I suspect to give the operators time to update their systems.

Or they possibly thought it would just take longer to get the regulations through.

It doesn't have to be an authorised repairer, but using one can just tend to bypass that argument if it comes up is all.

As has been said, get the independent report done, but preferably by someone other than the repairer you used last time. If you got them to do the report then it could possibly be considered as not independent as they already have some level of interest in the TV.

I'd be very careful in reading the small print of these free upgrades. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if taking a free upgrade also tied you in to a new 12/18/24 month contract.

You'd probably be better taking it somewhere other than where you had it repaired last time to get the report. If the problem was down to a sub-par repair they're less likely to report on that. As for if it's the same thing failing, it depends on how they repaired it. Did they use genuine/approved parts? Did they repair it using an approved method? Are they even an authorised repairer for that brand?

It's certainly possible that the report could conclude it was no a manufacturing fault, it could indicate normal wear and tear on something (though unlikely on a TV only 3 years old), mis-use, accidental damage, etc.

I think your biggest concern will be that your previous independent repair may have caused an issue and the report will conclude as such.

That's the correct procedure. You'll need to get an independent engineers report at your own expense to demonstrate that it's a manufacturing fault. If the report does state that, then Currys will have to refund the cost of the report (but only if it shows a manufacturing fault. If it doesn't, then they are not obliged to refund the cost of the report or carry out a repair).

The issue you might have is that you had it repaired independently before contacting them last time, so they may argue that the substandard repair has caused the current issue and so they have no liability/responsibility.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it at all, nor do I work for Currys/PC World. As I said I'm just trying to be realistic and prepare you for the most likely outcome.

We wouldn't get very far giving out unrealistic advice just because it was what people wanted to hear.

How much notice did you give them of the move?

From speaking to people in the know Virgin are incredibly busy with new connections at the moment and simply can't keep up with demand as is despite hiring a lot more engineers.

Unfortunately I do believe they're entitled to keep the set if they make a, what would legally be considered, reasonable offer of a partial refund, in this case in the region of approximately £400-450. If you refuse on the grounds you want to keep the set as well, then they would likely be able to simply return the set unrepaired and leave it at that. If you took something back within the 1 year warranty for a full refund, you wouldn't expect to also keep the faulty product as well as the money.

As you say, if special equipment and/or expensive parts are needed to repair it, then it's likely that the repair would cost more than the partial refund. I also wouldn't be so sure about them definitely having panels for a 4 year old TV. Panel technology has changed very rapidly in the past few years, so keeping a 'just in case' stock of every type of panel for every type of TV they've ever sold simply wouldn't be practical.

I'm not trying to discourage you or anything, but just trying to be realistic and prepare you for the possible worst case outcomes

It should certainly come back in the same condition yes.

Whether they actually repair it or not depends on the cost though. If it's going to cost more than around £300-400 to repair then they'll almost certainly go down the partial refund route as it'll be cheaper.

They would normally give you some paperwork to say they've taken it way, but at that point they wont be able to advise what they're going to do with it. They wont know if they'll be going with a repair or partial refund until it gets to the repair centre and is actually examined.

£24.99 is not at all unreasonable for such a big budget title, infact it's very cheap compared to recent AAA PC releases, so I'm not sure where you're coming from with claiming that it's "Too Expensive" at that price for the standard edition of the game.

Around £400-450 is probably what you could expect or reasonably push for if they offered less, as the SOGA allows retailers to make a deduction in any refund for Enjoyment, based on expected lifespan and how long you've owned the set. In this situation I'm not sure you'd keep the faulty set however, I think the retailer would, at the very least, be entitled to take it away if they wanted to if they were giving a partial refund, but I'm not totally sure on that one.

If the head office don't reply you may be able to try e-mailing someone at the CEO office, which usually gets a reply in most large companies, and often gets a better response than going via the front line customer services. Someone else might be able to provide an e-mail address for that.

As above, a reasonable expectation for a set like that would be 6 years under the SOGA.

