Electric shock from HP Laptop via Very

[Springsteen22]

Hello,

 

I'm wondering if anyone can help.

I recently bought an HP Pavillion Laptop via Very.co.uk on buy now pay later.

I've had it about a week but went to unplug it from the socket last night and got a big electric shock. i.e massive spark/bang, electricity went off in the whole house, and sore, tingly hand/arm.

 

I contacted Very last night to advise them of this and they said to email them which I did, I received an email this morning telling me I'd have to contact their Customer excellence team. I forwarded the email straight away but heard nothing back.

 

I then spoke to someone on twitter to query timescales and to ask who the customer excellence team were.

They told me its the complaints dept and that it would take 5 working days for me to receive an acknowledgement and then a reply would be given after that.

 

I said I didn't think that was very good service having to wait 5 days after having a shock from faulty charger.

 

Eventually someone has emailed me with two options.

 

1. they will arrange collection of the laptop and charger and offer 5% discount, also reorder if required.

 

2. I can buy a new charger and send them the receipt which they will reimburse and also offer 5% discount on the laptop.

 

Its likely that I'll return it and ask for a replacement as I need a laptop asap for uni work

however I feel that they haven't addressed the fact I got a shock at all and a 5% discount doesn't seem good enough to me.

 

I'm not sure what I should do, can anyone offer some advice?

 

Thanks

[renegadeimp]

I would stop thinking about a replacement and start thinking about the electric shock. DO this by getting an independant engineer to assess the laptop, then go from there. Very are trying to evade what happened, as is evidenced in their reply.

[spalding78]

I'd get an electrician in - to look at the house supply, not the laptop.

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

Sounds like your plug arc'd in the socket as it was being pulled out. Maybe socket I faulty. If it was the charger, I would guess it would have blown at the power pack, rather than the plug.

Did you turn off the plug socket before pulling out the plug?

As said, i would take it to an independent electrical tester before taking it further.

[Springsteen22]

Thanks for your comments, I think I will get the laptop checked out by an electrician.

 

Our landlord has someone to regularly check the electricity here.

 

 

The socket has never had any problems before and still seems to be ok now,

 

 

I switched it off approx 1 sec before taking plug out. (I'll get someone to double check it too just incase).

 

The powerpack was quite hot and I could smell burning too. It hadn't been plugged in that long in the first place so shouldn't have got that hot with normal use.

 

Also, something is rattling around in the plug itself now, not sure what that is.

 

Thanks

Edited February 24, 2015 by Springsteen22
extra info

[labrat]

https://h30652.www3.hp.com/

 

product recall for hp leads, i beleave they send one for free

[Guest]

hp recall info by labrat maybe the cause? unlikely to be the socket itself. presume the socket is properly earthed.

poss compensation for the injury?

[Springsteen22]

I don't think its the product recall as the cable isn't the same as the one in the photograph on the website. @ford - I assume so, never had any issues with the socket before or indeed any sockets/electrics in the house. I've been using the socket since and its fine. Thanks

[Springsteen22]

Quick update:

 

 

Someone from Very contacted me yesterday to say I have to wait for a Quality manager to contact me.

Said it wouldn't be today (yesterday) but promised to chase it up tomorrow(today) with them.

 

 

She advised quality manager will investigate and see if they can just send me a new charger,

I said I want the full unit collected and replaced as was outlined in the options I was given previously.

 

She then said; "I can advise that you can order a replacement or alternative if you wish,

however, it would be at your own discretion as there is no guarantee the original unit will be authorised for return and refunded.

This means you could end up with 2 units and have to pay for them both.

The decision is yours as we cannot stop you from placing an order,

however i would recommend you wait for the QA and their comments just in case this can be resolved without having to return the unit."

 

Surely this doesn't make sense if the Sale of Goods act says that if an item is faulty (dangerous faulty at that)

then a replacement should be provided in a reasonable time.

 

 

I said of course I wouldn't be ordering another myself and that I expect the manager to contact me asap tomorrow (today)

 

I waited until 1pm today with no contact so emailed her again - got her out of office, so she knew she wasn't in today.

 

 

I've emailed again and send a message via twitter asking this to be escalated.

 

 

I've also advised them of the SoGA and that I want a replacement asap.

 

 

This is driving me mad,

 

 

I've spoken to consumer advice twice who have reported to trading standards so hopefully will be resolved soon.

 

 

Thanks for your comments so far.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Springsteen22
adding paragraphs

[Old Cogger]

I would send back the unit you got & order replacement via new order, they are only telephone operators as I found out with little or nop knowledge.

[Springsteen22]

I don't want to make a new order.

 

 

I want them to deal with this one.

 

 

I don't see why I should have to risk my own payment/credit ratings because they aren't doing their jobs properly.

 

 

I'm giving them until tomorrow and then saying I want them to collect asap and I no longer want the machine.

 

 

I'll get another one elsewhere if no resolution.

 

 

I need a new one asap as I run my own website so losing money and also have open university assignments I need to do.

[Old Cogger]

o.k. carry on!

[Springsteen22]

o.k. carry on!

 

Thanks for your help though

[Springsteen22]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone can help again.

