John Lewis Laptop problems....

[sophiandphil]

Hi all, I hope this is the correct board for this question.

Do I have any rights re small claims?

I bought a John Lewis laptop (£1600) in September 2004, it had a two year guarantee. I returned the laptop three times as none worked. They replaced the laptop each time no problem. Eventually I got a working Toshiba laptop. In December 2005 it stopped working - the battery pack and charge bit failed. I took it back and they replaced the ac cable. The ac charge cable that was replaced was different to the one sent away.

my first cable had one connection from the wire that you plug into the computer and the one that came back had what looked like two connections,like an extension. I do hope I am being clear!

Roll on till the end of August 2006 when the ac connector broke of inside the computer. I was just within the two year guarantee period but john lewis say the damage is accidental and therefore not covered. I have never had any accident withthe computer and my argument is that the connection was not robust enough to be fit for the purpose itended. they said the charge for repair will be £637.

many, many letters later to customer services, store managers, chairman of JL! they will not back down though offered £200 off the cost of repair. i have had to pay the £437.

Can i claim this back or at least try to? Can anyone help me withsome advice?

[blitz]

You would need to prove, that it was not accidental damage from a neutral engineer agreed by both parties involved.
Most battery problems are through the fault of the consumer, laptop batterys should not be kept in the laptop whilst it is plugged in, and the battery is fully charged. You should also run down the battery every week.
As you have had the item repaired, it is now difficult to argue that it wasn't accidental damage.

[rosiecotton]

Yes, you would have to prove that it's not something you did yourself and now it's been repaired it would be impossible to do, also as you have effectively accepted their offer of £200 off the repair price and paid for them to carry it out, there's very little else you can do in any case.

Sorry.

[mauri]

I bought my laptop (toshiba) on 13/09/08, after 2 months the cd drive broke, I took it (30/11/07) to the nearest JL in Welwyn garden City, on 21/01/08 (after 52 days) The service department called me saying that laptop is ready to collect.
The laptop had a deep scratch on the lid . A man took the laptop back to investigate and promis me to call next day. Week pased-nothing.
I'm going to JL in Friday 1st Feb to demand money back!!!
I've had enough-in friday will be 2 months since I gave the computer to repair and I had it only for 2 months.

[mauri]

I got my money back!! ....now I can start again looking for a laptop
Where?? Who would you recommend?

kind regards