Sale of Goods Act

[Mr Happy]

I bought a laptop from PCworld, in the first year of ownership it started to over heat, I sent it away for repair and it came back and worked ok for about 3 months then it started to over heat again and I sent it away again and it came back fixed.

 

About 6 months ago the fault started again I arranged again for it to be repaired, this time stating the sale of goods act because it was outside of the warranty, it came back again after about 2 weeks fixed.

 

The fault has just started again and I will be contacting them again to get it fixed, the issue I have is if it keeps going wrong every 6 months at what stage will they no longer be obliged to fix it, it is an i7, 17 inch laptop so its a good spec and I like the laptop.

 

Should I request a more permanent remedy, ie replacement, refund, I understand it would possibly be a partial refund because I have used it a lot, just wondering the beast plan of attack.

[renegadeimp]

Have they given a reason why it was overheating, and what they have actually done to "fix" the issue?

[rebel11]

Hi Happy

 

How did you pay for it? Have you kept any correspondence with PC-World i.e. emails etc?

[Mr Happy]

Its all documented on their system and I have records of all times it has been away for repair.

 

They never told me what was done on the first 2 repairs but on the last repair (SOG) they replaced the fan.

 

They have been very good so far the only issue I had I was in a telephone queue for 2 hours booking in the SOG repair, they had tried to ring me but I was driving so had to call them back, they sent me a letter saying they had tried to ring.

[rebel11]

Hi Mr. Happy

 

I would write to Currys/PC World, explain that the product has failed on numerous occasions since purchase, it has been in for repair on numerous occasions. Explain that you now require Currys/PC World to replace the product. Send them the appropriate template. You need a permanent solution. There have been additional costs to you each time the product has failed.

 

 

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/sale-of-goods-act#link-4

[Mr Happy]

Thanks for your help, I have sent them an email on their contact page, lets see how this goes.

[rebel11]

How did you pay for it?

 

Thanks for your help, I have sent them an email on their contact page, lets see how this goes.

[Mr Happy]

That was quick going, they have contacted me already and arranged for it to be looked at.

 

They said there is a fee to be paid for the assessment that will be refunded if its a manufacturer fault, I said no there isn't and he just carried on with the booking in process.

 

quite impressed so far.

[Mr Happy]

I had a whatever happens policy on another laptop, it went faulty regularly and they were persuaded to replace it, this is the replacement so it was paid for by an internal voucher.

[rebel11]

So the original laptop was faulty, the replacement is also faulty. And they want to carry on repairing it.

[Mr Happy]

Pretty much, the new one was a different model and over heating is a known fault on them, found out a bit too late, I have made them aware that I will continue to have it repaired if it continues to go wrong.

 

I was fed up of the hassle with the WEH policy on the last laptop that I refused to take it out again, SOG has been OK so far.

[labrat]

hmm hp or compaq

 

G6, G62 dv6 or CQ Range, all prone to overheating

 

the good news is they are easy to clean yourself, the bad news is its an "unrecognised" but very common issue, personally its bad design

[mjvaj123]

I7 must be a dv7 or envy I'm guessing unless a super spec ?

[Mr Happy]

Mjvaj well done you guessed it envy17.

 

The cooling ports are as clean as can be expected, I was wondering if the heatsink compound is degrading.

First time it went in for repair all cpu's were over heating, second time they were all hot but the gpu was sky high, gives me the impression they replaced the compound on the CPU only.

 

I am fully capable of fixing it myself, pretty reluctant to do so because if it needs parts I do not want to pay for them.

[labrat]

have to admit i didnt read the i7 part sorry

 

problem wiith the envys is theres 3 fans and they tend to keel if even one gets clogged

[Mr Happy]

No need to apologise Labrat

 

I took the laptop into our local Currys World with a copy of the email booking it in, apparently it hadn't been booked in properly so brought it back and they are going to contact me when it is ready to be booked in for repair.

 

Thats more like the Knowhow we all know and love.

[Mr Happy]

It took over a week for them to contact me again but it went off again last week, got it back now which I was quite pleased about quite prompt service.

 

Sounds like a bag of nails, flickering display and another scratch on the case, only a small scratch but a scratch more than it went away with.

