Bought Lidl laptop 28/08/2014, broken screen after 2 days, need to know my rights

brian23456

Bought toshiba laptop in the recent Lidl special offers on Thursday. Everything was fine until i woke up this morning Saturday and saw a clear indentation with lines going away from it .... unusable reallly. I can just about see the desktop in the background. What are my rights here. I would imagine they could claim this was accidental damage and refuse to replace it though honestly i cant see how anyone except my son might have stood on it. He is 3 years of age.

Is there not some law where after immediately purchasing the laptop. I read through the warranty and it states that accidental damage isnt covered - Limited Warranty.

KTRIC

Let me get this straight, you or someone else in your family / household broke the screen and you need to know your rights !! :rolleyes:

You have the right to go and pay for a replacement, thats it.

Kevin!

What is covered is if the machine is DOA (dead on arrival), but it seems that it was broken by yourselves thus the responsibility lies with you for the repair.

Some people may claim that when they first opened the laptop it was damaged, however.

slimjimmc

Sounds like the screen got a knock or, as you've hinted, someone stepped on it. In that case you have no rights at all. Neither the manufacturer nor the retailer can be held liable so they cant be made do anything for you. The only thing that could have given you some protection is insurance, normally on the item itself but a home contents policy might cover you. Check your home insurance if you have it.

slimjimmc

Kevin! wrote: »

What is covered is if the machine is DOA (dead on arrival), but it seems that it was broken by yourselves thus the responsibility lies with you for the repair.

Some people may claim that when they first opened the laptop it was damaged, however.

And such a claim would be fraudulent so let's mention it no more.

KTRIC

slimjimmc wrote: »

And such a claim would be fraudulent so let's mention it no more.

Also anyone with a brain in their head would know that a new laptop with a broken screen would not have the desktop visible in the background as you need to go through the first time setup.

Marsden

Screens can break without getting a knock. I had a new phone last year that cracked right through the screen while just lying on it's back. I brought it back to Vodafone and although the snotty git in the shop was dubious, the engineer who examined it when it was sent away agreed that there was no external damage done to cause the crack. Bring it back to where you bought it and explain what happened, don't tell them that you think someone in your house may have broken it unless you know they did.

If it's a manufacturing fault you should be entitled to a refund or replacement.

baldbear

Maybe your child didn't damage it and it was faulty? You never know. Bring it back with the receipt and say it stopped working.

slimjimmc

But "a clear indentation with lines going away from it" (my underlining) doesn't sound like an inherent defect. It sounds more like something was left on the keyboard before the lid was closed or an impact.
Bring it back anyway and see what they say (expect rejection) but bear in mind that unless there was an inherent product defect or the seller stated it would resist such stresses you have no rights.

tenifan

My laptop got a bang and samsung repaired the screen under warranty. Granted, it didn't look like a smash on the screen so it's possible some wire just got loose, or perhaps the repair company just liked repairing screens under warranty.

Cuddlesworth

Marsden wrote: »

Screens can break without getting a knock. I had a new phone last year that cracked right through the screen while just lying on it's back. I brought it back to Vodafone and although the snotty git in the shop was dubious, the engineer who examined it when it was sent away agreed that there was no external damage done to cause the crack. Bring it back to where you bought it and explain what happened, don't tell them that you think someone in your house may have broken it unless you know they did.

If it's a manufacturing fault you should be entitled to a refund or replacement.

Big difference between the glass that protects a phone screen and a LCD panel on a laptop. LCD panels don't just break, they actually have a fair degree of flex in them.

wingnut

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

LCD panels don't just break, they actually have a fair degree of flex in them.

+1 LCD screens do not spontaneously break. Have dealt with tons of these. A three year old standing on the lid could do it for sure.

logically

Household insurance should cover damage such as this.

Five Lamps

It sounds like accidental damage and not a product defect. Consumer rights don't apply here.

brian23456

Five Lamps wrote: »

It sounds like accidental damage and not a product defect. Consumer rights don't apply here.

Bought replacement screen and after 3 hours and a lot of swearing, I managed to get the laptop working as before. Lesson definitely learned about insuring items before using although I would imagine that the limited warranty i did have is void and insuring it now would be pointless ??

Bepolite

brian23456 wrote: »

Bought replacement screen and after 3 hours and a lot of swearing, I managed to get the laptop working as before. Lesson definitely learned about insuring items before using although I would imagine that the limited warranty i did have is void and insuring it now would be pointless ??

Insurance, warranty and consumer rights are completely separate. Insurance is normally under your household policy or gadget insurance and won't cover it going wrong through normal use. Standing on it though would likely be covered.

Manufacturers warranty will likely be void for opening it - but not always - consult the supplied warranty.

Consumer rights - this gets a bit more tricky as there would be some discussion over you opening up the product but that should not be fatal to your consumer rights. If, say, the motherboard went in six months there is no reason for them to refuse a remedy unless they can show the motherboard failed due to your repair. A specific policy on their part could complicate matters further, but not necessarily.

I'm not going to be more specific than that as I've been asked to lay off the legal discussions. If any one does want a discussion on consumer rights open a thread in Legal Discussions I'll be more than happy to contribute.