Consumer Rights Advice

[chrisobee]

I have just drafted this letter to Curry's in respect of a PC I bought in June. I think the letter covers the main points but before I send it any suggestions/advice are welcome.

This is by many a mile my worst ever experience when purchasing anything let alone something costing over £600.

Thanks.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to the purchase made from you as below and the attached receipt.

It is fair to say that I am entirely dissatisfied both with the quality of the product and also the very poor ( and at times rude) Customer Service I have received. I will give a brief summary of events for the sake of clarity albeit in a few cases I cannot be sure of the exact dates.

 

4th June 2009 Order placed online for Packard Bell PC, total cost £ 667.34

7th June 2009 Order delivered and I set up the PC though had to use an old mouse AND keyboard as those provided were difficult to connect. Never the less the PC was working fine so I was at that point happy with my purchase

30th June 2009 By this time I was already experiencing problems, in particular I often found myself facing a white screen at log on.

July 2009 I made numerous phone calls both to your Customer Services and Technical support. I'm not sure how much time, money and effort I spent trying to resolve the problems with my PC but it certainly ran into hours. I would say that certain members of your staff were absolutely appalling in their attitude and I was asked to connect, disconnect, re connect certain parts of my PC so many times it was absurd and especially when it was obvious even to a non PC expert like myself that the PC could not be fixed without an engineer looking at it and even then the problems were so bad I suspect the PC is/was beyond repair.

July 2009 After numerous phone calls and with the problem unresolved I was advised by one of your Technical Support team to take the PC into my local Currys. Though I don't drive and it's well over a mile to the nearest Currys I did this by putting my PC into my luggage trolley and actually wheeling it there. However, I was no sooner at the store than I was told by the manager that "they did not deal with this kind of issue!" . As it happened one member of staff did take a look and ran several tests to no avail and then accused me of damaging the ports for the Mouse and the Keyboard ! That is truly unbelievable as he would have no idea what the PC was like when I received it. I'm sure I don't need to tell you the law relating to faulty goods but it is clear that :

 

"If it's in the first six months, and it's not because of fair wear and tear, accidental damage or misuse, then the retailer must still repair or replace the item. If he demurs, he has to prove the item wasn't faulty in the first place, or that it couldn't be expected to last that long"

 

Anyway I was able finally to book an appointment for an Engineer to visit by phoning from the store.

 

August 17th An engineer did call but as he was unable to park within 5 minutes walk he told me he was unable to stay and all he could do was hand me 2 recovery disks. Fair to say there is a car park within 5 minutes, I was even willing to pay the parking fee but even that was not acceptable. The engineer actually admitted he and his colleagues often encountered problems with your Customer Service and he even suggested that most of the time they were "probably asleep!"

 

However, as I expected the recovery disks have proved worthless and having paid £667.34 for a new PC over 2 months ago I am still having to use my old one. I feel not only have I just thrown money down the drain but perhaps even worse been made to feel that it is all my fault and the hours I have wasted trying to resolve this without success simply ridiculous.

I think it is totally reasonable to say that having been sold faulty goods the efforts I have had to make to try to resolve the problem are totally unacceptable as indeed is much of the Customer Service I have received. It's stating the obvious to say that £667 plus a lot more spent on phone calls etc is a lot of money to most people including myself. However, in terms of your group of companies it is hardly a drop in the ocean.

I have been more than patient but now I want this resolved and I want it resolved now. Either you replace the PC within the next 10 days or preferably just refund my money as I think the stress you have caused is far beyond what anyone should endure.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Chris O'Bee

 

 

 

 

Order Confirmation

 

Dear Mr O'bee,

 

We are pleased to confirm your order.

 

It has been processed as detailed below:-

 

Payment method: Credit/Debit Card

 

 

 

Delivery of the following product/s

 

Quantity Code Description

1 153193 PAYG 601-700 MONTHLY

1 177581 DELIVERY SERVICE S MALL

1 752419 PACKARD BL IXTMX6618 Q8200

1 305257 SYMANTEC N360 V3 DVD

 

 

Currys order number: C002835257

Order placed on: 04/06/2009 02:26:33

 

 

 

 

These items will be delivered: 2-3 working days, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

Your courier will be DHL

Your parcel number(s) JJD0002267237726118

 

Items delivered by DHL or DPD can be tracked online.

