HELP - Dell Laptop out of warranty - their 'legal team' are ringing me on Monday. Advice needed.

[Papa Lazarouis]

Hi All,

I bought my son a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop in January 2008. Cost- £350. In December they sent a new ac power charger under the 1 year warranty. l Have just had to purchase a new charger for him as the laptop would not power up, my son has spoken to their technical support team and they have said it is the 'motherboard' which needs replacing. Quoted £300 and eventually dropped it to £204. I have spoken to Dell tonight and they have offered to repair the laptop for a charge of £130 which is the cost of me purchasing a 3year warranty -"under exceptional circumstances".

I have said that Under the Sale of Goods Act that I consider 17months not to be a reasonable length of time for a £350 laptop to work, hence their attitude went cold and said that someone from 'their legal team' will ring me on Monday.

 

I'm desperately seeking some advice on what to say to them, am I being unreasonable insisiting that I shouldn't have to pay for goods that although out of the period of warranty (1yr warranty - expired Jan '09) or is it something that I'm just not going to win?

 

Thanks in anticipation.

PL

[faza]

laptop should easily last for 3 years, i got one laptop which is about 8 years old and still working. just have a read on sales of good act which should clarify how long you would expect something to last.

[manogwent]

i had same problem my HP notebook that i got from Dixons, paid nearly £1000 fir it and screen died 2 weeks after manufacturers warranty ran out. went back to shop as online support told me and got a really ****ty reception. wanted £400 there and then to repair it. i said how can you charge that when you don't even know what is wrong with it. Anyway they would not touch it kept saying 'out of warranty'. i wrote to Dixon's head office and initially offered to go 50/50 on repair. i stuck to my guns and said they should either replace a faulty product as it was implied when sold that the item would last longer than a year and in this case 'was not fit for purpose' as stated in 'sale of goods' legislation. when i bought laptop , Dixons wanted over £ 400 for extended warranty. Dixons then agreed to pay for whole repair which i had done locally and it was the converter board which steps up voltage to power screen and cost 50% less locally than what Mastercare quoted. i actually wrote to manufacturer and they did not want to know just referred me to mastercare who never answered my calls either. So stick to what you originally said about the laptop lasting longer and use the bit in sale of goods act about it being fit for purpose and should be of the quality expected by the customer as implied at the point of sale i,e their advertising and product description. Don't let them baffle you, if and when they contact you and demand to speak to a senior person/ manager or ask for contact at their head office.In fact i would do that anyway. hope you are successful as i was and good luck with it.

Edited June 27, 2009 by manogwent
poor grammar

[manogwent]

THINK I MESSED THIS UP.

i had same problem my HP notebook that i got from Dixons, paid nearly £1000 fir it and screen died 2 weeks after manufacturers warranty ran out. went back to shop as online support told me and got a really ****ty reception. wanted £400 there and then to repair it. i said how can you charge that when you don't even know what is wrong with it. Anyway they would not touch it kept saying 'out of warranty'. i wrote to Dixon's head office and initially offered to go 50/50 on repair. i stuck to my guns and said they should either replace a faulty product as it was implied when sold that the item would last longer than a year and in this case 'was not fit for purpose' as stated in 'sale of goods' legislation. when i bought laptop , Dixons wanted over £ 400 for extended warranty. Dixons then agreed to pay for whole repair which i had done locally and it was the converter board which steps up voltage to power screen and cost 50% less locally than what Mastercare quoted. i actually wrote to manufacturer and they did not want to know just referred me to mastercare who never answered my calls either. So stick to what you originally said about the laptop lasting longer and use the bit in sale of goods act about it being fit for purpose and should be of the quality expected by the customer as implied at the point of sale i,e their advertising and product description. Don't let them baffle you, if and when they contact you and demand to speak to a senior person/ manager or ask for contact at their head office.In fact i would do that anyway. hope you are successful as i was and good luck with it.

the quote was supposed to be the reply , lol.

[Papa Lazarouis]

Cheers much appreciated, because I quoted the SOGA this is when they stopped talking and said wait for the phonecall from their legal team, no am or pm by the way just between 0900-1830hrs..

I believe when their tech said to me how do I know it's the motherboard + mI informed them thats what they had told my son they then suggested the laptop had been dropped or mistreated. They also said that they would have to purchase a single unit replacement and that was were the cost was so high. I've a feeling they won't budge and I would like to be able to inform them that I will pursue via the small claims court. Is my next step (after getting a contact name + address) informing them that I will send hem a letter of intent and await their response?

Kind regards for the replies.

PL

[manogwent]

This is the same tactic they tried with me, i told them the laptop had not been dropped or mistreated and was always carried in a proper case to protect it. Considering their buying power, i suggest that they are quoting retail and not trade prices.If they phone i would suggest to try the 'fit for purpose' and 'fair usage' part that sits quite well SoGa. In the meantime, ring up their customer services and ask for a Head office contact and phone/email. When i did this , I then wrote a letter stating my position and they then paid for whole repair. I would suggest the 'soft approach' first then use the smll claims as a final touch. Hope you get there. lol!!

[MARTIN3030]

Thread moved to general consumer issues.

[Aequitas]

Unless they promise more than the law gives you, guarantees do not really add to your rights. The best that can be said for them is that they go a long way to getting something sorted out if it breaks down during the guarantee period. The downside is that retailers and manufacturers treat them as if they were some sort of innoculation that absolves them from responsibilty when they have run out.

 

Retailers and manufacturers will usually cave in if you persist. The way I put it to one manufacturer was: "Are you prepared to stand up in court and say publicly: 'Our printers will only work for a year'?"

[Papa Lazarouis]

Hi All,

Thought I'd give an update. Dell rang me on Monday morning and after a short conversation agreed to repair the laptop free of charge as a 'gesture of goodwill'. They added that if it broke again then they would not repair it unless it was covered under an extended warranty, available exclusively to me at a cost of £90 for 1 year, £109 for 2 years or £139 for 3 years.

Laptop was collected by an inept courier (the packaging was comical) on Tuesday afternoon.

Dell suggested 10-12 working days for repair and that they would have to formatt the hard drive (their way of payback I guess )

Many thanks for all your help.

Regards

PL