Laptop Lifespan? **SORTED**

[JonCris]

1/ Customer Lives in Wales,
2/ Customer purchases product from dealer whilst in SE England,
product fails,
3/ Supplying dealer asks customer to return the goods to the branch,
4/ Customer points out that travel costs will be approx. ex amount & will they pay,
5/ Arranged to return goods to local branch,
6/ Goods replaced FOC with latest upgraded more costly model as faulty model no longer in stock,
7/ customer very happy smiles leaves shop

[tim2718281]

Can they also claim for loss of amenity?

Tim

[JonCris]

They could tim but they would have to prove it really was a loss of amenity & an essential part of their life, bit like sex

[ellie1997]

And the saga continues....

28 days was up yesterday, so DH duly telephoned "The Tech Guys" who said yes, you are now entitled to a replacement! Go into store and speak to the manager. As DH had seen a Compaq in PC World he asked if they could sort out the exchange code, to be told yes, no problems.

Went to PC World last night who said they couldnt actually do it and we needed to go back to Dixons. Dixons were closed so we ended up in Currys. The Currys man was lovely, he tried repeatedly to call their customer services to obtain the code, but between 7-8pm they just didnt answer the phone grrrrr, so another day, no laptop.

DH called the Dixons branch where we originally bought it from this morning and they have said that we cant have vouchers for the purchase price (so there goes my Compaq in PC World!), he also said we would only have the original value of the laptop to spend in store (£400).

Now here is where it gets a little complex. When we bought the laptop we paid £500 for it in Dixons sale. When we got it home we found that it didnt have a few of the features on it that were advertised on Dixons website and that they had made a mistake. In fairness to Dixons they refunded us £100 on the purchase price as it had been misadvertised, hence I now only paid £400.

My (basic) understanding is that the replacement I get should be of an equivallent or better standard, the problem being that a similar spec laptop is now £500 and Dixons manager is saying I only have £400.

Im going up there tonight to sort things out, does anyone know what my rights are here? Can I demand vouchers? Have I really got to go with a lower spec laptop?
Thanks again guys!
Jane
x

[rosiecotton]

OK, the facts as I understand them:

The laptop is 12 months old, but you have only really had 6 months decent use of it.

It cost £400 in the sale

Laptop of the same spec is now £500

*****

The Sale of Goods Act says that if a repair within a reasonable time is not possible, you are looking at replacement (if it's not disproportionate for the trader to do this) or rescission of the contract. The law does say that if you rescind the contract, wear and tear since purchase does need to be taken into account and this would also be a consideration if they were giving you a brand new replacement for an older item.

However, I think that asking you to pay £100 for a new replacement is far too much and is effectively charging you £100 for six months use - not something that I would consider reasonable.

In this case, I would go for it and pursue the loss of bargain route. In contract law, there is a provision to pay consumers damages for any loss of bargain that they suffer as a result of a trader's breach of contract. In short, if you buy faulty goods in a sale and they go wrong, you shouldn't then end up paying the full non-sale amount.

I'd write to the trader stating that the goods are faulty and under the Sale of Goods Act you are seeking a replacement, as the company were unable to carry out a repair within a reasonable time. State that you would like a replacement of the same spec, and that although you bought the item in the sale you expect them to replace it like-for-like or you will pursue them for the difference as loss of bargain.

It won't hurt to push for this, they may get a bit funny and try and mention wear and tear but cross that bridge when you come to it.

[JonCris]

Also don't forget to include in any claim all of the costs you have incurred as a result of their messing about. Tell them you intend to claim they might then think, rightly, that it would be just as cost efective to sort you out with a Laptop now & to hell with the price

[ellie1997]

Result! Wonderful manager at Dixons (now Currys digital btw!), he had a replacement of a slightly better spec already lined up, but I would have to wait at least a week as it was out of stock. In the end I paid a little bit extra and upgraded to a toshiba

Im a happy person now, and more importantly I can get this college work handed in on time!

Huge thanks to everyone who advised me in this thread
Jane
x

[Bookworm]

Hurrah!

[ellie1997]

Can I just say though, the manager said (off the record of course) that Dixons did actually stop selling this model at one point as it was so unreliable. He was amazed when they had them back for christmas last year....