Should I cancel my PC world insurance?

[The Chez]

I did not know the best forum to post this in, sorry mods, as it is about a retail and insurance payment issue.

 

When I bought me PC on a credit agreement with PC world in 2006, they offered me an insurance policy to cover any repairs or breakdowns at the cost of £5.99 a month.

My PC did break down early last year, refusing to boot and I took it into the repair center at my local store, where they diagnosed a faulty graphics card and told me I would have to wait for an engineer from the insurance place.

 

Anyway they fixed the graphics card as told to do by PC world, and we got it home, ran it for about 10 minutes before exactly the same issue happened again. So we took it back and this time were told it could take up to 6 weeks as it needed a hard drive replacement. My boyfriend paid £80 for the new hard drive and they did it in 2 days.

 

All I'm after is a few oppinions on if it's worth keeping the insurance or not, because I doubt I could afford to pay for a big repair job, I'm still paying off the credit and need my PC. However the service by PC world, where the repairs have to be carried out, is not very satisfactory. They failed to pick up the main issue the first time and we had problems communicating with the store due to them refusing to give us a number to contact the store directly. The national number rang and rang after a drawn out session pressing buttons. We had to do this every time we needed to contact the store.

 

Sorry about the long post and possibly posting it in the wrong place.

 

Chez.

[ADE&FAB]

Think me dumb here, but if its got insurance, then should the hard drive replacement not be covered by this????????

[TheChancellor]

Think me dumb here, but if its got insurance, then should the hard drive replacement not be covered by this????????

 

Think Chez was implying that they couldn't wait the 6 weeks quoted but A&F is right in that you should have forwarded that invoice to the insurance co.

 

Personally I think insurance on such things a waste of money but you must decide for yourself (& see if there is a get-out clause).

 

I would much sooner rely on my Statutory Rights & CAG.

[The Chez]

Think me dumb here, but if its got insurance, then should the hard drive replacement not be covered by this????????

 

It was, but they messed around so much, and treated us in such a rude and abrupt way that we decided to pay £80 for it instead of waiting another long period of time for the insurance to do it. I know that sounds like I was being inpatient, which I spose I was, but we just wanted to get the PC out of there as they were threatening to condem it and make us wait 6 weeks for a poxy job to be done

 

The insurance company are not part of PC world I don't think, but as I bought it from there thats where the repairs have to be diagnosed and carried out. PC world failed to diagnose the issue the first time.

[The Chez]

Think Chez was implying that they couldn't wait the 6 weeks quoted but A&F is right in that you should have forwarded that invoice to the insurance co.

 

Personally I think insurance on such things a waste of money but you must decide for yourself (& see if there is a get-out clause).

 

I would much sooner rely on my Statutory Rights & CAG.

 

 

You can't forward it, the insurance company are ghosts, no contact, nothing. It's PC world who do all that.

[TheChancellor]

You can't forward it, the insurance company are ghosts, no contact, nothing. It's PC world who do all that.

 

If they are taking the money then you should have a contract.

 

If you cancel the DD to them they'll either miracuously appear or you will save the payments every month.

[The Chez]

The only info I can find online about it is via the PC World website, nothing about the actual company behind the insurance. All of it is done via PC World. If I cancel the dd I doubt I'd hear anything apart from stuff from PC World, because thats where the letters concerning the policy come from too.

[big blue one]

the insurance IS owned by pc world. they are called the tech guys, which is just a rebrand of disastercare, I mean Mastercare. pretty sure though that there is a clause in the policy that if the item is not returned within 28days repaired you can clim a new one no questions asked, (thinking about it they may have changed that to 21 days)

 

can u try and claim the cost of the hard drive from them?

 

last time i had trouble with them as soon as i mentioned trading standards, the next day £800 in vouchers droppped thru my door! that was for a tv 8 mths ut of guarantee which they wouldnt repair!

[legalpickle]

On the back of the insurance policy would be the terms and conditions of the policy. This would have to list the complaints address and the name of the company the contract is with.

 

I would say that 6 weeks is not a reasonable time, therefore you were forced into paying £80 and they are liable for it.

 

If they refuse after an LBA then sue 'em!

[paralax]

I am taking my dispute up with Trading Standards, this insurance is a con, there is no loan PC/Laptop available, it is subject to availability which is not stated in the contract, there is no next day visit from a technician, so I would tell anyone not to waste their money on this.

 

My Laptop was only 4 months old, they wait until they get it to tell me that it will be at least 7-14 days before they even get to look at it and there will be no loan equipment because they don't have enough.

 

Not only that there is no appology or embarassment, just a cocky - tough! attitude. I am not letting it go, I will take this up legally, I run my own business and have had to spent nearly £500 on a PC because I can't be without one, maybe I should have had a spare anyway but I feel conned by this agreement.

[buzby]

Apart from activating a 2 year old thread, your issue is quite different. Insurance will never provide for a 'replacement laptop' insurance does not equate to continuous equipment availability, UNLESS this is part of the explicit arrangements of the policy.

 

As a business, you are not covered by consumer protection - and trading standards will be of no assistance to you. In your position, your policy should have been a 'business replacement' policy that covers you with a machine in 24 hours.

 

If they let you down, you will be in line for appropriate compensation. If you are using consumer provisions to keep your business running, you'll be very disappointed.

[SM2010]

I bought a laptop from PC World in september 2009 for £1100, and recently there were problems with it so I sent it off for repair and after an appeal they decided to replace the laptop for me by offering me a laptop thats worth £550.

 

Do you think this is a fair deal since I bought the laptop for £1100 (although 3 and a half years ago)

 

Thanks.

[buzby]

Forget the price. Be guided by processor size, hard disk and memory. If it exceed what you had, go for it. I have a 32Mb memory expansion ubit for my Commodore PET, it cost me £326 some 20 years ago. I can now buy the same storage for 50p, possibly less. Price comparisons are futile!

[ForestChav]

Considering the laptop is probably worth about £100 now, then yes