hi everyone, I need so help from an expert on the Sale of Goods Act, as I bought a PC from comet in July 2011, it was returned as faulty in October 2011 with a faulty dvd drive, memory and hard drive which they then repaired under warranty it's worked fine ever since and has only had light usage but sadly it wont work at all since July this year.

It's a packard bell all in one touch screen pc and the screen fails to work, at barely 2 years old and I think (though cant be sure as I am not an expert) that the graphic card has failed as the screen doesn't come on at all which makes the PC unusable. I didn't purchase an extended guarantee from comet as I've had numerous packard bell pc's over the years and they've all lasted well and have been of general good quality, in other words I've had no complaints about them until now.

Comet obviously no longer exist I've emailed packard bell and asked them to undertake a free of charge repair as clearly the device is not fit for purpose as it's reasonable to expect more than two years/(18months approx since last repair) in lifepsan from a computer. Packard bell wont help and have referred me back to the retailer comet who of course no longer exist. I've threatened them with the SOGA in my previous emails and I'm certain though not sure that responsibility for repairs transfers to the manufacturer under the SOGA when a retailer goes out of business or ceases to trade. This is the part I'm not sure about!

Does responsibility for the PC transfer to Packard Bell now comet is no longer trading. Also does anyone know what constitutes a fair and reasonable life span for a PC which would satisfy trading standards I've looked on the internet but cant find any consistent (read legally satisfying) references.

Many Thanks for any help and advice.

no sadly soga doesn't fall to the manu.

I wonder if the administrators of comet might help?

dx

have you got another screen just to see if it boots ok

are you getting the post beep on power up?

dx

Yes, it boots up and runs fine except for the built in screen. I tried outputting the video to a second screen using a separate monitor and that too wouldn't work, whilst doing this I noticed a second vga socket which was blocked off with a sticker over it saying 'this port has been blocked' so I plugged it into that and hey presto it outputs to a second monitor so I can see what's going on inside the computer. I did some reading and apparently the 'blocked' port only functions when the graphic card fails and is unusable in normal use. It's powered by the pc's core processor and whilst it's hardly high performance it does allow testing and debugging to go on etc. So in essence I can sort of use the pc but it's performance is far from perfect, i.e no built in screen or touch screen functionality.

Did you pay for it by credit card

no it was a debit card, I understand there's an extra layer of protection that comes from having a credit card, but honestly I probably wouldn't qualify for one given my previous history.

Anyway I've become very debt adverse over the years and I take the view that most people wouldn't have a credit card if they were called what they really are and that's a debt card.

Good news though, I've taken the thing apart and luckily the graphics card wasn't integrated into the mother board so I've changed it (£70 for a compatible model) and it now works again.

Some debit cards do offer protection. Was this a Visa debit card?

Ok alest it works good Luke with hope it does ent nak up again if it does you may be able to use charge back with a debt card.