Hi I'm having a few issues with PC World and would like some advice on where I stand with a few things.

My girlfriend bought a brand new laptop on credit from PC World in january (dont ask me why...) after about 2 weeks it kept freezing whilst playing music, so she took it back to the store and told them. As the error couldn't be recreated they simply told her to bring it back if it happened again.

All was well and good until about 3 weeks ago, when it froze whilst playing music and then refused to be turned back on.

We took it back to the shop where a guy ran something on the machine (I had already tried safe mode and last known good config) and told us it was a hardware problem. He then gave us a number to call, but told us that the hard drive would have to be wiped.

My girlfriends photography portfolio is stored on the hard-drive and unfortunately is not backed up any where.

What Im wondering is... Can they make her pay to try and recover her data from a machine that is less than 6 months old? Can she simply get a new laptop rather than have to wait for this one to be repaired? Should she have to call customer services to get it sorted rather than the store she bought it from sort it out?

Basically she wants it fixed as soon as possible, but ideally without loosing all her work. Im going into the store with her tomorrow and would like to know where I stand before I end up in one of those heated discussions with a kid who knows less about computers than me.

Many thanks for any pointers.

I don't know how to advise you on the data, I'm afraid, but no, the store should be arranging the repair; get them to ring their own flippin' 'customer services' if she doesn't want the hassle of doing it herself (cheeky beggers). PC World have to be allowed the opportunity to repair the laptop; if it subsequently goes wrong, with the same fault, then your gf would be entitled to a new one. Your gf should not have to pay for anything - if a fault occurs in the first six months after purchase, the fault is taken to be inherent (for your purposes, it's PC World's 'fault'). After those six months, an inspection would be needed to determine if the fault was inherent (for which they are liable) or due to accident/wear and tear (for which they are not).

ok, ta... Im thinking we'll probably have to just swallow the costs for the data recovery (providing they can do it and it works) but that everything else they can sort.

You can always pay for the data recovery, get the repair done, then claim back the cost of the recovery from Head Office: "Due to your selling me an inherently faulty laptop, which your technical department have confirmed with their repair, I have had to spend XX retrieving data..."

I very much doubt data recovery would be covered on this, nor legally would they be obligated to cover it IMO - the simple argument from them would be that it should be backed up. However, data recovery(IF the hard drive is not faulty itself) is very simple and should be cheap. If the hard drive IS faulty, it costs well over £1000 for data recovery.

get a cheap hd caddy and put the hd in that and see if you can get the data off rather than trying to get the costs from pcworld - which aint likely to happen

sorry black sheep, that isnt possible in this case. laptop drives are of a different size to normal ide caddies. The solution I would recommend is to purchase a ide-usb card. Making sure that one end of it fits a laptop drive. Then using this cable, connect the laptop drive to a n other machine, and then your able to transfer any/all data that is required.

PC worlds charges for data recovery of a laptop drive, would be in the region of £99, provided the drive is spinning, again i know this for a fact. But why waste the £99, when you can do it yourself for around a tenner..

I'm a fully qualified pc technician, and use this cable, on all laptop drives that come in for repair, where there is no other answer.

If i can help any more, please don't hesitate to contact me.

If you are an IT technician, you would know that you can get both 3.5 and 2.5 inch caddies...

i got a cable off ebay thats usb one end and has connections for both types of ide drive and sata the other end.. it was about £8 delivered

used it loads of times to rescue stuff of peoples its basically plug and play and saves loads of time/money

mr shed, and black sheep, my apologies, you are both correct, you can get the 2½" drive caddies. I was not aware of them, as i do not use, them apart from the cable..

Sorry for any confusion that may or arose with my earlier post.

No problem

If you purchased the laptop in January and took out the PC performance service agreement, this covered you for Data recovery in store (providing the hard drive is not physically damaged.i.e. not calibrating) The old coverplans did not cover you for data recovery,however since October 2006 all coverplan agreements cover you for free data recovery. Remember this service does not guarantee data recovery.

ALL Laptops/PC's booked into Pc world recieve a Service docket which you must sign before they take the product from you. The print near your signature basically reads:

Any data lost whilst in care of us IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

Which is common sense i have all music, photos, films, etc. backed up on 2 massive drives as does most people with half a brain.

And what happens when it is the massive drive which stops functioning? What does the half-brain do then?

**^^^^^ 2 drives & norton ghost work a treat