Your first port of call should probably be to contact Head Office and see if they're willing to do anything without you needing to force their hand, but if they dig in and say it's not their problem then unfortunately you will need to get an independent inspection report of the TV at your own cost in order to force them to do anything.

If the cost of the set was £1,350 rather than a straight £1,000, then a partial refund should be in the region of £400 plus the inspection report cost. Personally I think this would be the most likely outcome rather than a repair/replacement.

Agree with the above. You'll almost certainly need to get an independent report done after this length of time, then more than likely write to the head office rather than going via the store. As stated, if the report finds that the fault is down to a manufacturing defect then the cost of the report will be refunded to you.

Given the length of time, a replacement is almost certainly not going to happen, and a repair is unlikely as either the parts are probably no longer available or it simply wouldn't be economic (Especially if you've looked into it and a repair is going to cost £1,000). The most likely outcome is an offer of a partial refund, which, based on purchase price and age, should reasonably be in the region of £300-350 plus the cost of the inspection report.

Personally I think you're jumping the gun a little and the second paragraph is only likely to serve to get the landlords back up and cause them to actively look for things that can be legitimately deducted that they might otherwise have let slide.

There's a great 419 site

Where the guy has been spoofing them back for years

It very funny

 

Dx

My favourite was where he got a bunch of them to re-enact the Dead Parrot Monty Python sketch and send it to him, after having them carve and send a wooden bust of his own head.

I don't see a problem with it really. Bikes take up a hell of a lot of space on trains.

It'll be interesting to see what supermarkets do about charging for bags at the self-service checkouts they've been busily installing and trying to get us to use. They're supposed to "make every effort to ensure that [they are] charging for self-checkout bags", whatever that means in practice.

Everywhere I've been there are no more plastic bags at the self-checkouts, you have to ask for one and the assistant will scan it through before handing it over to you.

When you say detached, has it actually broken/snapped? Or just need screwing back in because it's come out or something?

Think I can call this one resolved now. Tested the phone and TV over the weekend and everything looks good!

Now to just keep an eye on the bills

Ooo looks like my advice did good

 

Congrats, even if its not fully sorted yet

Yep, thanks very much for that address!

Had a call back from the exec team today to check that everything was resolved, though I had to let them know that I can't really check until Friday, so they're going to keep things open until next week when I can test and call back if there's any issues

I'll be keeping an eye on the bill for sure.

And yes, £26.84, as the £24.50 price was, as it turns out, without TV. Think the retention agent misunderstood me when I said "We weren't really bothered about the TV", it seems he thought I was referring to Virgin Media TV rather than Sky TV.

The discounts are for a period of 12 months, as is the new contract term. Again, have got this recorded from the phone conversations and written confirmation via e-mail.

Have got the Caller ID sorted as well. Called up again to the exec team to have it re-added. They did originally want to charge the £2.50/month for it, but I pulled the "Given all the trouble we've had can we have that charge waived? The original agreement was for our phone package to be what it was before, and that included the Caller Display", so got that added for free, just can take up to 24 hours to take effect so can't really test it accurately until tomorrow afternoon.

So basically we've now got back our original package, but instead of £56/month it's £26/month. A bit of a slog but it appears we got there in the end. Though until I can test out the Caller ID (and get home on Friday in order to go to my parents house and test the TV) I'm holding off on calling 'Resolved' on this one.

Well we're most of the way there

After contacting the Exec team I quite quickly got a response e-mail to advise my case had been assigned to someone (though I suspect this was just something of a template e-mail) and within 30 minutes of receiving that mail I had a phone call. After a few discussions I managed to get the package discussed to revert the phone package back to what it had been and to restore the TV element of the package for the previously discussed £26.84/month price.

Call was recorded and got a written e-mail confirmation as well (Which has now been forwarded to several online and offline mailboxes for safe keeping).

Unfortunately looking at the e-mail confirmation it appears that Caller Display had also been removed, and on calling the house phone it looks like the TruCall/BT Guardian isn't working quite right (as it wouldn't without caller ID) so now I just need to get that sorted.

I swear, one of these days I'll do something like this and it'll be simple