 

For DHL go to http://track.dhl.co.uk/tracking/ . Under "Next Day" Select

"by Ident Code" and enter the parcel number under the "From Ident Code"

field

 

For DPD go to http://www.dpd.co.uk/tracking and enter the above parcel

number in the "Parcel Number" field

 

Please note that there is normally a short delay before the details become

available on the courier's tracking system and should be delivered the next

working day from then.

 

(if no parcel number is shown above, your order has been sent by Royal

Mail.)

 

The documentation for the Coverplan you have ordered will be posted to you

separately. This is a complete after-sales service agreement that will

mean you can get many years peace of mind and full support on your

purchase.

If you would like more information about the benefits of Coverplan, please

call on 0844 561 4000 or email CurrysWebSales@currys.co.uk.

Edited 25 August, 2009 by chrisobee

[Saint in Paradise]

I think that you should remove your address before too many see it, you never know

these days.

[chrisobee]

I think that you should remove your address before too many see it, you never know

these days.

 

Yes, thanks though I'm not hard to find with my unusual name !

[Crab Lungs]

Damn, good luck... had terrible experiences with Curry's in the past - after you've bought from them whatever happens afterwards with the product they couldn't give a flying one.

[tpbury]

I think you're going about it in the right way, in as much as you need to keep a record of every interaction with the company. It used to be the case that bad customer service was a result of "bad" individuals in an organisation, but I believe that nowadays customer service is systemically good or bad within an organisation - that's as a result of individuals' awareness of what customer service means (after all they experience good customer service in their 'civilian' life) and companies taking steps to improve it.

 

From how you describe it, it seems there's are culture of crap at Currys, and this doesn't suprise me one bit from my recollection of unmotivated, ignorant and unhelpful teenagers that used to work there (and places like there) when I used to go to shops.

[Clapham Saint]

I have just drafted this letter to Curry's in respect of a PC I bought in June. I think the letter covers the main points but before I send it any suggestions/advice are welcome.

This is by many a mile my worst ever experience when purchasing anything let alone something costing over £600.

Thanks.

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to the purchase made from you as below and the attached receipt.

It is fair to say that I am entirely dissatisfied both with the quality of the product and also the very poor ( and at times rude) Customer Service I have received. I will give a brief summary of events for the sake of clarity albeit in a few cases I cannot be sure of the exact dates.

 

4th June 2009 Order placed online for Packard Bell PC, total cost £ 667.34

7th June 2009 Order delivered and I set up the PC though had to use an old mouse AND keyboard as those provided were difficult to connect. Never the less the PC was working fine so I was at that point happy with my purchase

30th June 2009 By this time I was already experiencing problems, in particular I often found myself facing a white screen at log on.

July 2009 I made numerous phone calls both to your Customer Services and Technical support. I'm not sure how much time, money and effort I spent trying to resolve the problems with my PC but it certainly ran into hours. I would say that certain members of your staff were absolutely appalling in their attitude and I was asked to connect, disconnect, re connect certain parts of my PC so many times it was absurd and especially when it was obvious even to a non PC expert like myself that the PC could not be fixed without an engineer looking at it and even then the problems were so bad I suspect the PC is/was beyond repair.

July 2009 After numerous phone calls and with the problem unresolved I was advised by one of your Technical Support team to take the PC into my local Currys. Though I don't drive and it's well over a mile to the nearest Currys I did this by putting my PC into my luggage trolley and actually wheeling it there. However, I was no sooner at the store than I was told by the manager that "they did not deal with this kind of issue!" . As it happened one member of staff did take a look and ran several tests to no avail and then accused me of damaging the ports for the Mouse and the Keyboard ! That is truly unbelievable as he would have no idea what the PC was like when I received it. I'm sure I don't need to tell you the law relating to faulty goods but it is clear that :

 

"If it's in the first six months, and it's not because of fair wear and tear, accidental damage or misuse, then the retailer must still repair or replace the item. If he demurs, he has to prove the item wasn't faulty in the first place, or that it couldn't be expected to last that long"

 

Anyway I was able finally to book an appointment for an Engineer to visit by phoning from the store.

 

August 17th An engineer did call but as he was unable to park within 5 minutes walk he told me he was unable to stay and all he could do was hand me 2 recovery disks. Fair to say there is a car park within 5 minutes, I was even willing to pay the parking fee but even that was not acceptable. The engineer actually admitted he and his colleagues often encountered problems with your Customer Service and he even suggested that most of the time they were "probably asleep!"

 

However, as I expected the recovery disks have proved worthless and having paid £667.34 for a new PC over 2 months ago I am still having to use my old one. I feel not only have I just thrown money down the drain but perhaps even worse been made to feel that it is all my fault and the hours I have wasted trying to resolve this without success simply ridiculous.

