Broken Screen

jamieh

Hey all,

I have a Sony laptop (model pcg-a7m1) and the screen has stopped working. I can only see half the screen...the rest is just white and it flickers really badly.

The laptop is 1.5 years old so it's 6 months out of warranty.

Rang Sony...they charge €209 for collection and delivery and then for them to have a look at it they are quoting €600...and maybe more depending on the hardware needed...which seems crazy to me!!

Is there any alternative?? Or is my laptop worthless now??

Nothingcompares

try connecting it to a monitor and see if it's working. sounds like the backlight bulb has gone.

here.from.day.1

Could be bad ram on your graphics card (if its not integrated), or the inverter or loose cables etc.

I suggest having a look over here at the Sony Forum, im sure somebody else has had this problem and knows what to do. If worst comes to worst im sure you can source the parts needed from ebay or the likes and diy.

jamieh

Cheers lads....I've posted on the sony forum so we'll see what they come up with!!

Saruman

jamieh wrote:

Hey all,

The laptop is 1.5 years old so it's 6 months out of warranty.

I would think the average life of a laptop is more than 1.5 years, so in this case the warranty does not apply. You are covered by your consumer rights for 6 years. So small claims court for €15 if sony will not repair for you.

jamieh

Saruman wrote:

I would think the average life of a laptop is more than 1.5 years, so in this case the warranty does not apply. You are covered by your consumer rights for 6 years. So small claims court for €15 if sony will not repair for you.

Really! Is going through the small claims court a long process?

Saruman

I do not know but its €15 online
http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/0/C9A6DFDC008962218025721B00553F3B?OpenDocument

Might be a good idea to contact the consumer association for advice as you would have to try and get them to fix it for you first.
As in calling them, getting a name etc and tell them they are obligated to repair it or you will simply apply to the small claims court as is your right.

Tom Dunne

Saruman wrote:

You are covered by your consumer rights for 6 years. So small claims court for €15 if sony will not repair for you.

I'm not so sure about that. They give a 1 year warranty and that covers them. I don't think going to the Small Claims court will do anything for you.

I agree, laptops (as with most consumer electronics) should last at least 3-4 years, but I don't you would have a leg to stand on after the warranty is out.

Do you have any links/documentation to back this up? I am intrigued.

matt-dublin

when buying laptops you should always buy extended warranties,

they get feked around alot. For the extra €€€ for peace of mind is worth it.

even go further and get accidental damage insurance etc etc...

also sounds like possibly the screen is cracked, which could also cause the symptoms you describe above.

Plug it into a normal monitor and see what happens.

If it displays correctly youll need a new lcd, which usually are about €500 to 1k depending on the manufacturer

here.from.day.1

Im inclined to agree with Tom and Matt here. I doubt going to court is going to work due to warranty cover/small print etc. Also buying the extended warranties for laptops can be a good idea due to the level wear and tear they are subjected to.

I do think you should do as was suggested to hook up the laptop to a monitor just to confirm it is the screen.

Cant be sure how cross compatible the screens are but standard/trulife screens by LG, Samsung and Sharp for Dells go for about €300/€500 and do fit in other branded machines, unsure if Sony is one of them due to them manufacturing their own screen.

Anyway keep us updated Jamieh.

jamieh

Cheers for the replies lads.

I'm not going to go down the court route.....I wouldn't have a leg to stand on!

I'm waiting on a few pc repair shops to get back to me with prices.

I hooked the laptop up to an lcd and it works fine. If worst comes to worst I'll have to buy a new machine and just keep the sony connected to an lcd! :mad:

koneko

Wouldn't you have a compulsory 2 year warranty (2 years that I know of, could be longer) if it was purchased within the EU anyway (EU directive)?

itsgonetoofar

Lads/Jamieh,

Have a look through this thread in the consumer issues, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055136579 , people there have had two year old Dell 26" TVs fixed and out of warranty laptops fixed by just pursuing there claims with a little force.

The two laws in regard to this is the sale of goods act 1980 which states that a good must of merchantable quaility and under this act you have 6yrs protection however the perceived lifetime/price you paid comes under consideration for the protection given. I have no doubts that a laptop that you probably paid €1500 euro for should be expected to work for more than 16 months.

