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BEWARE when buying anything from Currys/PC World if you think you are getting the manufacturer's warranty that you would get if you purchased your product elsewhere.

 

I have discovered that Dixons (Currys/PC World) have a practice of "buying out" the manufacturer's warranty.

 

What this means is that, if you need to make a claim under the manufacturer's warranty you thought you had purchased,

the manufacturer may well tell you to get lost and contact Dixons instead.

 

This certainly applies to Toshiba laptops and, I have been informed to several other manufacturers as well (e.g. Sumsung).

 

Dixons may well argue that their KnowHow (definitely a misnomer) service is comparable. IT IS NOT.

 

It is not a manufacturer's warranty and never will be - Dixons are not the manufacturer of Toshiba laptops - Toshiba are.

 

If having a warranty is important to you think very hard before you buy and don't take Dixon's answers for granted

- check with the manufacturer first.

 

If in doubt - shop elsewhere. PC World are NOT the cheapest and they are certainly not the best!

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warranties are worthless and useless anyhow

 

they do not replace your rights under the sale of goods act

just enhance them.

 

always use the sale of goods act.

 

loads of threads here on the successes already.

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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warranties are worthless and useless anyhow

 

they do not replace your rights under the sale of goods act

just enhance them.

 

always use the sale of goods act.

 

loads of threads here on the successes already.

 

dx

 

I know of what the law gives me, but a warranty is still a warranty and support from the manufacturer can often resolve the problem quickly and painlessly.

 

What I object to is false and misleading advertising and retailers who fail to disclose material information when they sell products

- and then trying to weasel their way out of taking responsibility.

 

When I told PC World I was rejecting the product in accordance with my rights, their response was "you cannot,

only a judge can do that"!

 

What idiot employed that idiot?

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I've seen threads on here where people were referred to a manufacturer for service and they complained as they felt the shop should have dealt with the issue. Seems you can't please everyone. I think my wife had a repair done by pc world, it was done with no issues and the computer was even picked up and dropped at home. Personally I thought the service was good.

 

What did pc world do that was not what you expected?

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Sorry but I'm not quite sure what you're saying here.

 

Firstly it is much more effective to proceed against the supplier. Suppliers would like to try and pass the buck to manufacturers because it gets you out of their hair.

 

The rights that you have under the sale of goods act are much better than anything else you will get from a "manufacturers warranty".

 

However, assuming that you want to proceed under a manufacturer's warranty, I don't understand what you mean that they have been bought out by Currys or any other supplier. Unless this is disclosed to you in advance, it is not possible for a manufacturer or any other contracting party to dispose of their duties towards you.

 

You would have to be told about it in advance and you would have to agree to it.

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I know of what the law gives me, but a warranty is still a warranty and support from the manufacturer can often resolve the problem quickly and painlessly. What I object to is false and misleading advertising and retailers who fail to disclose material information when they sell products - and then trying to weasel their way out of taking responsibility.

 

When I told PC World I was rejecting the product oin accordance with my rights, their response was "you cannot, only a judge can do that"! What idiot employed that idiot?

 

I think that only if they fail to provide you service you expect from a warranty, then you can complain. Otherwise, what's the issue?

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BEWARE when buying anything from Currys/PC World if you think you are getting the manufacturer's warranty that you would get if you purchased your product elsewhere.

 

I have discovered that Dixons (Currys/PC World) have a practice of "buying out" the manufacturer's warranty.

 

What this means is that, if you need to make a claim under the manufacturer's warranty you thought you had purchased,

the manufacturer may well tell you to get lost and contact Dixons instead.

 

This certainly applies to Toshiba laptops and, I have been informed to several other manufacturers as well (e.g. Sumsung).

 

Dixons may well argue that their KnowHow (definitely a misnomer) service is comparable. IT IS NOT.

 

It is not a manufacturer's warranty and never will be - Dixons are not the manufacturer of Toshiba laptops - Toshiba are.

 

If having a warranty is important to you think very hard before you buy and don't take Dixon's answers for granted

- check with the manufacturer first.

 

If in doubt - shop elsewhere. PC World are NOT the cheapest and they are certainly not the best!

 

 

Where did you get this information about the makers warranty being bought out ?

