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In february 2005 I purchased a computer from Vantage computers, this came with one year onsite + 3years RTB warranty through a company call Repair Line included on my invoice . In January computer started switching off and crashing I checked internals and found that a chip fan had failed and hard drive was noisy. Contacted repair line who would not take my word for what was wrong but put me through to a technician who diagnosed that fan and drive were faulty and would arrange for an engineer to phone me and confirm when they would call. Needless to say I got no return call, mid february I called again to confirm that engineer would call under warranty and was assured that parts were on order and engineer would confirm. Weekly calls got no action until I spoke to a supervisor who said that the original supplier should supply the parts, contacted vantage who set out a replacement chip fan but would not supply hard drive as they argued Repair Line should have dealt with. Weekly calls just keep get batted between both of these companies - computer has a failed power supply fan which I want replaced - they will not replace as I did not report fault within the year. My argument being that I am not a technician and that this was most likely faulty on first complaint and would have been found if the engineer had made his call within the warranty period, I have still not seen hide nor hair of the engineer and neither Vantage no Repair line will return calls.
Any advice on how to pusue this would be appreciated
There are a number of points to be made.
You would have a claim under the Sale of Goods Act 2002 since the computer
should be safe and durable as well as fit for its purpose. As the fan broke down within a year, it was patently not durable and possibly unsafe from the chance of
it causing a fire through overheating of the components. Indeed, it would seem unlikely that the fan was working fine one day, and then completely not working the
next, which could lay the company open to an inherent fault from the date of
manufacture.
You also have a valid claim under the terms of the warranty. You also have a claim
for breach of warranty for failure to fit the replacement chip fan, failure to supply
and fit the hard drive, and possibly for failing to send an engineer at the time to
confirm there were no other faults.
Against that, it sounds as if you were continuing to use your computer despite
the faults. This may well count against you in terms of claiming for the second fan
if you read the terms of the warranty, and the Sale of Goods Act.
I understand that you will have needed the use of a computer in the meantime,
and under the Sale of Goods Act , you could have claimed for the hire of one
in the interim period as you are entitled to claim for expenses incurred in the Breakdown of the goods, providing those costs were reasonable.
No help to you now of course, but a refund of your warranty payment would be a minimum on the breach of contract as their agents have not honoured any part of their side of the contract, so you would have no confidence in relying on them for
the rtb service.
There are a number of points to be made.
You would have a claim under the Sale of Goods Act 2002 since the computer
should be safe and durable as well as fit for its purpose. As the fan broke down within a year, it was patently not durable and possibly unsafe from the chance of
it causing a fire through overheating of the components. Indeed, it would seem unlikely that the fan was working fine one day, and then completely not working the
next, which could lay the company open to an inherent fault from the date of
manufacture.
You also have a valid claim under the terms of the warranty. You also have a claim
for breach of warranty for failure to fit the replacement chip fan, failure to supply
and fit the hard drive, and possibly for failing to send an engineer at the time to
confirm there were no other faults.
Against that, it sounds as if you were continuing to use your computer despite
the faults. This may well count against you in terms of claiming for the second fan
if you read the terms of the warranty, and the Sale of Goods Act.
I understand that you will have needed the use of a computer in the meantime,
and under the Sale of Goods Act , you could have claimed for the hire of one
in the interim period as you are entitled to claim for expenses incurred in the Breakdown of the goods, providing those costs were reasonable.
No help to you now of course, but a refund of your warranty payment would be a minimum on the breach of contract as their agents have not honoured any part of their side of the contract, so you would have no confidence in relying on them for
the rtb service.
As a computer engineer myself had I looked at your system and that PSU fan had been operating normally then I would say it was unlikely that it would have been spotted so you may be bunched on that aspect of it but the chip fan and hard drive being noisy you should be entitled to them to visit your home and fix the thing.
How noisy is the hard drive are you sure its noisier than it used to be and its not that now another fan has failed that you can now hear it?
Which "chip" fan has failed is it the main CPU fan (the biggest one with a large lump of metal under it or is it a smaller one with a small amount of metal under it?
If its the smaller one then its unlikely that that fan failing is causing any problems as this is a chipset fan and generally speaking they dont really need them, I usually disconnect them anyway as theyre usually poorly made and use sleeve bearings which are quieter but tend to fall apart after say 13 months
If its the big CPU fan then you really shouldnt be using the system at all as with a failed fan you could potentially destroy the CPU or possibly cause overheating damage to other parts of the system as it will be causing hotspots in the case which could lead to things like HD failure or video card problems as the air will not be getting moved around enough.
I would write to them demanding that this is fixed within 14 days etc etc gone on for too long been messed about etc and that if they fail to rectify the faults then you will have them repaired at your expense and then seek recompense through the small claims court.
A CPU fan should cost between £10-60 plus no more than £20 for fitting, the cost of the fan and heatsink is dependant on quality and noise.
A new PSU is about £20-100 again depending on quality and wattage (most places dont replace fans as once a fan fails you dont know what damage has been done to the PSU and its dangerous) fitting abour £10-20
A new HD (depending on size) is from £25-300 with about £20 for fitting and probably around £50 to reinstall windows, which your warranty wont cover anyway.
If they do replace your HD back up your data as these companies will just fit the new drive and walk away software and Windows etc will be your problem to get sorted out, they should have provided you with a system restore disc already.
If you get all that done at the same time then labour shouldnt come to anymore than £50 (excluding Windows being installed)
On Site Warranty
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