Advice Needed RE: BRIGHTHOUSE

[BrighthouseRipOff]

I purchased an Acer laptop from Brighthouse in November 2006, it had been fine but a few month's ago it started developing fault after fault.

The lid started to fall apart because the hinges were coming off, i had always looked after the laptop and i had never dropped it or anything like that.

 

I decided to take it back to the store, i was told that the laptop would be sent away from repair, after a while the store manager came over and spoke to me, he informed me that the laptop would be sent away for repair but it might be fixed but then again it might not be fixed, he accused me of dropping the laptop which i felt was unacceptable, i informed him that i had never dropped the laptop at all.

 

He then went on to say that if the laptop came back unrepaired than i had two options, either i have the unrepaired laptop and carry on paying £17 per week, or i could give the laptop back to them and pay them £100 to cancel the contract, i felt that both of these options were totally unacceptable, why should i do any of these options, anyway i was told that the laptop would be away for 5 or 6 weeks.

 

I have been in contact with consumer direct about this situation on numerous occassions and informed them of what i was told and the fact that i pay OSC and DLC on this item, they told me to send Brighthouse a letter via recorde delivery, i did this and got a reply from Brighthouse on 4th April 2008 saying that they would be conducting a thorough investigation.

 

I have since sent Brighthouse another two letter via recorded delivery but they have not replied, they seem to just be ignoring the matter now, I have informed them that they have a legal duty to repair the item under the supply of goods act 1973.

 

It has now been over 9 weeks since the laptop got sent off and it is getting very frustrating, what can i do to make them hurry the manufacturer up and get it back to me? Also i am looking forward to knowing whether or not the laptop has been repaired.

 

Consumer Direct have passed this matter onto Trading Standards but i have yet to hear from them.

 

I will not be fobbed off by Brighthouse and i will stand my ground, i would not hesitate to take them to court as well if i felt i had a good case.

 

What can i do if the laptop comes back unrepaired? i hope someone can answer this question for me.

 

Thank you and i will keep you updated on the situation as soon as i hear anything.

[Lefty]

Are you still paying for it?

Lefty

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Are you still paying for it?

 

Lefty

 

Thanks for your reply, yes i am, i am paying £17 per week and i have around another 20 weeks left on the contract.

 

I have been a Brighthouse customer for 11 years, i know they are a rip off, I've never had any problems like this before, but they are pushing their luck.

Edited May 13, 2008 by BrighthouseRipOff

[Lefty]

BrightHouse can do 1 of 3 things...

 

1) If they (or a "technician") feels the item is beyond ecconomic repair, and that the cost of a repair would be higher than the value, they can cancel your OSC policy (with 7 days notice) leaving you with nothing.

 

2) If they (or a "technician") concludes the item was damaged accidentally they can invoke your DLC insurance and "waive" any outstanding payments leaving you with a £100 excess to pay and left with nothing.

 

3) They can comply with the SUPPLY OF GOODS (IMPLIED TERMS) ACT 1973 and repair/replace the laptop, and go out of their way to keep a customer happy - a customer who has spent around £2,000 on a laptop worth less than £600. (There goes that pig flying past my window again...)

 

I know what I think they'll do... They'll go for option 1 or 2.

 

But, fear not! We have a BrightHouse account manager contributing to this forum, so I'm sure you'll get some PR friendly advice very soon!

 

 

Cheers

Lefty

 

 

 

PS - Make sure you continue with your payments, because that way when (and I mean WHEN and not if) you take them to court you will have a rock solid case!

[BrighthouseRipOff]

BrightHouse can do 1 of 3 things...

 

1) If they (or a "technician") feels the item is beyond ecconomic repair, and that the cost of a repair would be higher than the value, they can cancel your OSC policy (with 7 days notice) leaving you with nothing.

 

2) If they (or a "technician") concludes the item was damaged accidentally they can invoke your DLC insurance and "waive" any outstanding payments leaving you with a £100 excess to pay and left with nothing.

 

3) They can comply with the SUPPLY OF GOODS (IMPLIED TERMS) ACT 1973 and repair/replace the laptop, and go out of their way to keep a customer happy - a customer who has spent around £2,000 on a laptop worth less than £600. (There goes that pig flying past my window again...)

 

I know what I think they'll do... They'll go for option 1 or 2.