I think it is totally reasonable to say that having been sold faulty goods the efforts I have had to make to try to resolve the problem are totally unacceptable as indeed is much of the Customer Service I have received. It's stating the obvious to say that £667 plus a lot more spent on phone calls etc is a lot of money to most people including myself. However, in terms of your group of companies it is hardly a drop in the ocean.

I have been more than patient but now I want this resolved and I want it resolved now. Either you replace the PC within the next 10 days or preferably just refund my money as I think the stress you have caused is far beyond what anyone should endure.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Chris O'Bee

 

 

 

 

Order Confirmation

 

Dear Mr O'bee,

 

We are pleased to confirm your order.

 

It has been processed as detailed below:-

 

Payment method: Credit/Debit Card

 

 

 

Delivery of the following product/s

 

Quantity Code Description

1 153193 PAYG 601-700 MONTHLY

1 177581 DELIVERY SERVICE S MALL

1 752419 PACKARD BL IXTMX6618 Q8200

1 305257 SYMANTEC N360 V3 DVD

 

 

Currys order number: C002835257

Order placed on: 04/06/2009 02:26:33

 

 

 

 

These items will be delivered: 2-3 working days, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

Your courier will be DHL

Your parcel number(s) JJD0002267237726118

 

Items delivered by DHL or DPD can be tracked online.

 

For DHL go to http://track.dhl.co.uk/tracking/ . Under "Next Day" Select

"by Ident Code" and enter the parcel number under the "From Ident Code"

field

 

For DPD go to http://www.dpd.co.uk/tracking and enter the above parcel

number in the "Parcel Number" field

 

Please note that there is normally a short delay before the details become

available on the courier's tracking system and should be delivered the next

working day from then.

 

(if no parcel number is shown above, your order has been sent by Royal

Mail.)

 

The documentation for the Coverplan you have ordered will be posted to you

separately. This is a complete after-sales service agreement that will

mean you can get many years peace of mind and full support on your

purchase.

If you would like more information about the benefits of Coverplan, please

call on 0844 561 4000 or email CurrysWebSales@currys.co.uk.

 

I've had a very similar problem recently and I recomend you use this

 

 

Your name

 

 

First line of address

 

 

Second line of address

 

 

Third line of address

 

 

Fourth line of address

 

 

Contact telephone number

 

Owner/Manager’s name

First line of company address

Second line of company address

Third line of company address

Fourth line of company address

 

 

Today’s date

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

RE: Faulty goods and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

 

On [date of purchase] I bought a [description of purchase] from you for [insert price] which has stopped working.

 

 

The problem is [enter description of fault].

 

 

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) states that when a consumer buys goods from a trader they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller.

 

This legislation also states that the seller, not the manufacturer, is legally obliged to sort out a problem if the goods do not meet these requirements.

 

 

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) says: if goods break within the first six months after purchase then there is a presumption the goods were faulty when sold.

 

My goods are not [delete as appropriate - as described/fit for purpose/of satisfactory quality] and I wish to claim a [delete as appropriate - repair/replacement/refund] of my goods under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended.

 

 

Please respond to my complaint within 7 days from receipt of this letter.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

[your name]

[Clapham Saint]

Also if you used a credit card to pay for it contact your bank and say you wish to dispute the payment due to faulty goods.

 

They will want a copy of all correspondence that you are able to provide them and can effectively take a refund on your belhalf (refund your ccard) if you can prove your case.

[ecuk268]

If you get no response, threaten them with Trading Standards or the Small Claims Court. You are entitled to a full refund as the goods are not fit for purpose.

[chrisobee]

Indeed you learn from your mistakes and I wish I had gone elsewhere! It is fair to say I get the impression that the poor Customer Service is symptomatic of Curry's as a whole. Anyway I'm going to post and email the letter, their reply if indeed I even get one had better be good.

Oh thanks for the further advice, I'll amend the letter accordingly. That was the kind of info I was looking for. Unfortunately I used my debit card and of course I realised when the problems started that was another mistake!

Edited 25 August, 2009 by chrisobee

[Clapham Saint]

Indeed you learn from your mistakes and I wish I had gone elsewhere! It is fair to say I get the impression that the poor Customer Service is symptomatic of Curry's as a whole. Anyway I'm going to post and email the letter, their reply if indeed I even get one had better be good.

 

Chrisobee,

 

Seriously copy and paste you complaints and specific problems into the letter template above.