 

 

If a problem developes with a bought item, it always has been the sellers responsibility to sort it out / repair it not the maker.

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U think what he's talking about is the fact that if it's brought from pcworl then under the manufacturers warranty it is repaired by knowhow

 

This as far as I know is a common arrangement and most of the manufacturers do it as they don't have their own repair centers

 

If your after one that isn't repaired by the retailer then try Sony Asus and Lenovo

 

They are ones that don't usually farm out repairs

Please note:

 

  • I am employed in the IT sector of a high street retail chain but am not posting in any official capacity,so therefore any comments,suggestions or opinions are expressly personal ones and should not be viewed as an endorsement or with agreement of any company.
  • i am not legal trained in any form.
  • I have many experiences in life and do often use these in my posts

if ive been helpful kick my scales, if ive been unhelpful kick the scales of the person more helpful :eek:

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I've seen threads on here where people were referred to a manufacturer for service and they complained as they felt the shop should have dealt with the issue. Seems you can't please everyone. I think my wife had a repair done by pc world, it was done with no issues and the computer was even picked up and dropped at home. Personally I thought the service was good.

 

What did pc world do that was not what you expected?

 

The problem is that PC have demonstrated a total lack of technical expertise or competence.

 

Instead of trying to anyalyse the cause of the fault, their response was to insist that I perform a factory reset.

 

This would i) delete the cause of the problem, so it could not be determined (and would likely reoccur),

 

ii) wipe out all the updates I have downloaded (costing £50 over mobile broadband) and I would need to download them again,

 

iii) wipe out all the software I have installed and the following configuration work (about 100 hours of effort),

require me to backup and recover all my data (needing me to have a backup drive).

 

Toshiba say that a factory reset should be done as a "last resort" after all other diagnostic techniques have failed, and I agree.

 

PC World have confirmed to me in writing that their "Know How" (misnomer) team comprises people describe as "amateurs" - this is clearly true.

 

There is a 99.9% likelihood that a factory reset would not resolve the problem but would have a significant cost to me.

 

Support from the manufacturer would likely resolve the problem with minimal cost.

 

That's the difference between a PC World warranty and a manufacturer's warranty.

Edited by sj001
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What I object to is false and misleading advertising and retailers who fail to disclose material information when they sell products - and then trying to weasel their way out of taking responsibility.

 

 

Show them how it's done, tell us where you got this information that they buy the makers warranty ?

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Sorry but I'm not quite sure what you're saying here.

 

Firstly it is much more effective to proceed against the supplier. Suppliers would like to try and pass the buck to manufacturers because it gets you out of their hair.

 

The rights that you have under the sale of goods act are much better than anything else you will get from a "manufacturers warranty".

 

However, assuming that you want to proceed under a manufacturer's warranty, I don't understand what you mean that they have been bought out by Currys or any other supplier. Unless this is disclosed to you in advance, it is not possible for a manufacturer or any other contracting party to dispose of their duties towards you.

 

You would have to be told about it in advance and you would have to agree to it.

 

What Dixons have done in buying out the warranty is to take away the manufacturer's warranty and replace it with their own.

 

That means that, instead of getting support from the company that made the product,

you get 'support' from PC World which is vastly different.

 

Think of the difference between taking a BMW back to a a BMW dealer for a problem to be fixed vs taking it to Greasy Joe's garage

to be fixed by an untrained and unqualified mechanic.

 

Now imagine it is the brakes that have failed.

 

I suspect that Dixons get a discount on machines from Toshiba where they have 'bought out' the warranty,

as Toshiba no longer have to provide support.

 

Dixons they provide their own support (which in my experience is worse than worthless)

at a far lower cost to Dixons than their savings from Toshiba.

 

Hence, more profit for Dixons, less service for the customer.

 

As to not disclosing this, that is exactly what they have done and this very well may be unlawful.

 

Toshiba's web site states that all Toshiba machines come with a 1 year standard warranty (i.e. with the manufacturer).

 

This apparently doies not apply if you purchase from the Dixons group.

 

Whether or not I have a legal claim against Toshiba remains to be seen as they may not legally be a contacting party.

 

Had I been told this in advance I absolutely would NOT have purchased from PC World so I consider this to be a material fact.

