woint give exhange for laptop

dorito92

hi all so i bought a laptop on the 21st of august and the first thing i noticed on it were the keys were sticking, then after some use the space bar started squeaking too, i brought it back into store on the 24th, yesterday, and the said they cant exchange it cause the product is open??

its in as new condition all the plastic coverings etc. still on it, box for it is all there and its only 3 days old!!! i had a feeling they werent going to see the same fault as I and turns out they said theres "nothing wrong", why would they when they would loose money, and after almost paying €500 for a laptop i would appreciate if the keyboard worked properly!!

we left the laptop in store, got photographic evidence to prove we've left it there and kept our receipts, where do i go from here, ive left them a message on facebook, whats funny is i called their customer care and went into the store (without the laptop) over the course of the 3 days to see would they take it back i wouldnt mind but i was actually going to exchange it and NOT demand a full refund and shop elsewhere i was also looking through posts on boards and saw someone got a refund for an opened keyboard cause they saw a cheaper one online so its obviously down to managers discretion as to who they accept returns from :mad:

their website says you can return a product within 7 days if its opened if its an online delivery why cant this apply instore?? and i was mentioning a fault which is really annoying if your typing and some letters are missing :mad:

GarIT

They only do the online delivery bit because that is the law.

Once there is a fault it is their responsibility to sort if. If the keyboard isn't working properly they have to fix it. You might need to take them to the Small Claims Court but it's very likely you'd win.

dorito92

yeah thats what i was thinking we are going to try small claims court and charge back the credit card hopefully one of the two will work, although its a huge chain store do you think its likely id win in small claims court?

GarIT

I think doing a chargeback on your credit card would be illegal in this situation. The size of the company doesn't matter, in the small claims court it doesn't matter how big the company is, you just have to show the judge a fault, and he decides if it was a manufacturing fault or you did it.

While I don't have any statistics on it a large number of SCC cases are settled by the company paying out before the case is due. The SCC also has a reputation for being a place where the consumer nearly always wins.

dorito92

thanks gar makes me feel more confident in going down that route

Big Bag of Chips

They don't have to offer you an exchange or refund at first. They can offer to have the item repaired.

I think, and am open to correction, but they can offer a repair up to 3 times. After that, if it is still not "fit for purpose" they then have to offer an exchange or refund.

Did they offer to repair the keyboard?

GarIT

One thing to note to win a case in the SCC you have to have written a formal complaint to the company and have proof you have done so. If you don't a judge will just tell you that you didn't give the company a fair chance to sort the issue.

Lu Tze

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

They don't have to offer you an exchange or refund at first. They can offer to have the item repaired.

I think, and am open to correction, but they can offer a repair up to 3 times. After that, if it is still not "fit for purpose" they then have to offer an exchange or refund.

Did they offer to repair the keyboard?

I dont think this is true, a repair should be permanent - otherwise it is not a very good repair is it?

GarIT

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

They don't have to offer you an exchange or refund at first. They can offer to have the item repaired.

I think, and am open to correction, but they can offer a repair up to 3 times. After that, if it is still not "fit for purpose" they then have to offer an exchange or refund.

Did they offer to repair the keyboard?

That's not true. They can offer to repair it once. "Any repairs must be permanent". And while they can offer a repair you can refuse it and the judge decides if you are being reasonable or not, if an item has a fault from day 1, refusing a repair generally is considered reasonable.

Big Bag of Chips

Lu Tze wrote: »

I dont think this is true, a repair should be permanent - otherwise it is not a very good repair is it?

I thought I heard that somewhere... Now that I think about it, it was from a very rude and unhelpful phone salesman!!

From the National Consumer Agency website:

Repair If you request a repair of a faulty product instead of rejecting it, it should be a permanent repair. If the same fault occurs again, then you should be entitled to a replacement or refund. If you are not happy with the retailer’s offer to repair the item, you can reject it. But if you do this, you may have to use the Small Claims process if you want to take the matter further.

Remember, the retailer may charge you for the repair if you have been responsible for the damage to the product.

---

Although, that seems to imply you can request a repair OR reject the item.

Good luck with it, OP, if you stick at it, you will get sorted.

Doom

That's a very bad service from them, how would you know it was faulty without having to open it!

dorito92

exactly doom

Allyall

I can bet who the company are, and if it is them, they often only respond to Small Claims Court threats. Presumably the majority of people don't bring it that far. (Hence them 'risking' letting customers do it.)

If they are in the "Talk to" Consumers section of boards, it's worth seeing if they will try and sort it first, i have seen significant turnarounds on boards before.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=241

Overheal

Lu Tze wrote: »

I dont think this is true, a repair should be permanent - otherwise it is not a very good repair is it?

so suddenly a laptop with a 1yr warranty has a lifetime warranty? I call bs

GarIT

Overheal wrote: »

so suddenly a laptop with a 1yr warranty has a lifetime warranty? I call bs

The law says that any repair carried out must be permanent. It later defines permanent as "for the duration of the reasonable lifetime of the product"

Overheal

no wonder shops over there despise servicing the units they sell!

we have a pretty straightforward return policy. 15 days, no restocking fee, return or exchange for full refund open or not. as long as the unit isn't neglected. not exchanging the laptop because its open is the biggest pile of shyte ever. but who can blame them if they offer repair they'll never hear the end of it.

Allyall

Overheal wrote: »

no wonder shops over there despise servicing the units they sell!

we have a pretty straightforward return policy. 15 days, no restocking fee, return or exchange for full refund open or not. as long as the unit isn't neglected. not exchanging the laptop because its open is the biggest pile of shyte ever. but who can blame them if they offer repair they'll never hear the end of it.

Yes, but also when the Nvidia defect came to light, in America they were able to successfully bring a class action, or at the very least threaten one, and everybody was given a replacement/repair/cashback/alternative.

Whereas over here it was completely ignored/denied by most places. The finishing date of March 2012 in America, was silently applied here, the likes of PC World/Currys and many other stores still didn't acknowledge it, while in America there were stores telling people about it.
It has nothing to do with servicing the units, it's just laziness/don't need to.

I had 4 laptops (i didn't buy them ) sitting in my house at one stage that had the Nvidia defect, i told each person how to deal with it, and they jumped through hoops, to essentially be told in the end, to f**k off.
There was the nvidia defect forum that was shut down once people in USA had been dealt with, and so on..
Disgusting practice, and the shops here made it worse.