mistreatment of laptop during repair

[verb_omen]

hi there, need some advice before i let myself be talked round by PC World's joyous customer support department.

I bought a philips laptop at the beginning of march. fast forward four months and i take it back to PC world for a minor repair (the touchpad stopped working). I went to collect it the other day and the assistant told me that the repairs centre had sent it back initially "all cracked open in an awful state" saying that i'd dropped it and my warranty didn't cover that. she told them it hadn't been like that when i took it in and the damage must have happened in transit. so they said fair enough and repaired the casing.

only problem is, i'm not happy. PC World's head office's slant is that because only cosmetic damage was caused in transit, they can just repair it, check that it works and give it back to me. but years of dealing with computers has taught me that dropping a laptop is pretty serious. they're pretty fragile and even though it still works now, components and their connections can be seriously weakened and im scared that once my 12 month warranty runs out it'll fail and i'll be left without a leg to stand on. obviously the girl on the phone just said "but its been checked to make sure it's all fine" but... knowing PC World's reputation, I don't think that means much more than they've turned it on and wiggled the mouse around a bit.

moreover, the store assistant explained to me the boxes that they pack them in for transit are really safe, stuffed with foam etc. so for my laptop to have incurred that much damage it must have been *seriously* kicked around. i'm just angry that something that i rely on so much could have been treated with so little respect by these people. what i want to know is, do i actually have any right to complain about it or will head office just laugh at me if i do?

[gyzmo]

It makes me laugh (in derision) that they will not accept a repair if you drop it but state that you must accept it if they drop it. Hypocrites.

I woul say that they have failed to excercise reasonable care and skill in the decision of their duties and you are claiming damages for loss of value. Normally, if they can make good the damage (by repairing) then that should be sufficient. However, it may be difficult given that you have not had it back yet and cannot state for certainty that there is anything wrong with it.

You could try and hold your ground now or, what may be better, is to accept only on the condition (put in writing to them) that if there is the slightest flaw that did not exist prior to your handing it to them, you will pursue a replacement.

I do not think HO should laugh at you. Report this to Consumer Direct (and let HO know you have done this). and let us know of anything that happens.

[labrat]

daft question and i know this might be pushing it..

does it have a green "job card" in with it, if not it may not have made it to the workshop and has been hanging around for however long in the store...

if it has got a job card in with it and the engineer number starts with R then i express very little suprise and can only suggest that you ensure any future bookings go to the main workshop where it will be treated decently..

just out of personal curiosity this didnt come back around a week( probably wens/thurs/fri) ago did it?

[verb_omen]

it came back on the 24th... dare i ask why?

i didn't see a green card although as i said i havent accepted it back from the store yet so i dont know if there is one. i did get a printout of the service record and it has a job number and details of shipping it to/from the store though... so I don't think they're making it up (thatd require too much cunning)

anyway after EXTREME persistence at annoying their call centre agents I've managed to get this escalated to the point where I was talking to someone senior enough to authorise a refund. Trouble is, he conveniently "couldn't get through" to the store in question to let them know, as they seemed to know nothing about it!

....looks like more calls on Monday *eyeroll*

[labrat]

not sure cos this is second hand info but i did hear something about delivery troubles a few weeks back.

not sure what weither they ment late, dropped, mixed up or what tho, just wondered if it could be the second.

didnt think anyone at the call center had that sort of auth it probably changed tho since i left, thats coming up on a year now.

R numbers go to a differnt workshop you see not pcworlds own W or T numbers is pcworlds own workshop and i know they have alot less QC issues than the R numbers from beibng on the phones for them