 

I downloaded it from the BBC one show website and it is very good.

 

Cs

[chrisobee]

If you get no response, threaten them with Trading Standards or the Small Claims Court. You are entitled to a full refund as the goods are not fit for purpose.

 

Yep, thanks. I was thinking along those lines myself though wasn't 100% sure of my position. However, just as a matter of common sense it cannot be right I should pay for faulty goods and then be expected to jump through hoops to try to resolve the problem.

[chrisobee]

Chrisobee,

 

Seriously copy and paste you complaints and specific problems into the letter template above.

 

I downloaded it from the BBC one show website and it is very good.

 

Cs

 

Yep, thanks mate, I'm going to do just that !

[sotonjoe]

I've had a very similar problem recently and I recomend you use this

 

 

Your name

 

 

First line of address

 

 

Second line of address

 

 

Third line of address

 

 

Fourth line of address

 

 

Contact telephone number

 

Owner/Manager’s name

First line of company address

Second line of company address

Third line of company address

Fourth line of company address

 

 

Today’s date

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

RE: Faulty goods and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

 

On [date of purchase] I bought a [description of purchase] from you for [insert price] which has stopped working.

 

 

The problem is [enter description of fault].

 

 

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) states that when a consumer buys goods from a trader they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller.

 

This legislation also states that the seller, not the manufacturer, is legally obliged to sort out a problem if the goods do not meet these requirements.

 

 

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) says: if goods break within the first six months after purchase then there is a presumption the goods were faulty when sold.

 

My goods are not [delete as appropriate - as described/fit for purpose/of satisfactory quality] and I wish to claim a [delete as appropriate - repair/replacement/refund] of my goods under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended.

 

 

Please respond to my complaint within 7 days from receipt of this letter.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

[your name]

 

 

My understanding of this act was that it was only the seller's responsibility for the first ninety days. After that, your claim lies with the manufacturer.

[benjii]

My understanding of this act was that it was only the seller's responsibility for the first ninety days. After that, your claim lies with the manufacturer.

 

Nope, that's complete rubbish!

 

Your contract is with the seller and in fact you could bring a claim at any point within six years from the purchase (although you may have some evidential difficulties).

 

Chrisobee - it might be worth mentioning that you intend to issue proceedings in the Small Claims Court if this isn't resolved within two weeks. I have worked in companies in the past where the mention of legal proceedings in customer complaint letters ensures that the letter is passed before a member of the in-house legal team, rather than customer services. If the compaint is genuine then this usually results in the lawyer seeing how ****e and ill-informed customer services are and in you getting your problem sorted.

[wheels]

I would take out the bit about the engineer and his experiences of Curry's customer services. It is hearsay and does nothing to strengthen your complaint.

[EastleighSoulBoy]

Your Uncle in Lordswood knows most things. Ask him.

[chrisobee]

Your Uncle in Lordswood knows most things. Ask him.

 

Lol, DO NOT mention him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is nothing to do with me

[Clapham Saint]

As a side point is there any pc / electronics supplier that people have had good customer services experiences with?

 

I had a Sony viao that had an issue. From me reporting it to them collecting, repairing and returning it to me was less that a week. I did go again shortly after the warranted ran out though...

 

Dell were poor though.

[tpbury]

As a side point is there any pc / electronics supplier that people have had good customer services experiences with?

 

I had a Sony viao that had an issue. From me reporting it to them collecting, repairing and returning it to me was less that a week. I did go again shortly after the warranted ran out though...

 

Dell were poor though.

 

Dell computers are actually designed to knacker 367 days from purchase. FACT!

[Clapham Saint]

Dell computers are actually designed to knacker 367 days from purchase. FACT!

 

Exactly my point.

 

This seems to be the case with almost all electronic equipment now.

 

I'm in danger of starting to sound like my dad but I struggle to find any manufacturers that I trust to sell me something that will last much beyond the end of the warranty (if it even lasts that long).

Edited 26 August, 2009 by Clapham Saint
Spelling like a mong!

[Greenridge]

It's always worth quoting the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and telling them you are fully aware of your rights under this Act.

[Joey-deacons-left-nut]

You can't go wrong with an HP. Dell are utter gash.. had a batch of 60 that cam ein here a couple of years ago, every single one of them died over a period of a year... we used to go through Dell laptop's like ahot knife through butter.. blown inverter boards, fans breaking, causing the motherboards to overheat and fail.... wouldn't touch a Dell with a Bargepole...

