Hi. You can certainly request that they provide you with the higher specification item, however there's no legal requirement for them to do so. Let's say a seller on eBay incorrectly advertises a 32GB iPod as a 64GB model. You realise this as soon as the item arrives and notify the seller straight away. You have the right to return the goods for a refund, as they were not as described. The seller may offer you a partial refund, to bring the price down to what you normally would have paid for the lower spec model. Ultimately, you would need to contact the seller and work out a resolution. Only if they refused to respond or acknowledge would you need to get Trading Standards involved, and possibly small claims court action

Thanks for your support folks. Anyway, the 14 day LBA was sent out this morning. I've a funny feeling they'll call my bluff up until the last minute. Failing that, hopefully the court action will kick them into paying up. Will obviously keep you posted.

Hi all. Not a problem or issue per se, but I found it a bit suspect and wanted to put the feelers out in case there's more of this going on. I've had a Sky HD subscription for a few years now and it's been fine. At one point we received written notification that we would be receiving a new viewing card over the course of the next few months, and to insert it immediately once it arrives and destroy the old one, which we did. All good. Cue back to a few months ago now, and we receive a phonecall from someone claiming to be from Sky. All my previous contacts to and from Sky have been from a contact centre in Scotland, based on the accents of the call agents. This one sounded like it came from India or possibly Pakistan, and had the caller confirm my name and first line of my address, but they asked me to confirm my postcode so they could send me out a new viewing card. I was a bit suspicious of this as if they were genuinely from Sky, they would have all my details on file, including the postcode. I refused to give it to them on the grounds that they should already have all my details, and have never needed to confirm in the past before sending a new viewing card. I ended the call by demanding that they forward me the request for my personal details in writing, on Sky headed paper and I would respond in due course. Of course, we received nothing. Fast forward a month or two, another call, similar accent, same request for me to confirm my postcode. I asked why they needed to send out a new viewing card as I hadn't requested one. They said it was to introduce new HD channels for free. I stated that we'd already recently received new channels such as ITV1HD, BBC1HD and a few others without the need for a viewing card upgrade. I also asked why their system which apparently has my phone number, name and address would not have my postcode. They said something about the system withholding certain information for security purposes, which made no sense to me. Again, I asked for them to put the request in writing and I would respond in due course. To this day, no written request. It seems suspicious but it's not as if they were asking for my card details or anything. Mind you they could have gotten my phone number and first line of address from anywhere, and were just phishing for more information. Anyone else had similar calls or have any more info about this? Cheers CD

I wouldn't ask anyone to open it up just yet, as that could possibly void any warranty you may still have on it (depending if it has tamper markings). That does definitely sound like the CMOS battery has failed (a common fault) and is a simple fix. However if you took it back to Staples, the most they would do is send it away for repair which may take weeks. Having someone else look at it would be much quicker and shouldn't cost too much, but may jeopardise your position should the netbook suffer a more serious fault in future.

Hi all, long time reader, first time poster etc etc.. Thought I'd share my ongoing saga with you regarding Amazon and my faulty Sony DSLR-A200 camera. Bought the camera kit from Amazon in March 2009, and paid £260 on my debit card. Camera arrived shortly afterwards, and all was well until August 2010 when it stopped working. It powered on OK, but would only take all-black images. Contacted Amazon straight away, despite it being 5 months outside of their warranty period. Initially they didn't want to know but when I quoted SOGA, they agreed to look at the case. Next step was to send the camera away for an independent inspection. The company that looked at it have found that the CCD sensor has failed, and it's approximately £135 for a repair. Forwarded this back to Amazon who referred me to their legal team. They've come back to me now saying that because I can't prove that the fault was a manufacturing defect, they won't pay for the repair. Now for those that aren't familiar with the workings of cameras, the CCD sensor (the part that records the image and saves it) is a microchip assembly and contains no moving parts, so would not typically exhibit any signs of wear and tear or fatigue. I cannot see any realistic way of proving that this is a manufacturing defect or not, except for the fact that it simply shouldn't have failed after 17 months of occasional use, given that this is a piece of professional photographic equipment. Surely Amazon can't use the "can't prove it's a manufacturing defect so get lost" defence. The report that I paid for states that the fault is due to a part failiure and not accidental damage or fair wear & tear. Surely in this case the "fit for purpose" requirement in the SOGA should suffice. My latest response to them I've entitled as "LETTER BEFORE ACTION" and will give them 14 days to respond before I take the case to small claims court. Has anyone else had any similar problems with Amazon (not neccesarily with a camera but with any type of goods)? Do you know if the threat of SCC would get them to budge? I'm only claiming somewhere in the region of £150 to cover the repair and the cost of the independent inspection, surely it would cost them more than this to fight the case in court? I'll keep you posted. CD