Edited by sj001
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Where did you get this information about the makers warranty being bought out ?

 

If a problem developes with a bought item, it always has been the sellers responsibility to sort it out / repair it not the maker.

 

Toshiba told me as soon as I tried to get support under the warranty.

 

They did not, however, tell me when I registered the warranty.

 

When I requested support under the warranty from Toshiba their response was

"As you have confirmed that your notebook was purchased from PC World, you will need to contact Knowhow for further assistance with your query.

 

We are not able to provide support in this case as all notebooks sold by PC World are subject to a bought out warranty agreement,

whereby Knowhow provide all technical support and warranty service.

This applies for the duration of the standard 12 month warranty only;

after this time we will be able to provide technical support as usual."

 

Whereas support would normally be provided by the seller,

I purchased this in the belive that I ALSO benefitted from support from the manufacturer under their advsertised warranty.

 

Had I know I would not get this if I purchased from PC World,

I would have purchased it from a different seller,

where I would have received the manufacturer's warranty that was advertised by Toshiba.

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I think that only if they fail to provide you service you expect from a warranty, then you can complain. Otherwise, what's the issue?

 

PC World absolutely did fail to provide any competent support. For them to suggest that their own support is comparable to the manufacturer's support is laughable.

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U think what he's talking about is the fact that if it's brought from pcworl then under the manufacturers warranty it is repaired by knowhow

 

This as far as I know is a common arrangement and most of the manufacturers do it as they don't have their own repair centers

 

If your after one that isn't repaired by the retailer then try Sony Asus and Lenovo

 

They are ones that don't usually farm out repairs

 

Actually, I bought a Toshiba as I had previously owned one and had received support from the manufacturer.

 

The main point of my complaint is that, had I purchsed the machine from any supplier other than PC World (e.g. John Lewis)

I would have received the manufacturer's warrnty and I would have received support from the experts at Toshiba.

 

Only because I purchaed from PC World did Toshiba refuse to provide support

and I was left with the incompetent attempts of the amateurs at PC World.

There is a vast world of difference between the two.

Edited by sj001
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Show them how it's done, tell us where you got this information that they buy the makers warranty ?

 

Toshiba's website states:

"All Toshiba products are delivered with a free of charge standard warranty that may vary depending on your product.

You will find the latest standard warranty terms and conditions per product below."

 

NB: I have confirmed that the warranty applies to my specific laptop.

It does NOT state that the warranty varies depending on where you buy the laptop.

 

See above for Toshiba's written response to my reply for support.

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you should have been backing up your programs and data.

 

your issue is through the retailer under SOGA

warranties do not enter into the ballgame at all.

 

if they cannot resolve the issues

then by their own time scale

which I believe is 28days

they should be either repairing, refunding or Replacing at their choosing

 

if/if not they involve the manufacturer might be under your influence

if you request it & p'haps accept a longer resolution time.

 

however IMHO they have not removed the availability for the manu's involvement.

 

just you insist, wrongly, that they are your first port of call

they are not.

 

unless/until you accept and use the correct 'route' i'e SOGA

you are wasting you time.

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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you should have been backing up your programs and data.

 

your issue is through the retailer under SOGA

warranties do not enter into the ballgame at all.

 

if they cannot resolve the issues

then by their own time scale

which I believe is 28days

they should be either repairing, refunding or Replacing at their choosing

 

if/if not they involve the manufacturer might be under your influence

if you request it & p'haps accept a longer resolution time.

 

however IMHO they have not removed the availability for the manu's involvement.

 

just you insist, wrongly, that they are your first port of call

they are not.

 

unless/until you accept and use the correct 'route' i'e SOGA

you are wasting you time.

 

dx

 

I have backed up everything, but that is not the point. It is the effort and cost involved.

Warranties absolutely are an issue. I was led to believe I had a manufacturer's warranty, but instead I do not.

They have offered a replacement by value, not by specification, which is not a comparable replacement. They have not offered damages for consequential losses.

It is because they are unable and unwilling to repair and/or replace that I want to avail myself of the manufacturer's warranty.

A technical solution is the option that would mitigate furrther losses.

The manufacturer's involvement is removed. Toshiba has stated as much.

I rejected the machine and their response was "only a judge can do that".

