Re: whatever happens not replacing my i pad

[Neillt]

Hi Everybody, My first post on this forum, necessitated by the wonderful people at knowhow. Having read through other posts it seems as though i'm having something of a shared experience,

 

To Summarise, My 7 year old daughter purchased her ipad mini from currys store in Craigavon, N Ireland in April, with several years worth of birthday / Christmas money.

 

3 months later the screen cracked, on a car trip, my daughter left the ipad in the pocket at the back of the front seat of the car, hiding it from view while they were in the cinema.

 

We think the damage was caused while our 3 kinds were getting on and out of the car. My wife phoned the helpline, telling them the ipad had been damaged whilst hidden in the pocket of the car seat. The Ipad was collected and returned 10 days later saying that the damage caused was inconsistent with our explanation given.

 

I assumed that we hadn't gave enough information initially, and my letter appealing their decision and explaining about kids climbing in and out of car whilst the ipad was in the pocket would clear the matter up and we would get our repair.

 

However, today we have received a letter rejecting our appeal, stating that the ipad had excessive damage, including impact damage to all four corners, high force impact on a rough surface and subsequent impacts which have flattened the corners of the metal casing. The letter refers then to the terms and conditions of the agreement which states repairs are not carried out if caused by anyone neglecting, abusing or mis-using the product.

 

Can anyone advise me how to proceed, in particular if I decide to go to small claims court, what value should I put as the loss incurred?

 

Thanks!

Edited August 17, 2013 by citizenB

[Conniff]

Have you had the ipad returned?

Does it have the damage they say it does?

[Neillt]

The ipad has been returned to us, i'll try to take a photo of it later and upload it for you to see, there is a crack in one of the corners however I cant see any damage to the metal casing. I am certain that any damage done to the ipad was not done intentionally or caused by anyone neglecting it, this was my daughters pride and joy after all. However I genuinely cannot explain how this damage occurred, if Knowhow say that the damage could not have been caused whilst the ipad was in the seat pocket of the car. Would be grateful for any advice as to what our next step is.

[labrat]

try and get a photo up

 

i wouldnt say that damage to all 4 corners is excessive, we brought one for our daughter and while i can say all 4 corners are damaged it is simply from normal use

 

best bet is an appeal letter, forward it to the CEO as well as the claims department ill look up the email address later

[Neillt]

This is Curry's reply to my appeal letter, received on Saturday:

 

 

With reference to your letter regarding your recent claim for damage to the above product; this claim has been referred to us due to the excessive nature of the damage.

 

The unit has impact damage on all four corners.

The primary impact shows very high force onto a rough surface.

The subsequent impacts have also flattened the corners of the metal casing.

 

Please refer to the Terms and Conditions on your agreement, under the section headed What is not included where it states The cost of repairing or replacing a product which fails because anyone neglects, abuses or misuses the product. (Does this last sentence even make sense??)

 

Due to the above we have decided to uphold our decision and reject your claim.

 

We are sorry for the disappointment that this will no doubt cause, but trust this now clarifies the reason for our decision.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kathryn Mansell

Customer Services Manager

 

I have replied to this letter today, informing Currys that unless they agree to repair the I-pad by 28th August I will have the repairs carried out myself and take small claims court action to recover the costs from them.

[renegadeimp]

Was your ipad covered for accidental damage?

 

Also, did you take any pics of the damage before you sent it?

[Neillt]

Having looked at the I-pad again, I would agree that there are marks on the corners however I would call these "scuff" marks rather than impact damage, the corners would have been in this state before the screen was cracked.

 

I have managed to take some photos showing the marks and screen damage, can someone help me out and tell me how to upload them unto the forum so that you can judge for yourselves?

[Neillt]

The I-pad was covered for accidental damage, we took out the "whatever happens" (oh the irony!) policy when purchasing it.

No photos were taken before sending the I-pad for repair but it came back to us in the same condition as we sent it.

[renegadeimp]

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets - as a picture[jpg] file

don't forget you can use a mobile phone or a digital camera too!!

