Thread: Faulty Toshiba Laptops bought 24/12/07-please help

Originally Posted by abimolloy

Hi,

I am writing on behalf of my friend as she is so fed up with PC world that this forum seems to be her last resort.

She bought two Toshiba laptops for Christmas last year- to treat her teenage sons but they can hardly use them as most of the time laptops are being sent to PCW workshop.

If anyone could advise how to proceed with this would be great.

Details:
Toshiba Equium A200 1v0
Pentium T2310
1024MB+1024 MB MEMORY 667
120 GBHD
15 wxga SCREEN
with windows vista

8/01/08 First visit to PCW
From the start there were problems with both laptops.
They either could not even start windows or when it worked all programs kept freezing so they were both useless. They couldnt access internet either.In January my friend took both of them to PCW and after two weeks in workshop, they were returned saying that everything is ok.
But there was no improvement
13/03/08 second
My friend again took both of them to PCW saying that she wants to get a replacement as laptops were no use as they kept freezing all the time.
PCW confirmed that there was a fault with a hard drive and no booting to windows which they apparently fixed and returned laptops on the 5/4/08 .

My friend didnt notice any improvement this time either.

23/08/08 was the date of next complain and another 2 weeks in the workshop
15/09/08 another 2 weeks in the workshop
no improvement either

Both laptops have been in and out workshop and they still are freezing even when you go online-and my friend has got another older PC with a similar memory and this one works perfectly no problems like those with laptops at all.


As around 24 th of December will be a year since my friend bought them I thought maybe it is worth trying to finally write an official complain to CS and get a replacement?

Please help.................

Thanks in advance,

Aga

Obvously this entire situation depends on what your running on the laptop, obviously high end games on a low end laptop will cause consistant crashing. Also check the vents for any clogging or blockage, that may occur while using it as this can cause over-heating and crashing. Also if your computers have contracted some form of a virus you wouldn't have a leg to stand on returning them because it's upto you to keep them firewalled and virus scanned.

Anyway assuming your software isn't an issue, your airflow is good and it's not a virus, if you bought an extended whateverhappens/pc perfomance plan policy, they specify 3 repairs then a refund in the form of vouchers to buy an new one. So you could argue that if this is good enough for one customer, it's good enough for them all. Paying a premium should not allow them to dictate how many repairs until an item is unfixable. Although this is entirely out of the hands of the instore customer services because they cannot issue refunds or exchanges on large faulty items outside of 28 days without head office authorisation or a returns authorisation number from the manufactorer, which is why thetechguys issue replacement vouchers on their behalf when it's wrote off.

Failing that you should try speaking to the manager of the store you've bought it from make sure it isn't a sales team leader, but an actual manager or deputy manager. Calmly tell him that it has been for repair several times, your not happy with the durability of the item and that you'd like a refund or replacement because you fear storing any data on it due to crashing, and see if he will do anything on your behalf. Make sure you mention to him that you will involve trading standards if not satisfied, but try not to threaten this, just drop it in as a fact.

He'll probably tell you that it needs to be sent off for repair, again. This is because he won't want to just write off your laptop himself, this will cost him the value of your laptop straight off his bottom line. When thetechguys write a laptop off it costs them nothing, and they issue you with replacement vouchers. There are two things you can do given this situation, get him to promise you a new laptop if the problem persists after this repair (in writing). Or tell him it's not good enough and take things further.

Now some managers will cave in under this pressure, especialy if you've been in the store for a while, and the shop is busy, because you'll be putting off other customers. If they don't, well then issuing letters to head office and trading standards would be your next step, but I'll leave that for the more legaly minded or consumer direct to tell you about.

Oh and make sure you keep notes/documentation of any reported faults, they will be your proof that they were reported inside the 1 year manufactorer warantee, make sure they know you won't be fobbed off once the year is up.