 

Guess I am going to have to get it booked back in again.

[JoeyJoeC]

The issue is just bad heat extraction, the fans are inadequate, the heat sinks don't have enough metal and is shared between the CPU and the GPU.

 

When these HP laptops overheat, it causes the ball solder joins on the GPU to weaken and crack resulting in distorted picture or complete black screen. They are made with ball solder joints to save on the few pence that it would have cost them had they used pins instead.

 

This problem has been around for years on HP / Compaq laptops, on many of their models, they are aware of it but they won't do anything about it. The only thing they done was release BIOS updates to keep the fan running full speed.

 

I love the style of the laptops, but really will avoid them like the plague now.

 

Also the case for some Acer laptops, namely the Aspire range.

[Mr Happy]

I sent it off for repair again, they had it a week and returned it.

 

I turned it on, immediately still sounds like a bag of nails, they have replaced the LED panel and restored to factory defaults so all my data has gone, that is a pain in the butt because I need to install all my programs and data again, luckily I was aware of possible data loss as the guys in the shop told me, everything is backed up real time to a NAS drive so its not a problem, this would have been acceptable had it fixed the fault but the screen was clearly flickering still.

 

I have got to a stage where I know they do not have the ability to fix it, I gave them a 5 day deadline to refund or replace.

 

SOGAS states

repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer

 

This last episode has almost taken 2 months and it is still not resolved, I need the computer for college and training for my Diploma, I have been borrowing my sons laptop but that has now gone faulty.

 

It has not been fixed in a reasonable amount of time and has caused extreme inconvenience, they are clearly in breach of the SOGA I am hoping to hear from them by Monday or will be taking them to the small claims court.

 

What can I claim for? just the value of the laptop or can I claim for loss due to inconvenience, I am happy to get a replacement of similar spec, I also understand that they make make a deduction because I have had some use of it, not sure how much of a deduction I should accept because it has continually been going wrong.

 

I will give them a ring on Monday as a last chance to resolve things but have no faith in their ability to fix anything, I have an account with money claim online already so just hoping for any advice from anyone here before I proceed.

 

Cheers

[Old Cogger]

all I found for £50.00 at currys they say all records wil be lost if there is no back up as you have a bug, then I found out all they did was to re-set to original (for £50.00) and that although the laptop bought 2 months ago warranty not covered an external download (bug) what bug = name - answer do not know,.

 

week later more problems after downloading original programmes which were wiped off, so I found a reset area and two points = 1 x reset to factory settings, or reset without loosing data and personal files, so I did the 2nd option and all files except Office etc were still there = cost to me NOTHING? how long are they going to stay in business defrauding the public|?

[renegadeimp]

The people who go to pc world with a computer issue, tend to be totally clueless when it comes to their systems. Therefore, they will believe and pay pcworld anything as long as they get it working again.

[Mr Happy]

Anyone?

[Mr Happy]

It appears there is as much tumbleweed at Knowhow as there is on this forum, sent 3 emails and 2 messages on their contact form and no response in over a week.

 

Was reluctant to phone because of their 0844 number not covered by my phone inclusive plan, did anyway and they have changed it to a 0344 number which is covered.

 

Been passed from pillar to post first went to customer services, then passed to out of warranty repairs, then passed to out of warranty repairs, now expecting a call from out of warranty repairs, how many out of warranty repair departments do they have?

 

May try Seb James next, then I have http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct to help me prepare my case if no success.

 

Could do without Small Claims but cant afford a new laptop at the moment.

[ericsbrother]

You need to get a letter to a high level to get a complaint taken seriously. the phone just doesnt cut it. A LBA to the chief exec will get a response.

[Mr Happy]

They didn't ring me back so I rung them back, eventually got through to the correct department.

They have agreed to give me a partial refund, estimate £350 I consider it fair for a laptop that cost £750 3 years ago.

 

They are picking it up today and promised a quick turnaround on the production of the voucher, would have preferred it fixed because I need to find extra cash to be up and running with another laptop but they can not fix it.

 

The last few people I spoke to were very reasonable and helpful, all along they have very professional and knowledgeable people.

Lets see how it goes getting the voucher, half term before college again hopefully sorted before then.