 

But, fear not! We have a BrightHouse account manager contributing to this forum, so I'm sure you'll get some PR friendly advice very soon!

 

 

Cheers

Lefty

 

 

 

PS - Make sure you continue with your payments, because that way when (and I mean WHEN and not if) you take them to court you will have a rock solid case!

 

 

Thank you for replying again lefty, i have not heard from Brighthouse since 4th April 2008 when i got a letter from the customer services manager in Almondvale, West Lothian.

 

I was hoping that ACER would have sent the laptop back to Brighthouse by now.

 

How can they go for option 1 or 2 and get away with it? is there anything that i can do if they do go for any of these options?

 

I will continue with my payments, i have never missed a payment in the 11 years i have been with them.

 

They seemed a bit shaky at first when i threatened to contact Trading Standards and possibly sue them, i got a reply from them within 2 days by letter, but since then despite me sending two more letters to head office i have heard nothing.

 

Where do i stand legally if they did decide to do option 1 or 2 above?

 

Thank you again.

[Lefty]

I think it's time for a no nonesense LBA (letter before action) and spur them up a bit!

 

You have been without the "goods" for an "unreasonable" length of time, and it's very likely you'll never see them again. It's even doubtful that BrightHouse even sent the laptop to ACER outside of its 12 month manufacturer's warranty. It's probably gathering dust in their basement!

 

As for where you stand legally...

 

BrightHouse have not complied with the SUPPLY OF GOODS(IMPLIED TERMS) ACT 1973 and you are seriously out of pocket because of it.

 

BrightHouse sold you a "service cover" contract (at a cost of around £600) and have not delivered the service you were led to believe you were entitled to.

 

You may like to run this past Consumer Direct and ask them to refer it to your local Trading Standards in order to assist you with a claim in the small claim courts.

 

 

Cheers

Lefty

 

 

PS - BrightHouse will settle before going to court.

 

PPS - I challenge any monitoring BrightHouse employee to proove me wrong on the above statement!

Edited May 13, 2008 by Lefty

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Lefty, thanks again for your reply, i will send them another letter tomorrow, i would appreciate it very much if you could help me with what to say in the letter, thank you once again for your help, we will get them!!

Edited May 13, 2008 by BrighthouseRipOff

[BrighthouseRipOff]

If someone could help me out with what to say in the letter, i will get it written up tonight and posted recorded delivery first thing in the morning.

 

I have been paying £17.24 every week since November 2006, this includes £2.25 per week for the optional service cover and £5.25 per week for the damage liability cover.

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Would this kind of letter be ok?

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

RE: Supply Of Goods Act 1973

 

Despite several letters to you, you have failed to respond to my concerns which i feel is totally uancceptable.

 

I have been without my laptop now for over 9 weeks which is an unreasonable amount of time.

 

You have failed to comply with the Supply Of Goods Act 1973 and I am seriously out of pocket due to this.

 

You have sold me a service cover contract at a cost of around £600 but you have not delivered the service that i was led to believe i was entitled to.

 

If this matter is not resolved within the next 7 days then i will be starting legal proceedings against you to resolve this matter.

 

Thank you for your time

[havinastella]

wait for Lefty!

 

He really, really will know what letter to send these parasites!

[BrighthouseRipOff]

wait for Lefty!

 

He really, really will know what letter to send these parasites!

 

Hopefully Lefty will appear at some point tonight to help me with this letter, i want it sent tomorrow, i just want to get this mess sorted out, as brighthouse are really starting to test my patience and i look forward to the day they receive the letters from the court.

[Lefty]

Date

 

Agreement Number

 

Item description

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

I refer to my previous letter which you acknowledged receipt of on _______

 

It has now been 9 weeks since the above item was returned to BrightHouse.

 

Although I pay for OSC for the above, I feel BrightHouse are in breach of the SUPPLY OF GOODS (IMPLIED TERMS) ACT 1973. I would respectfully remind you that manufacturer’s warranties (and, indeed, any extended warranties OSC) are IN ADDITION to consumer’s STATUATORY RIGHTS. These rights are very clear and, in the case of a HIRE PURCHASE agreement, refer to THE SUPPLY OF GOODS (IMPLIED TERMS) ACT 1973.

