Success: Persuaded the shop to fix my laptop for free out of warranty

bockedy

Hi all,

Just thought I'd share my good news story.

Bought an HP TX1000 laptop in early 2007 from "A Large UK & Ireland Computer Store", but it broke down completely about 15 months later, just out of the 1 year warranty. (BTW, don't buy this model or anything in the HP TX range. They have a suspected design flaw, there are thousands of irate HP customers screaming for a recall but to no avail yet. Typically they seem to fail just outside warranty.)

Initially, I brought it back to the shop and argued that anything sold needs to have reasonable durability. They weren't having any of it face to face. But I persevered and wrote a letter to the manager stating they need to respect this statutory right that I had, and threatened with the small claims court. Sure enough they agreed to repair the laptop fairly quickly. Got it back today

So, if anyone else has a laptop (or indeed anything else) that breaks down outside warranty, ask yourself: was the product reasonably durable? If not, you have a statutory right to reasonable durability, so please persevere!

Otherwise, we are just giving the shops extra incentive to foist expensive extended warranties on us, which may well be covered anyway by your statutory rights.

Boggles

You didn't even have to agree durablilty as it was covered under the 2 year european warranty.

Fair play to you, the more like you the better, these shops are well aware of their obligations but will pleed ignorance everytime someone brings it up.

BoB_BoT

Just out of interest, legally how is the onus on the shop? Even the 1 yr warranty is a HP thing, the shop just handle the returns to HP. Or if they're an authorised repair center they carry it out etc..

I'm just interested, because I've dealt with a buttload of faulty DV series HP laptops for customers (mainly the faulty nvidia chipsets), most of these are outside the 1 year and even after hp extended the warranty to 2 years, the shops that sold the laptops wouldn't deal with them, they had to go through HP directly.

I'm not saying shops shouldn't be held responsible but at the same time, is it reasonable to expect them to deal with a laptop out of warranty.

Just reading up on the 2 year warranty thing, interesting stuff and good to know

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

BoB_BoT wrote: »

Just out of interest, legally how is the onus on the shop? Even the 1 yr warranty is a HP thing, the shop just handle the returns to HP. Or if they're an authorised repair center they carry it out etc..

I'm just interested, because I've dealt with a buttload of faulty DV series HP laptops for customers (mainly the faulty nvidia chipsets), most of these are outside the 1 year and even after hp extended the warranty to 2 years, the shops that sold the laptops wouldn't deal with them, they had to go through HP directly.

I'm not saying shops shouldn't be held responsible but at the same time, is it reasonable to expect them to deal with a laptop out of warranty.

Just reading up on the 2 year warranty thing, interesting stuff and good to know

By law the retailer / shop is obliged to deal with the fault themselves- it being an electrical item covered by the EU legislation this is now set at 2 years minimum from purchase to contact the retailer to report a fault assuming that the fault that occurred would not be expected to have occurred in that time frame ( although our own sale of goods act allows for more than 2 years - up to six years in fact it does not neccessarily mean you have a cast iron 6 year guarantee - more accurately you have 6 years to bring the issue to the attention of the retailer ). It is irrelevant what HP say or do with the shop as your contract is deemed to be with the shop itself and not HP.

Any shop refusing to deal with the issue and referring customers to the manufacturer can be taken to the small claims court ( or indeed standard court if the value is over €2,000 ) and will most likely lose the case.

BoB_BoT

thanks for the info Pat, good to know. As I said, get a good few customers in with broken electronics, stuff that would cost quite a bit to fix. And due to the item just giving up, not damage.

bockedy

BoB_BoT wrote: »

thanks for the info Pat, good to know. As I said, get a good few customers in with broken electronics, stuff that would cost quite a bit to fix. And due to the item just giving up, not damage.

I really think the onus is on us as good consumers to put the pressure back on the shops who stock and sell faulty goods. If the stuff is crappy, why should the shop just get away with passing the buck up the chain? There is a duty of care on the shop as your contract is with them. Plus, the more pressure from grass roots applied on the shops, the more the shops will have to pile pressure on the big manufacturers to fix problems or issue recalls for the crap already sold.

Flaccus

Lads,
The EU law people keep referring to is a directive (1999/44/EC) and the 2 year guarantee it discusses was never implemented here as it is actually superseded by Irish law since we enjoy up to 6 years cover under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act in conjunction with the Irish Statute of Limitations 1957. You now have six years in which to make a complaint. Check out this comment from the EU regarding implementation of the directive. Specifically part 6 which deals with Time Limits (Article 5(1)).

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:A5GEWXpY6Q0J:ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_int/safe_shop/guarantees/CSD_2007_EN_final.pdf+1999/44/EC+Irish+6+years&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie


It says
"The seller is liable under Article 3 where the lack of conformity becomes apparent within two years as from the moment of delivery (Article 5(1)). A majority of Member States have transposed this provision literally. Others have chosen to rely on the time limitation that isgenerally applicable in their contract law: Finland (3 years from delivery), Ireland and the UK (six years for both countries). The Netherlands has transposed a two years limitation period starting from the notification of the defect. In the Czech Republic there is a variationdepending on the type of goods being sold (consumer goods – 2 years, foodstuff – 3 weeks, groceries– 8 days), which needs to be clarified. Portuguese law seems to go below the level of protection envisaged by the Directive by providing that an action needs to be brought within 6 months from the moment the consumer notified the defect to the seller"

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

The eu directive provides for a minimum timeframe to bring faults in goods to the attention of the seller. This was set at two years and meant that eu member states were directed to change their laws etc to reflect the minimum 2 years.

As you've rightly said Ireland did not have to enforce any changes because we already allowed for up to 6 years - but the 6 year reference doesn't neccessarily mean you have a full 6 year warranty. You have 6 years to bring to the attention of the seller the fault that has occurred providing that the fault would not be reasonably expected to occur within that time frame.

The definition of the reasonably expected would be up to the clerk / judge at the small claims court.

Flaccus

True. Which is why I said you have up to 6 years to make a complaint. My point was that people quote the EU law very quickly but forget you have greater coverage/protection in existing Irish law.