.

ENSURE: remove all pers info inc barcodes etc using paint program

but leave all figures and dates.

 

Same info above applies to photos

.

goto one of the many free online pdf converter websites

it would be better to upload a multipage pdf if

you have many images too rather than many single pdfs

.

or if you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

or use word and save as pdf

.

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files, navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

 

From a site admin.

[Neillt]

From a site admin.

 

Thanks for that, I've just realised though that my profile does not give me permission to post attachments

[ims21]

Thanks for that, I've just realised though that my profile does not give me permission to post attachments

 

If you follow the guide as posted above you will be able to post the documents up.

[Neillt]

Hi Everyone

 

To give you an update on our situation....

 

 

My wife took a phone call on 28th August 2013 from a man from “H M Investigations” the man claimed they were an independent body and wanted more details on the damage and how it happened. My wife told him everything she could and he said that if Currys did agree to fix the I-pad we would have to agree not to submit future claims for similar damage, my wife said this would be fine as we just wanted the thing fixed.

 

“H M Investigations” told my wife that Currys would write to us within 10 working days, and we were quite hopeful of getting a positive outcome. In the meantime I requested a copy of the engineers report from Currys, they informed me that they would give me this if I sent them a cheque for £10. I didn’t send the money as we decided to await the outcome of H M Investigations review.

 

We have now received a letter in today’s post (dated 4 September!), from Kathryn Mansell, Customer Services Manager at Currys saying that they have reviewed H M Investigations’ report and have made the decision to reject the claim.

 

It seems that the only action open to us now is to take small claims action against Curry’s.

I would be grateful if anyone could advise me should we:

 

A.Get the Ipad repaired ourselves and then take court action to recover the costs of the repair? If so where should the repair work be done, should it be at the Apple store?

 

B.Proceed with small claims court action for the replacement cost of the I-pad (£269).

 

I would be grateful if anyone who has gone down this route before could respond. Thanks.

[Neillt]

Hi everyone

 

So we took the Ipad to the Apple Store in Belfast, their staff told us that they could not repair the screen as one of the corners was also damaged, so the only option was to replace the Ipad at a cost of £209. We decided to go ahead with this and have now submitted a small claims application against DSG retail for the sum of £209.

 

Will keep you updated...

[Neillt]

An Update....

 

DSG lodged a dispute to our small claims application, 2 days before the expiry date, saying that in their opinion the damage was caused through misuse. The court date was set for 10th December, however yesterday we received a letter from DSG saying they had reviewed our case again and decided that the Ipad should have been repaired by them and enclosing a cheque for £239, covering the repair costs we incurred plus the court fee.

 

Very pleased at the outcome and can I just add that this forum was absolutely useless when it came to providing the advice I requested on how to proceed with legal action against DSG. Anybody reading this who is in the same position as we were, don't be expecting to get any help from this forum and crack on with legal action, it seems to be the only way to achieve anything.

[BazzaS]

If buying a replacement iPad consider "AppleCare+" : which would reduce the cost to you if the iPad had a screen cracked in a manner not covered by warranty / SoGA.

 

It may be an alternative to "Whatever happens" : I would rather have to throw myself on the mercies of Apple's cover than DRG's.

[queensclose]

i think the company decided to just pay out because it wasn't worth the companies time and money to defend it. reading through the posts its my opinion the company where correct to reject the claim because it is in the terms and conditions to respect the iPad.

there's not many Ipads out there that's been dropped in all four corners scuff marks etc which are all signs of "i don't give a crap its insured" and if you tried to trade it in at cash converters. they would just send you on your way.

[Neillt]

Thanks for that Queensclose, DSG's letter quite clearly states that they had reviewed the case again and had decided that the I-pad should have been repaired by them.

[Fazse]

Thanks for that Queensclose, DSG's letter quite clearly states that they had reviewed the case again and had decided that the I-pad should have been repaired by them.

 

Hi Neillt,

 

Can you provide me the name and address of the person at DSG who you sent your small claims court to.

 

Thanks.