The other one mentioned in the thread is an EU law for two years but like it says in the thread the Irish is the more robust of the two however when dealing with multinationals the EU law may carry more weight.

You can pursue these claims through the small claims court this should be the last course off action. A verbal request should be made first explaining the relevant law and what you want done and what you intend to do if your not satisfied. Follow this with a registered letter giving the company 7 days from the receipt of the letter to take action to rectify the situation. Then finally file a claim with the court for the princely sum of €15.

When dealing with any customer support people forget talking to the first person your onto you need to speak to a support manager.

TRY IT, and let us know how you get on.



Extended warranties are a scam, everyone knows it why do you think that little guy in dixons has a smile on his face when he suggests the extended warranties. They are built on your fear that a product will fail in a certain lenght of time therefore at the heart of the matter is the question why are you buying a good that you perceive will fail????????

matt-dublin

itsgonetoofar wrote:

Extended warranties are a scam, everyone knows it why do you think that little guy in dixons has a smile on his face when he suggests the extended warranties. They are built on your fear that a product will fail in a certain lenght of time therefore at the heart of the matter is the question why are you buying a good that you perceive will fail????????

Thats where you're wrong.

If you buy an extended manufacturer warranty its not a scam, and usually pay for themselves over the course of the warranty...

for example, i've had my laptop replaced 3 times with dell due to accidental damage, the last time they didn't have a replacement so they gave me the closest available model on the market.

Pretty much a free upgrade from a latitude x300 to a d420 of slightly higher spec!

As for the warranty, here in work after two/3 years generally i get replacement screens, keyboards, hard drives, touch pads etc etc.

Its all about the level of warranty you buy. With warranties, you really pay for what you get. Hence why everyone complans about dell after care services, because they buy the cheapest support package to save a few €€€!

I think you should think carefully before discouraging extended warranties...

unless you're getting it from a reseller. Manufacturer exteded warranties are generally pretty good!

itsgonetoofar

matt-dublin wrote:

Thats where you're wrong.

If you buy an extended manufacturer warranty its not a scam, and usually pay for themselves over the course of the warranty...

for example, i've had my laptop replaced 3 times with dell due to accidental damage, the last time they didn't have a replacement so they gave me the closest available model on the market.

Pretty much a free upgrade from a latitude x300 to a d420 of slightly higher spec!

As for the warranty, here in work after two/3 years generally i get replacement screens, keyboards, hard drives, touch pads etc etc.

Its all about the level of warranty you buy. With warranties, you really pay for what you get. Hence why everyone complans about dell after care services, because they buy the cheapest support package to save a few €€€!

I think you should think carefully before discouraging extended warranties...

unless you're getting it from a reseller. Manufacturer exteded warranties are generally pretty good!

its worked out for you Matt but do you really think Manufactorers would offer this if they didn't make money out of it. For every 100 extended warranties they sell there is a small percentage of people who may need to claim. Its a win situation for those small percentage that claim and loss for the majority of those that don't.

Its very simple:

TOTAL REVENUE COLLECTED IN WARRANTIES - SMALL PERCENTAGE CLAIMS COST = NICE PROFIT

plus if you read through that thread you'll see numerous examples of Dell and other manufactorers facing up to responsibilty under the law to provide goods of merchantable quality that GOES BEYOND THE 1 YEAR they tell you about

matt-dublin

right then, you tell me that when something happens to your laptop and you can't claim warranty.

Would you prefer to spend an extra €160 on a warranty €500 on a screen in this case.

your choice, you can be luck or unlucky. personally i would be prepared to be safe.

Laptops have a life of about 4 years, within that four years you're guaranteed a certain amount of problems. and fo course noone does anything for free, but personally i think you're just being silly by noy paying for the upgraded warranty.

If something goes wrong outside youre warranty period you haven't got a leg to stand on.

itsgonetoofar

what i'll say to that is:

1> you have a got a leg to stand on if out of warranty, its what they call consumer law. if you look through that thread i linked too you'll see people who hadn't a leg to stand on getting laptop screens replaced and new TV's sent out to them


2>as regards probabilty of you being lucky or unlucky, these companies make money because the probabilty is that you will be "lucky" and even you aren't the cost of a replacement keyboard is neglibable.

