Currys laptop problems!!

[Zapg1]

Hi there,

 

I bought a dell inspiron mini 10 laptop from currys in march 2010 and all was well. But in late August of 2010 it suddenly developed a hard drive problem. Obviously this was only 4/5 months and went down to the store to try and resolve the issue. I explained the problem and they explained that it had to be sent off for testing and repair, the testing i could undertsand, only offering a repair i couldn't. I quoted the SOGA to my hearts content and they flat out refused to accept it even existed which frustrated me. I felt forced to accept the repair and was told to leave the store, even though i remained quite calm and cool.

 

After this had happened i was not happy but decided to move on, but in early Jan 2011 it developed anoher Hard drive fault rendering the computer as useful as a doorstop. After only 4 months of being repaired and only nine months ownership i am now an extremly unhappy customer. Again i went down and was told about their whole '28 days or nothing' refund policy. Again i quoted the SOGA, saying it wasnt fit for purpose, not of sufficient durability and something was plainly wrong due to the repeated fault. They wouldn't budge and only offered a repair, which i refused and i am well within my rights i am entitled to do. They refused and after a staff member threw a paddy and went to her manager, i got no further and i left empty handed again

 

Got home and asked consumer direct for some advice and they said pretty much the same thing but also to contact head office, customer services tc. Tried this and got nowhere as i got passed around far too much to understand who i was speaking to.

 

I am at my wits end and i am just wondering if there was any useful advice or tips anyone could give me to resolve this issue . And is it just me or is their customer service just absolutley s***??

 

Thanks for listening to my rant, now feel better

=D

ZAPG

Edited January 7, 2011 by Zapg1
few errors

[oxford0614]

because you have had it longer than 1 month they are well within their rights to offer a repair as long as it doesn't cause major incovenience to you. I agree that it is terrible customer service though.

[Haven72]

If it is the same problem twice then the repair work must be faulty. What guarentee do they provide on repairs? I had problems with currys tho i do have their insurance which has saved a lot of hassle, had to return a toshiba laptop due to the charger when plugged in would insert itself into the laptop, even tho it was a known problem with toshiba they rufused to have it repaired under the manufactures warrenty, had it ruturned but within a few weeks same problem happened. I got a new laptop but that was only because i pay for the insurance. I have heard that some of these places buy goods without the warrenty as it is cheaper so when you try and return items they will make any excuse not to deal with it. From experience i dont think the know what the sale of goods act is. Ring them and find out what guarentee they give on repairs, dont tell them why you are ringing/

[mememe123]

Can I just ask what testing has been done to say it's a faulty hard drive?

From what I've seen the Dell Mini 10 range tend to use solid state hard drives which almost never fail so to have two to fail in the same netbook would suggest there is more to this. Solid state drives are so reliable they rarely break even if dropped, thrown, hit etc. the rest of the computer would break before the drive.

 

I'm not backing up what you were told at your local Currys store but if you haven't had a qualified technician to diagnose the exact fault then they may well be within their rights to have it tested and possibly offer repair, it may be a completely different fault to last time.

 

I am in no way shape or form linked to this company but I do carry out independent reports to send to away to them as well as many other computer retailers and in my experience nine times out of ten I find that the fault is not caused by a manufacture defect but rather negligence on the consumers part. I also find that the times it is caused by manufacture defect the company does get it resolved albeit not always particularly quickly but it does get sorted.

[gash]

you best read the SOGA again then because it says repair replacement or refund in that order at the sellers discretion as long as it is no inconvenience to you. when you buy a car and it goes wrong do they just exchange it there and then? come on people help yourselves before coming on here moaning. what happens when something really goes wrong in your lives.

[Haven72]

I suppose it depends on what goes wrong with the car.

People are entitled to moan and complain, maybe if people in this country did more of it sites like this wouldnt existe as the customer would always be right and not have to fight for what is right. If something goes terribly wrong in life i dont think the CAG would be the place to come now would it? No harm in people finding out what their rights our at each stage the more people who are informed about their rights the better

[gash]

so the customer has to always be right? and then there would be businesses making no money and thus no where to buy from but the internet. everybody has rights but its the mis leading of rights on forums like these that cause people to raise their expectations and then when they got to store and told in reality that it could be a 3 week repair they kick off. admitedly the service in these places aint great at times but then there are many many many more times when its fantastic but of course that doesn't get publicised does it.

[Haven72]

No the customer is not always right but i have found that CAG are pretty hot on what your rights are. Many stores out there dont even know what the sales of goods act, ive had to argue so many times to store people about what my rights are. CS in this country needs to improve drasticly and people demanding their rights is one way to start.