 

Whilst Hp are not quite as good as they used to be (we had 1500 Pentium 133's up until a year or so ago still going strong - that's 10 years plus) they are still ehad and shoulders above all the other manufacturers out there.

[Clapham Saint]

You can't go wrong with an HP. Dell are utter gash.. had a batch of 60 that cam ein here a couple of years ago, every single one of them died over a period of a year... we used to go through Dell laptop's like ahot knife through butter.. blown inverter boards, fans breaking, causing the motherboards to overheat and fail.... wouldn't touch a Dell with a Bargepole...

 

Whilst Hp are not quite as good as they used to be (we had 1500 Pentium 133's up until a year or so ago still going strong - that's 10 years plus) they are still ehad and shoulders above all the other manufacturers out there.

 

Thanks for this. I actually had my eye on a HP as soon as I get my refund from Dell (the screen failed within 12 days and they told me that it would take 5 weeks for them to repair. They then offered me a refund which I accepted but they then tried to withdraw - w*nkers).

 

When you say "we" I assume you work in an IT department somewhere?

[GenevaSaint]

That said I work for a company in the UK who have about 10,000 Dell laptops and desktops as they're our preferred supplier. No doubt we have issues with some but Dell generally are good. I've had two laptops that worked quite happily for 4 years each.

[GenevaSaint]

If in doubt buy stuff from John Lewis is the answer for customer service. So the TVs for example are a bit more expensive but they through in the 5 year guarantee unlike Currys, Comet ETC.

 

And when you take things back they atually deal with the issue!

[Saint Keith]

i must be lucky then. the three dell laptops in our house have all worked fine for about 4 years

[Clapham Saint]

i must be lucky then. the three dell laptops in our house have all worked fine for about 4 years

 

Its not so much the fact that it failed (which will happen with any manufacurer occasionally), its the telling me that they want over a month to repair it when I had not even had it for 2 weeks!

[Saint Keith]

Its not so much the fact that it failed (which will happen with any manufacurer occasionally), its the telling me that they want over a month to repair it when I had not even had it for 2 weeks!

 

 

lol. can relate to that. i ran the fujitsu siemens hardware fault desk a few years ago, a complete shower of ****, appaling process, loads of failuire demand, leading to shocking cusotmer epexericne

[Johnny Shearer]

Yep I agree with the comment about buying from John Lewis. Good service from them in the past.

 

On another note I bought a MESH PC back in Jan 2001 and its only now got knackered, drives are still working so can transfer my stuff across but the RAM went. That machine was built to last and it did - a full 8 years!

[Saint Keith]

ive still got a dell desktop, from 1998, running on NT, still going strong

[chrisobee]

You can't go wrong with an HP.

 

As opposed to a Packard Bell PC that is clearly true, I wonder if the use of that name is designed to confuse ?

[ecuk268]

You can't go wrong with an HP. Dell are utter gash.. had a batch of 60 that cam ein here a couple of years ago, every single one of them died over a period of a year... we used to go through Dell laptop's like ahot knife through butter.. blown inverter boards, fans breaking, causing the motherboards to overheat and fail.... wouldn't touch a Dell with a Bargepole...

 

Whilst Hp are not quite as good as they used to be (we had 1500 Pentium 133's up until a year or so ago still going strong - that's 10 years plus) they are still ehad and shoulders above all the other manufacturers out there.

 

Slightly off-topic, but we've got an HP LaserJet 4 in the office that we bought in 1994 and it's still going strong

[sotonjoe]

Nope, that's complete rubbish!

 

Your contract is with the seller and in fact you could bring a claim at any point within six years from the purchase (although you may have some evidential difficulties).

 

 

 

I don't think that's true at all. I've no idea why you're talking about "six years" as presumably the length of guarantee is the most important factor in deeming how long you can leave something before making a claim. I'm pretty sure that, legally, there's a point past which your claim lies with a manufacturer and not the supplier of the goods.

 

For instance, my router is 18months old and is playing up. Dlink, the manufacturer, offer a two year guarantee. If I want it repaired etc my claim would be with them and not PC World who supplied it. By your logic, you think I could walk into the shop and demand they sort it?

[benjii]

I don't think that's true at all. I've no idea why you're talking about "six years" as presumably the length of guarantee is the most important factor in deeming how long you can leave something before making a claim. I'm pretty sure that, legally, there's a point past which your claim lies with a manufacturer and not the supplier of the goods.