 

In particular:

 

1- Implied term about quality

 

(1) In section 14 of the [1979 c. 54.] Sale of Goods Act 1979 (implied terms about quality or fitness) for subsection (2) there is substituted—

“(2) Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality.

(2A) For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any

description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.

(2B) For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

(a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,

(b) appearance and finish,

© freedom from minor defects,

(d) safety, and

(e) durability.

 

A freely available guide (based on consumer groups and manufacturer’s websites) suggests a “good quality” laptop should have a life expectancy (durability factor) of around 4 – 5 years. It can, therefore, be deduced from these figures that a “reasonable” person would expect a “good quality” laptop to last at least 3 years and would certainly not expect it to cease to function after only one and a half years. Of course, the original price and quality of the laptop should be taken into account, and at £896.00 (2006 price) this would certainly indicates an “up-market” quality product.

 

What I require:

 

Confirmation (in writing and within 14 days) that CAVERSHAM FINANCE (trading as BRIGHTHOUSE) will facilitate a satisfactory repair to the above item, or supply a replacement item of comparable age and specification in full working order. If neither solution is practical, then a realistic partial refund would be the only recourse.

 

Regretfully, if I do not hear from you within 14 days, or if you fail to respond positively to my requests, I will have no alternative than to persue the matter through the small claims court. I should also advise you that my claim will also request a refund of all payments made on the additional OSC contract that I believe was mis-sold and was completely worthless.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours faithfully

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Thank you lefty, do you think it would be a good idea for me to send copies of all the letters i have sent to Brighthouse to Trading Standards? to make them aware of the situation, thanks again, much appreciated.

[Lefty]

Thank you lefty, do you think it would be a good idea for me to send copies of all the letters i have sent to Brighthouse to Trading Standards? to make them aware of the situation, thanks again, much appreciated.

 

Yes. Definitely.

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

Cheers

Lefty

 

 

 

(PS - sorry for it being late... was a bit tied up!)

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Yes. Definitely.

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

Cheers

Lefty

 

 

 

(PS - sorry for it being late... was a bit tied up!)

 

Ok, Thank you i will do that then, no problem for being late, your advice is much appreciated, i will keep you updated on what happens, cheers.

[sweetnsexyenglish]

Yes I would also have to say Lefty is Briliant with the BH advice...now for a quick question Lefty:p

 

If you remember my post on the thread where your collecting stories...I have stopped paying for my last item as BH refuse to take responsibility for faulty items I have already paid off.

 

i.e. the washing machine their repairman ripped a part out of and said whirlpool reccommend it:rolleyes: and the Acer Laptop exchanged September 2007 and the dvd/cd/cd-r drive is faulty and they claim I have no warranty....yea jogged ya memory?

 

Well how cheeky would I be to reclaim charges from BH even though I am not paying the last £300 I owe them, although I will say since I went into the store and had words I get no letters threats or visits since I requested they take me to court!!

 

Do you think it wiser to leave em alone or go for my charges? I dont need an S.A.R as I have every receipt (I'm a horder;)) I was gonna follow Steven 4060's route with his BH claim:)

Edited May 14, 2008 by sweetnsexyenglish
spelling

[Lefty]

Hi sweetnsexyenglish

Your laptop fiasco was very similar to this case wasn't it? The OP would be well advised to have a read through your thread HERE

I can understand your frustration, and your reasons for witholding payment, but I actually think you may just be letting BrightHouse off the hook. It's probably worth them writing off £300 in payments to avoid court action - and the bad PR that goes with it.

However, it is not unreasonable to withold payment on a Hire Purchase agreement if the amount you are witholding is to cover the cost of a repair in relation to unsatisfactory goods. This is outlined in the SUPPLY OF GOODS (IMPLIED TERMS) ACT 1973. It is also advice from Consumer Direct.

As for claiming back any unlawful penalty charges...

I would go for it, but I would add to my claim all OSC payment made too. I would request that BrightHouse present all details of my accounts and JUSTIFY the amounts I have been charged in view of the unsatisfactory goods I have received.

Think about it...

Cheers

Lefty

[sweetnsexyenglish]

Thank you Lefty....now to sift through mountains of receipts and add those charges up:( but at the end I know it will be worth it and god knows I need every penny right now:D. Did you look at the pictures I put up on the thread with the brighthouse employee who suggested someone should pay attention in class. I forgotten I had them and wish I had also taken pictures of the laptop too:D.

