Hi last month I was looking to purchase a new computer.

I went to the CurrysPCworld website and found a machine that was suitable.

Trouble was they were out of stock.

Still browsing their website, I discovered they had my machine on their business website, but I had to join as a business retailer.

I used my brother Business name.

I joined up.

I then ordered the computer and paid £1.119.58.

A few days later, I received the computer, and carefully installed it after reading the manual.

As I switched it on,

I get an error message saying no signal on the monitor.

I tried everything possible to get it to work.

I even put another working monitor on it with same message.

I even purchased a new DVI lead from Amazon thing it may well be a faulty lead.

This was waste of money and got same message.

I then contacted Currys PCworld support emails 4 times and all said message was was invalid.

I found another email, and this was delivered.

I then got a reply saying sorry, but need to check my leads and to pause on reboot and tell them errors on the screen. How can I read the details without a display Doughnuts.

This went on for a few days, and then I get a message saying I need to get in touch with the Manufacturer FUJITSU.

I told them I could not contact them as I'm totally deaf.

I then told them to sort it out, and gave them 7 days to respond.

No contact, so I asked them for a full refund and they can pick it up.

We exchanged emails and it was obvious they will not be refunding me.

I then got a message to say an engineer from PCworld will be coming to change the video card.

I've refused this, and rejected the offer and just want a refund.

I need a computer urgent and had to get a bank load to buy another.

PC world say its a manufacturer and not there's

Please can anybody give me some advice bearing in mind its a business Account Purchase

Thanks

Ray

Hi There

Before going legal - Have you emailed the chief exec? Or had a go at them on Twitter?

CEO / MD

[email protected]

Curries are telling porkies. It's nothing to do with the manufacturer. It is their duty as the supplier.

However, by making the contract as a business, you have deprive yourself of some valuable consumer rights which would have sorted this out very quickly.

How long ago did you buy it and when was it delivered?

I purchased the computer on the 12th May 2017. It was delivered 16th May. Because of the fault with no signal on the monitor, a moron emailed me and ased me to write down the errors on boot up. This must be a sales person jerk. How can I read boot up if I haven't got a signal. It was on the 17th May I tried contacting with support email that was sent 4 times. Eventually I got a reply back. I opened up a complaints which ended today. I now got 20 day before I can contact the chief. I needed a computer urgent for my sons exams and had to take out a bank loan of £1000 with interest and purchased a new computer. Now they wan to send somebody from Fujitsu to replace the graphic card. How do they know its the graphic card, it could be any fault. Just got a guts full now. I did not know business accounts are different. surly they must refund me now.

Thanks

As a business purchaser, your rights to buy a quality product and to have it providing satisfactory service for a reasonable period of time are pretty well the same as those of the consumer. The problem is that in a consumer contract, you have clear remedies whereas in a business contract, they are not so well defined.

I'm afraid that there has always been a difference between business contracts and consumer contracts because the assumption has been that businesses have equal bargaining power and are therefore able to negotiate their own terms of any contract without needing any help from the legislature.

Clearly this is a load of nonsense when it comes to small and medium traders. It is only huge companies with huge orders that would be able to negotiate with Currys and to lay down the law to them.

I'm afraid that what we are hearing here is rather typical of Currys. They don't seem to be very good customer service and even in respect of consumers, they often tend to deny them their rights. Dealing with businesses I can imagine that things can get very difficult.

I think you're absolutely right to insist on a replacement – or in fact a refund. However, I don't think you will be able to enforce it without the threat of legal action and in fact you may need to issue the court papers.

I think the you should not allow Currys or their engineers any access to the computer. You will only end up in a long drawn out procedure that could go on for months. I think you need to start drawing a line under it. Let me warn you now that whatever you do – and even if you are a consumer, you would be unlikely to get Currys to give you a working computer within the limited time for your son's exams – assuming that they are this year.

Assuming you are prepared to take legal action then I would suggest that you write to Currys immediately and tell them that enough is enough. You have had a computer from them for about a month which has never worked and so they are in fundamental breach of their contract. Tell them that you want an immediate refund and that if you do not get it within 14 days that you will start a small claims court action without any further notice.

At the end of 14 days, begin the action. Don't bluff. If you think you can get by by bluffing then forget it. It doesn't work and you lose credibility.

The second problem with having started a business contract is that you will have to sue them as a business. There is also a risk here that the case may eventually be transferred to the Currys head office local court. I don't know where you live but this is probably very inconvenient for you and could result in a lot of travelling. Had you been suing them as a consumer, then the rules are that where the individual sues a business, that the case will be heard in the court local to the individual. I'm afraid that you have lost this privilege. Had you bought the computer from your local branch of Currys, then you would have had a good basis for saying that the case should be heard in that local court. As you have bought the computer online, I'm afraid that it is likely that you will have to sue Currys through the registered address and that may be far from you but that is where the case would be heard. You can certainly ask a judge to transfer the case to your local court but I would imagine that Currys will realise the difficulty that you are in and they will exploit it and attempt to insist that the case is heard far away from you.

However, I don't think you have any choice. If you win the case – and the chances of your success are much better than 95%, then you will recover all of your court fees and also all of your reasonable costs of travel. However, it will still be a nuisance.

I'm afraid that despite the difficulties, the only way to deal with this is to sue Currys – and also resolve never to represent yourself as a business again when you are purchasing items as a private individual.

Hi

Many thanks for your reply. As I said I was looking for a computer online and saw the computer I wanted. The computer was out of stock, and did not know when its available. On the website, I saw the business account and had a browse. On here they had my computer for sale and £75 cheaper than retail. Before I could purchase it, I needed an account. So I joined up and just made up a business name and was accepted. I could now purchase the machine and paid by credit card. I contacted my credit card supplier, and asked for chargeback. This is still progressing but I don't hold much hope to get refunded. To me ive been cheated out of over a Grand. I had to take out a bank load of £1000.00 with interest. to buy another computer urgent. Is it possible if you could make me a letter to send to currys as I'm hopeless doing this. Again thanks for the brilliant replies.

Ray