadlock letter from your bank to be able to do that. I also think at the current point they are totally right to reject your S75 request. You need to be a little bit more realistic, it is the festive period, couriers are overloaded, it will get resolved but it might take a little longer than usual.

You can either throw your toys out of the pram and it will get sorted in the new year, or you can be rational about it and it will get sorted in the year, the only difference between the two options is your blood pressure.

Legally right? I don't think so from what I've read. Morally right? Again, I don't think so. I feel more upset than wishing to throw any toys out of the pram. I wanted to play all those games that I couldn't play on my recently deceased 13 year old PC. I'm now using a laptop and the speed of it running spreadsheets and the like is glacial. So this is not a question of me being unreasonable, especially when we consider I've been without my new PC for a fortnight now, and God only knows how much longer I'll need to wait. 

MattMattMattUK

[Deleted User] said:

Ergates said:

[Deleted User] said:

eskbanker said:

[Deleted User] said:

But when I got a response from Capital One, I just stared at the email in disbelief. The individual said:

"After reviewing the information you have provided to date, we need some further information to help us progress our investigation and establish whether we can help you with your claim.
As per visa terms and conditions goods should be return to the merchant. so please return the goods to the merchant". 

That response indicates that they're treating it as a chargeback claim rather than a s75 one, which is common practice among card providers, as it's to their advantage to do so, even though the customer has the statutory right to claim under section 75.

I can understand why you're frustrated at what you consider to be "outrageous delays", but realistically escalation to card provider or FOS or CAB, or anybody else, is highly unlikely to expedite matters so concentrating on the retailer will be more productive IMHO - the Consumer Rights Act (20(15)) does require a retailer to refund within 14 days of agreeing that the consumer is entitled to one.

The problem with accepting a replacement from Chillblast is the fact that the PC effectively became dysfunctional after just 11 days suggests their quality control is not ideal. Also, perhaps it is the combination of hardware that precipitated the fault.

Not really, that would depend entirely on what the fault is.

If the problem is caused by a fault in the build, then yes.

If it is caused by a failing component, then no.  Chillblast don't make the components, and any part that worked for 11 days after purchase would have passed any testing performed on it.

Well, you probably know more than I do. I thought there might be an incompatibility between something like the motherboard on the one hand, and RAM, CPU or whatever on the other?   

If it was incompatible it would have never worked, not worked for eleven days first then failed.

[Deleted User] said:
But if the fault is related to my specific PC and not to that model, then getting a replacement would be OK. But that wouldn't stop my nervousness when I get my replacement! 

There is no model for the fault to be related to, it is a collection of components, all of which will be compatible and one will have either developed a fault or potentially come loose, though the latter is unlikely if it has not been moved and an engineer has checked it in person.

Chillblast sell thousands of PCs every month, they are going to end up with components that fail as the failure rate of new components and consumer electronics is around 1.8%, so you either accept that or never buy any consumer electronics.

eskbanker

[Deleted User] said:

I'm unable to proceed with the section 75 claim as Chillblast has still not collected my PC. So I think my next step is to contact the financial ombudsmen service? (can't link unfortunately) 

As above, it's way too early to be contacting FOS for the primary issue, but, as pointed out earlier, your card provider appears to have chosen to process your claim under chargeback rules (which do require return of goods) rather than s75 (which don't), so you could insist to the card provider that they deal with it as s75 and complain to them if they refuse to do so, ultimately escalating to FOS if necessary.

However, none of this will speed up resolution of the main issue if that's the desired outcome....

[Deleted User]

born_again said:

[Deleted User] said:

I'm unable to proceed with the section 75 claim as Chillblast has still not collected my PC. So I think my next step is to contact the financial ombudsmen service? (can't link unfortunately) 

1st you would need to go through Capital one complaints, before you can go to FOS one they have either issued a deadlock letter or 8 weeks have passed.

I can see Cap One point, you have had a PC less than a month & have not given the retailer chance to fix it.

S75 is never a quick process. 

Why do you think a retailer should refund before they have the item back & checked if it is faulty?

I'm just going by what I understand the legal position to be; namely if a newly bought product becomes dysfunctional within 30 days then the person who purchased it has the right for it be repaired/replaced/refunded without undue delay and within 14 days.  And that hasn't happened in my case. I do not recollect an exception to this rule being made for the Christmas period. 

I don't think the person at Capital One can have read anything I've said, or if he has he has not comprehended it. 

Ergates

[Deleted User] said:

Ergates said:

[Deleted User] said:

eskbanker said:

[Deleted User] said:

But when I got a response from Capital One, I just stared at the email in disbelief. The individual said:

"After reviewing the information you have provided to date, we need some further information to help us progress our investigation and establish whether we can help you with your claim.
As per visa terms and conditions goods should be return to the merchant. so please return the goods to the merchant". 

That response indicates that they're treating it as a chargeback claim rather than a s75 one, which is common practice among card providers, as it's to their advantage to do so, even though the customer has the statutory right to claim under section 75.

I can understand why you're frustrated at what you consider to be "outrageous delays", but realistically escalation to card provider or FOS or CAB, or anybody else, is highly unlikely to expedite matters so concentrating on the retailer will be more productive IMHO - the Consumer Rights Act (20(15)) does require a retailer to refund within 14 days of agreeing that the consumer is entitled to one.

The problem with accepting a replacement from Chillblast is the fact that the PC effectively became dysfunctional after just 11 days suggests their quality control is not ideal. Also, perhaps it is the combination of hardware that precipitated the fault.

Not really, that would depend entirely on what the fault is.

If the problem is caused by a fault in the build, then yes.

If it is caused by a failing component, then no.  Chillblast don't make the components, and any part that worked for 11 days after purchase would have passed any testing performed on it.

Well, you probably know more than I do. I thought there might be an incompatibility between something like the motherboard on the one hand, and RAM, CPU or whatever on the other?  But if the fault is related to my specific PC and not to that model, then getting a replacement would be OK. But that wouldn't stop my nervousness when I get my replacement! 

Whilst specific motherboards are only compatible with certain CPU, it isn't possible to fit an incompatible one - it won't physically fit (i.e. you simply cannot fit a Ryzen CPU into a motherboard designed for an Intel CPU).

Similarly with RAM - you physically can't put DDR3 RAM into a DDR4 slot (etc).

Other than that - if if fits, it should be OK.  I'd say it's most likely a failed component.