I do not insists they are my first point of all - where did you get that from?

I am well aware of SOGA and do not need to be educated about it.

 

What I am trying to do is warm other potential customers - if you buy from Dixons and think you get a manufacturer's warranty, think again: you do not and these are the consequences.

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you were not misled on anything.

 

I doubt you'll get consequential losses either.

 

sadly you don't have the choice to force them to use the manu warranty

they are dealing with this under soga

their resolution of a replacement is quite correct

 

you, again under soga are within your rights to demand a comparable replacement by spec, not value

 

however, I disagree you are educated about SOGA

 

your end result is nothing to do with any sale of any warranty between any companies.

 

your only other option is small claims

 

where, sadly I feel the judge would laugh you out the door

 

dx

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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you were not misled on anything.

 

I doubt you'll get consequential losses either.

 

sadly you don't have the choice to force them to use the manu warranty they are dealing with this under soga their resolution of a replacement is quite correct

 

you, again under soga are within your rights to demand a comparable replacement by spec, not value

 

however, I disagree you are educated about SOGA

 

your end result is nothing to do with any sale of any warranty between any companies.

 

your only other option is small claims

 

where, sadly I feel the judge would laugh you out the door

 

dx

dx

 

A rather unhelpful response.

 

I disagree that I was not misled. Toshiba provide a detailed specification of the product (which includes a manufacturer's warranty). This has been changed by the vendor without prior notification. Of course I cannot "force" them to do anything; what I can do, and have done, is to reject the product and claim damages for any breaches of contract or of compliance with any legal duty.

 

As to consequential losses, I suggest you investigate contract law. Furthermore, SOGA does provide for consequential losses.

 

Here are some quotations from Trading Standards:

"Public statements made by the trader, manufacturer or their representative that relate to specific characteristics of the goods, particularly in advertising or on labelling, must be accurate and are taken into account when deciding if goods are of satisfactory quality". This includes the manufacturer's statement of warranty as this is a material part of the description.

 

"You are entitled to ask the trader to repair or replace the goods at their expense. The trader can refuse to do so if the repair or replacement is impossible or disproportionate (too costly) when compared to other remedies. The repair or replacement must be carried out within a reasonable time and without causing you significant inconvenience." They failed in this duty and I have suffered damages as a consequence.

 

"The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 states that if a guarantee provider, which may be the trader or the manufacturer, offers a guarantee on goods sold or supplied to consumers, they are contractually obliged to honour the terms of the guarantee. For example, if the guarantee provider refuses to repair goods as set out under the terms of the guarantee, you can take legal action against the provider of the guarantee for breach of contract. This could be claiming back the cost of repairs if you have had them carried out elsewhere. A guarantee is in addition to your legal rights and cannot take away any rights you have". I have an argument that Toshiba offered a guarantee as publicly advertised on their web site, regardless of any contract between myself and the seller; it does not state that the goods need to be purchased from Toshiba for the guarantee to be effective, indeed it states that products may be purchased either directly from Toshiba or from a reseller (e.g. PC World). Toshiba has refused to honour this guarantee so I have a potential claim against Toshiba over and above my claim against PC World.

 

"You are entitled to claim damages from the trader to cover your losses if they were caused as a direct result of the goods being faulty. This is called consequential loss. For example, if your washing machine developed a fault and clothing was torn, you could claim for the cost of the clothing as well as seeking repair, replacement, full or partial refund from the trader." I have suffered damages as a result of the faulty goods and as a result of PC World's failure to make reasonable attempts to repair or replace the product at minimal cost to me.

 

"A trader may commit a criminal offence if they engage in other 'unfair commercial practices' such as making false or misleading claims, failing to disclose relevant information to you or engaging in an aggressive selling practice". The buying out of the manufacturer's warranty is relevant information and they failed to disclose this.

Edited by sj001
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then as I said off to court you go.

 

we'll all await you victory post.

 

you've warned us what is happening.

 

we thank you.

 

now go and prove your point.

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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then as I said off to court you go.

 

we'll all await you victory post.

 

you've warned us what is happening.

 

we thank you.

 

now go and prove your point.

 

dx

 

I await responses from senior management at Dixon and Toshiba, as well as responses from the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards. If and when I start legal action, I shall do so properly armed.