3>ask any statistician or risk anyalsist what you should do and they'll tell you everytime you feel tempted to plump for an extended warranty take that money you were going to spend and stick it in a bank account marked repairs/replacement and you WILL save money in the long run. Its the exact same principle that makes extended warranties one of the most lucrative sides of any retail operation. Anyone who's worked in electrical retail will back me up on this their sales manager was probably breakin their back tryin to get them to push push push the extended warranties.


Either way I just hope jamieh gets sorted out for free. Which I think is only fair for a laptop that lasted barely a year.

Saruman

Two things to address here.
Firstly as i and others have stated. No matter what warranty is offered but the manufacturer, It will always remind you in the small print that "this does not affect your statutory rights". In other words, their warranty is in place to make you think thats as good as it gets and if you do not know your rights you will just go off and buy a new item if its out of warranty.

Secondly extended dixons "warranties" are NOT a scam, they are not the same as a manufacturers so called warranty. They, unlike a standard warranty or your consumer rights usually cover accidental breakage, loss, theft etc So what you are buying is an insurance policy. Its only worth it on the more expensive items. A €500 laptop is not worth it but a €1500+ laptop probably is.

Tom Dunne

itsgonetoofar wrote:

Have a look through this thread in the consumer issues, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055136579 , people there have had two year old Dell 26" TVs fixed and out of warranty laptops fixed by just pursuing there claims with a little force.

I don't see anything there about 26" TVs.

itsgonetoofar wrote:

Extended warranties are a scam, everyone knows it why do you think that little guy in dixons has a smile on his face when he suggests the extended warranties. They are built on your fear that a product will fail in a certain lenght of time therefore at the heart of the matter is the question why are you buying a good that you perceive will fail????????

So what is essentially an insurance policy is a scam? You are buying peace of mind. Yes, statistically, more people don't claim, so it is worth the money for companies. The question is, how much value does the consumer put on peace of mind? Personally, I wouldn't bother with them as I am quite computer literate and could fix most problems. But other less technical users are willing to pay for the knowledge that there is somebody at the end of a phone for the next X years when they are using the laptop.

I have still yet to see conclusive evidence from any poster that the 6-year rule applies to out of warranty equipment.

itsgonetoofar

Agree that insurance policies can be off use as regards accidentental damage that is a completely different ball game as Tom Dunne says there is a peace of mind incentive at play and all risk policies can be handy but do yourself a favour get it put on your house insurance.

what I don't like are basic if it breaks we'll fix it lark which basically says "our product is so poorly made it'll probably break down in a year or so, so bests give us an extra couple of quid now and will fix it when it breaks"

In that thread i linked to the guy at the top of the second page got a new screen for his 1501 laptop.

Then this guy http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055137174 , got that 26" TV replaced by Dell. Both were out of warranty in both cases nearly two years old.

Its very simple lads there is no mystery do it go look at the 1980 Sale of Goods Act you can see it on the net, the law is the law and situations where an expensive item fails to function for what can be deemed its expected life(a laptop i suggest would be a min. of 3 years) this act applies. So i agree 6 years for a laptop is pie in the sky stuff but 3years i think is not unreasonable.

What do ya think 3 years for a laptop????? Is it fair enough to expect if you think so then your covered by this act.

Jamieh give it try what have you got to loose and let us know how you get on, take a hardline its the only way to get things done

gunsofbrixton

i started the thread over in consumer section after i heard a thing on newstalk and apart from the guy with the laptop and the other guy with the TV in the threads. I've had two PM's from different people sayin they got an expensive surround sound system and laptop repaired out of warranty by quoting the 1980 act just goes to show, stop taking things lying down and you'll get things sorted out, that my two cents

partypiper

Jamieh


I had a Vaio couple of years back and the motherboard or something just went after a couple of years, i was a student then so it was life or death stuff.

Anyway kicked up a storm and got it fixed, they said it was out of goodwill but think they said that to cover themselves, i found about that law from a friend and started spoutin some crap, said i was a law student and knew my rights ha ha i was Anthropolgy student

jamieh

Hey dude,

Thanks for the heads up!! I'm going to give sony a buzz on monday and quote the act, etc etc and see what they come up with!!

partypiper

no problem,


like the other guys said talk to someone senior and take a hard line, let us know how you get on................

best of luckl

partypiper

any joy Jamieh