I've had details back from the advisor who says the quality manager has looked into the case and decided that as there is soot on one of the prongs of the plug then the issue lies with my socket. (my socket at home is fine, never had an issue before, still works and none of my other electrical appliances explode/give me a shock)

Surely this cannot be decided by looking at a blurry photograph and they would need the unit back to inspect first. I've only had this for about 2 weeks. They have also advised me to plug the charger into another socket instead to use. I am absolutely not willing to do this incase anything else happens. The prong itself has a small chip in the metal which I think might be the cause of all of this. I didn't notice it before plugging in as, like most people, I don't tend to closely inspect plugs often.

Consumer advice have told me that the burden of proof is on Very to prove that there is nothing wrong with it. They don't seem willing to actually take it away for inspection. I'm not sure what to do next, I'd like to to be properly looked into and examined. I bought this on a buy now pay later plan and it doesn't seem fair that I now have to pay for something I can't use.

In previous correspondence a different team have already given me the option of a replacement, it seems like I'm being passed between two departments neither of whom are speaking to each other

Thanks for your help

Edited February 27, 2015 by Springsteen22
adding paras

[Guest]

bad advice as it cld be risky trying it in another socket, partic if the plug fuse has gone and re burning smell, fuse doing its job protecting further damage/injury (gone fuse maybe the cause of the burning smell and rattling).

as you say, if the socket has burnt out, then it is unlikely to continue to work. and, the house fuse may go/switch off.

they shld at least take it back and get it properly inspected/tested.

or cld highlight the prev correspondence re authorising a replacement and take that see if it works

in the meantime, see if landlord can get the electrics/socket checked again, without charging you. as you said, landlords have to ensure that the electrics are ok.

[zydeco]

So they say that because there's soot on one of the pins it's the sockets fault? not thought this through have they? could be that the plug doesn't conform to BS standards http://www.bs1363.org.uk/ just a thought

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

Soot(black marking) on the socket as well as what appears to be physical damage(chip/weld/indentation) are all signs that and arc occurred in the socket.

99/100 this is caused by the socket being old and worn causing an improper fit, or by removing a plug before turning off the socket, which in turn causes an arc. I think the op needs to send the plug away to be independently tested and if it comes back as not meeting the required standard, then take I further, but I think he will find the plug is fine and the socket is faulty or removed to soon.

[Anus Horribilis]

Soot(black marking) on the socket as well as what appears to be physical damage(chip/weld/indentation) are all signs that and arc occurred in the socket.

99/100 this is caused by the socket being old and worn causing an improper fit, or by removing a plug before turning off the socket, which in turn causes an arc. I think the op needs to send the plug away to be independently tested and if it comes back as not meeting the required standard, then take I further, but I think he will find the plug is fine and the socket is faulty or removed to soon.

 

I agree. Sockets sometimes arc, especially if they are old, cheap or well-worn. I don't think this is a laptop issue at all.

[Guest]

looking back re #1 'elec went off whole house'. did you have go to the box to get things going again?

maybe then the socket did burn to an extent, wld it then still work without further shorts?

but, as zydeco poses wld that be due to a dodgy plug/lead/charger, the socket/house circuit then doing its job also?

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

looking back re #1 'elec went off whole house'. did you have go to the box to get things going again?

maybe then the socket did burn to an extent, wld it then still work without further shorts?

but, as zydeco poses wld that be due to a dodgy plug/lead/charger, the socket/house circuit then doing its job also?

 

I would imagine that a short to an extent where the op got a shock would trip the main board. I would be VERY worried if it didnt.

It should still work but the arc may have caused damage to the metal or plastic inners and that may create another arc, this time with dire results.

It would be very unlickely that the plug would be at fault. We are talking about a new HP with i would guess an original lead. I would say the most likely cause is an oldish socket and the OP removing the plug without switching off the socket first.

[dx100uk]

they are switched mode power supply and there was a well known issue that required a recall before

 

 

it put the negative of the mains down the foil which is isolated from the braid

 

 

over time due to use they internally twisted & touched each other

leading to 120v shorting and tripping the RCD of the supply

 

 

usually with a rather large spark too !!

 

 

dx

[Springsteen22]

Thanks for your comments again. HP are now investigating this for me and have told me under no circumstances to plug it back in. (not that I was planning to anyway) Think its possibly a a manufacturing issue. FYI - Yes we had to turn the power back on at the box, socket still works ok now with no issues and yes the socket was switched off before pulling the plug out.

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

If the socket was off and it arc'd, I would be very worried as there should have been no electricity in the socket to arc. The laptop and charger would not hold enough charge to arc like you have described.

They will investigate, but I cant see them holding their up to this.

The soot on the pins alone shows that the electricity was flowing as the plug was pulled out of the socket.

[Guest]

Thanks for your comments again. HP are now investigating this for me and have told me under no circumstances to plug it back in. (not that I was planning to anyway) Think its possibly a a manufacturing issue. FYI - Yes we had to turn the power back on at the box, socket still works ok now with no issues and yes the socket was switched off before pulling the plug out.

 

 

do keep thread updated.

still thinking that its not the sockets fault per se, given what you said eg elecs are reg checked properly by lord, it still works without shorting the house etc, switch was off ( but i've pulled plugs some times without the switch being off without any issues), dx post, the house box went indicating house circuit/socket did its job properly, etc.

but, am not a sparky, and i do see grumpys point re arc/soot.

[dx100uk]

wallplug switches only kill the live

the neutral and earth are not switched.

 

 

if the house trip [RCD] went

that means there was a voltage between the earth and the neutral

[thats what it monitors and trip at 1st sign of current flowing]

 

 

dx