[Lefty]

Did you look at the pictures I put up on the thread with the brighthouse employee who suggested someone should pay attention in class. I forgotten I had them and wish I had also taken pictures of the laptop too:D.

 

Like I've been telling everyone for some while, BrightHouse monitor these forums regularly. Believe me, they keep a very careful eye on what's being said here.

 

It's interesting that the BrightHouse "account manager" picked up on THAT particular thread as opposed to the many others on here... Then again, I did forward the content of it to David Harwood (company secretary) shortly after we received his official response to our fact sheet a few weeks ago... I sent it as an example of a typical "HELP WITH BRIGHTHOUSE PLEASE" thread we get on here regularly... 8-)

 

Yes, I did see your photos. Looks like you'd just bought it off eBay for a fiver! :grin:

 

 

 

Cheers

Lefty

Edited May 14, 2008 by Lefty
formatting

[sweetnsexyenglish]

LoL...that was supposed to be a brand new speaker to replace the damaged one I had only had a week, shocking isn't it but not surprising and if you knew how many phone calls and letters before someone went and gave me a brand new one....or the fact they could pass off such a dirty dingy peeling item as brand new shows how BH work.....lets see if he comments on the pics and can justify employees giving me that as new as part of a £500 stereo!!

[BrighthouseRipOff]

I have sent the letter to Brighthouse head office in Caversham today, sent recorded delivery, also i have sent copies of all letters i have sent to Brighthouse to Trading Standards.

 

I have just read through sweetnsexyenglish's thread, interesting because one of the letters she received about them conducting a thorough investigation was the same letter as i recently received word by word.

[sweetnsexyenglish]

Usual standard letters but you need to show you are not the usual standard customer!! If you look at the letter I took into the store I suggest you reword it and try it, it states your rights which several surveys show, that sales employees are not taught what the statutory right means and its more than obvious they do not know the laws as pertains to HP agreements either.

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Thank you for your reply and advice sweetnsexyenglish

 

So my laptop has now been away for 9 weeks, as lefty said above i may never see it again.

 

I do not expect to receive a response from Brighthouse within 14 days as they seem to ignore letters and they probably think that they are going to get away with it but they are messing with the wrong person because i will take them all the way!

 

So i expect to start court proceedings in 14 days.

 

The thing is if i do start court proceedings which is how it is probably going to end up then how much do i sue them for? As stated above i have been paying £17.24 per week since 18th November 2006, this includes £2.25 per week for the optional service cover and £5.25 for the damage liability cover.

 

I'm wondering what action Trading Standards may take against Brighthouse after they have received all copies of the letters that i have sent to Brighthouse.

 

Lefty's letter seems a good one and it states all my rights so when Brighthouse receive that letter tomorrow or friday then they are going to have a shock as they will know that i am well aware of my rights and hopefully they will start to crack.

[BrighthouseRipOff]

Usual standard letters but you need to show you are not the usual standard customer!! If you look at the letter I took into the store I suggest you reword it and try it, it states your rights which several surveys show, that sales employees are not taught what the statutory right means and its more than obvious they do not know the laws as pertains to HP agreements either.

 

Thank you for your reply, i fully intend to show them that i am not their usual standard customer.

 

Are you suggesting that i should send a letter to the local store where i took the laptop into?

 

Do you think that Brighthouse will ignore the 14 days notice to respond positively to resolve this situation, or do you think they may actually do something about this mess? Personally i think i will not receive a reply and court action will commence.

[sweetnsexyenglish]

My personal dealing with Trading Standards...erm to be honest I didn't feel they did much in way of my case but that could have been just my local office. I found contacting the Financial Ombudsman better as he issued out a letter straight away however I stuck to the time lines as stated by Consumer Direct & Trading Standard for letters.

 

Personally claim for everything you have paid as for extras Lefty may be better enabled to advise as there is no way it has gone to Acer and it has taken so long to repair but you could contact Acer and see if they are in receipt of the laptop.

 

Do you want it back or would you rather just be done with it and get your money and go else where? as if you'd rather an end to it go to court and get your money, if you wanted the laptop back you could request information of repairer and cut out the idiot (BH) and talk direct to the repairer with the hope that they are independent from BH.