Dell laptop help!

Kimia

So i have a Dell laptop since August 2008 - 1 year and 7 months. I paid for the warrenty for one year so it has expired since August 2009.

The laptop has caused me nothing but grief. There has been several problems with it and during the warrenty I sent it back to Dell and they 'repaired' it. The problem is that the mousepad doesn't work, nor does the keyboard. You can imagine how frustrating that is - there is nothing you can do - the entire computer is unusable until this is fixed.

We've paid for a private repair already on this problem but it's returned again. I also should add that there is a gap at the side of the laptop where you can almost see in to the workings - you can see the lights etc. (I'm not technical so I can't actually tell what i'm seeing). Surely this isn't right but as they returned it to us like this from when we sent it to them for repair we're assuming it's ok.

I have heard recently that this may be a contravention of the sale of goods & services act as when you buy a laptop (this one cost us the guts of 1000) they should be of merchantable quality for longer than 1 year (depending on the product) and that this overrides any warrenty agreement.

Is this correct? I mean, surely 1000 18 months ago for a laptop should result in a working laptop for at least 3 years? Is there anything we can do?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

jor el

Since you've had it repaired by a presumably non-authorised source, you're probably not going to have any rights to repair from Dell. The problems now could be attributed to this repair person, and even if it's not, it would be very difficult to prove now.

The private repair work however should be warranted, and if this is the cause of the problem, then the repair person would be liable to fix it again.

Kimia

I didn't think of that. Well it's done now, but I only gave it to this repair man because Dell would have taken at least 2 weeks and I needed to work on it straight away.

It's a different problem if that makes a difference?

Am I entitled to say anything to Dell? It's been hassle from the very beginning - I will NEVER buy anything from them again. :mad:

jor el

At this point, I would say no. You invalidated your warranty by involving the 3rd party, and you probably invalidated your statutory entitlements at the same time. No company could be reasonably expected to repair a product that someone else has worked on, and possibly caused damage.

The fact the problem is a different one, doesn't remove the possibility that he caused the problem.

ch750536

I'm with Jor el on this one, sorry.

the_syco

I'd wonder if Dell would be within their rights to question if the damage was caused by the unauthorized repair man? I'd say so.

ch750536

Might be worth sending it back to Dell and denying all knowledge, if they don't question it then there is no issue. If they do question it then you could always play dumb.

Kimia

Just wanted to give an update. Dell sent a technician to me today to repair the problem, and all seems fine. This was absolutely free and I have no warrenty. I'm delighted!

ch750536

Excellent, thanks for coming back