 

Meanwhile, rather than effectively attacking me, perhaps you could consider that the purpose of this thread is to ennure other consumers are properly informed of this practice by Dixons group so thay can make an informed decision as to whether to buy from Dixons (and be deprived of the warranty they might have believed they are getting) or purchase the same product (with a manufacturer's warranty) from another seller (most likely at the same price and with a decent customer service department).

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I quite honestly don't think the average punter would know or really care do you?

 

items goes wrong, as long as they get properly sorted to their satisfaction, that's all that matters.

 

it prob all boils down to cost.

 

its prob cheaper for tosh to do these kind of deals.

 

lets face it, you think you will/would have got a better result if tosh had been involved

but to tosh, its not p'haps best for them.

or p'haps they would have come to the same conclusion?

 

you could take it full circle mind?

 

get it back

and send it to tosh for a proper paid for repair at your cost

using their repair service

then bill DGS in small claims

 

that might get you even more on consequential losses?

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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I quite honestly don't think the average punter would know or really care do you?

 

items goes wrong, as long as they get properly sorted to their satisfaction, that's all that matters.

 

it prob all boils down to cost.

 

its prob cheaper for tosh to do these kind of deals.

 

lets face it, you think you will/would have got a better result if tosh had been involved

but to tosh, its not p'haps best for them.

or p'haps they would have come to the same conclusion?

 

you could take it full circle mind?

 

get it back

and send it to tosh for a proper paid for repair at your cost

using their repair service

then bill DGS in small claims

 

that might get you even more on consequential losses?

 

DX, I really think you have missed the point. I am not asking for advice, I am trying to publicise a practice.

 

Your response is, I feel, quite insulting to those you describe as "the average punter". It is not for you or for me to decide what is important to other consumers, it is for the purchaser to decide. What I am trying to do is to ensure they can make an informed decision.

 

The fact remains that:

1) Toshiba advertise a warranty to everyone who buys a Toshiba product, but fail to disclose that this does not apply if you purchase from the Dixons group (Currys/PC World) and then refuse to honour that warranty when a claim is made. This is most likely a breach of contract.

 

2) PC World offer laptops for sale but fail to disclose a material fact from potential consumers. This is not just misleading, it may also be a criminal offence.

 

3) PC World do not provide a competent technical support service and their claims that they do are false.

 

Yes, things go wrong. That is why some consumers may want to ensure they have adequate safeguards (such as warranty agreements) in place. Thisn is a conscious decision to choose to make a purchase affording safeguards over and above their rights in law, such as the provisions of SOGA and DSR. Consider, perhaps, people who opt to take out holiday insurance as a warranty is, in effect, an insurance policy.

 

Things have gone wrong, and I accept that. What I object to is having been misled. When I made the purchase I did so having been led to belive I had a manufacturer's warranty. I did not and the support I had been led to believe I had was refused to me.

 

PC World are clearly not competent and Toshiba are being, in my opinion, disreputable.

 

Of course these deals are made to save money and thereby maximise profits. That is fine, so long as the consumer is not misled and expected to pay the cost of the consequences - that is immoral and unethical.

 

I am certain that I would have received competent support from Toshiba. I know I did not receive competent support from PC World.

 

As legal action is likely against PC World and possibly also Toshiba, it would be unwise for me to post further specifics.

 

But I reiterate is that I am trying to do is to publicise this practise by Dixons so that potential customers are forewarned.

 

It should not be necessary for people have to seek redress in the law after the event, when it is possible to avoid the problem in the first place. I believe that both Dixons and Toshiba are guilty of false advertising and I have raised this issue with the Advertising Standards Authority who have the power to force them to change what they advertise. In the meantime, I am trying to publicise my experiences.

 

My advice is to avoid any purchases from the Dixons group, especially if you want a manufacturer's warranty and think very hard before you deal with a company that has demonstrated contempt for it's customers time and money and a refusal to act in an open and honest manner and to take responsibility for the consequences of its actions.

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What's the fault? You realise that software is not covered by any manufacturers warranty, other than to put it back to factory settings. It's sound like you have a software fault that a recovery would fix but you want to know how to fix it without a recovery. Any manufacturer in the world would not support this.

 

What's the problem with the computer?

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