 

For instance, my router is 18months old and is playing up. Dlink, the manufacturer, offer a two year guarantee. If I want it repaired etc my claim would be with them and not PC World who supplied it. By your logic, you think I could walk into the shop and demand they sort it?

 

Yes, you could under the law (subject to it having been not of satisfactory quality or not fit for purpose when sold and being an item that should reasonably be expected to last for 18 months, in this case). The problem is that after six months the burden is on you to show that was the case.

 

Your claim in relation to the faulty goods is a claim based on the breach, by the retailer, of contract terms implied under the Sale of Goods Act. The limitation period in law for a claim for breach of contract is 6 years. The maufacturer has nothing to do with your relationship with the retailer. If they have provided a guarantee though, they are effectively offering to step into the retailer's shoes.

 

Manufacturer's guarantees do not usually offer you any protection that the law doesn't already give you, they just give you certainty by providing a defined way of dealing with the problems and stop you having to deal with some useless oik in a shop. But whether a guarantee is given or not, you always have recourse against the retailer (subject to the facts).

Edited 26 August, 2009 by benjii

[Weston Super Saint]

Chris.

 

My advice.

 

Man the f&ck up, grow a set of hairy ones, and take that crappy piece of shiiit they sold you back to their tinpot good for nothing Uncle Tom shop, put it on the Manager's desk - that would mean you need to ask politely, but firmly to see the manager, and don't take no for an answer - sit down in the chair opposite him / her, and explain how you aren't leaving the shop until they have replaced the faulty goods they sold you with a working computer. Then sit there happily playing with your newly acquired hairy ones until they unwrap a brand new computer, plug it in to the manager's keyboard, mouse and screen, and prove to you it works.

 

Once you have completed this relatively simple task in the world of consumer rights and wrongs you will feel far more confident in your worldly affairs. Who knows, maybe the next step will be going 'out there' and getting that girlfriend you always promised yourself you'd get

[St Landrew]

As a side point is there any pc / electronics supplier that people have had good customer services experiences with?

 

I had a Sony viao that had an issue. From me reporting it to them collecting, repairing and returning it to me was less that a week. I did go again shortly after the warranted ran out though...

 

Dell were poor though.

 

Yeah, I have. Most of the computer suppliers I've had problems with the product are perfectly ok to deal with during an after sale issue. Nowadays for example, Novatech, down in Portchester, are very good indeed. Generally the product is reliable, but if you have a problem, and report it through their problems procedure, they will deal with it effectively and pretty efficiently too. I've found that traditional electronic retail outlets like Currys, Comet, PC World, etc... will wriggle like mad, dig their heels in, or do whatever they can to put you off, if they can, unless the issue is cut and dried, i.e. there's no room to wriggle.

 

The best after sales service, for a faulty item, I have ever received from an electronics product manufacturer [perhaps from any company] was Targa in Germany. My HDD/DVD recorder developed a fault in recognising blank DVDs about 2 years and 10 months into its standard European 3 year guarantee. I phoned Targa, explained the fault, and the woman on the other end of the phone was extremely courteous and sympathetic; took the details of my recorder, and apologised that the product had let me down..!!! :smt103

 

She then asked me to box up the recorder as best I could, which was easy as I'd kept the original box flat-packed in the cupboard, and send it to them. I asked about the postage, and she said they would incur the cost. The turn-around for the repair was meant to be about 14 days, but it was back within a week. They'd replaced the DVD drive, cleaned it, tested the whole machine, and popped a spare remote control in the box. I phoned them to thank them for the prompt service, and explained that they'd given me a spare remote control, and they said, that's fine, keep it if you would like it, and please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience of being deprived of your recorder..! :smt103

 

Can you imagine an everyday British manufacturer saying that..? And that repair carried its own guarantee too. Frankly, I'm happy for the thing to break down again. Sadly, it has been thoroughly reliable, ever since.

[chrisobee]

Ok, an engineer called yesterday and replaced the hard drive. However, it seems the motherboard and also the fan are knackered not to mention the keyboard connection ( MY fault apparently!). Now it seems to me that a computer which I have only had 3 months and not even been able to use for 3 weeks should not have such problems unless it was absolute junk in the 1st place. I have now had to wait in all day for 2 days and still the wretched thing is not working. I would love to go into Curry's when they are at their busiest and just throw it on the floor shouting some appropriate words very loudly! However, given I'm not able to afford to do that I have to just carry on waiting and hope this old PC which really is on it's last legs and why I replaced it continues to work. Ridiculous!

[ecuk268]

I would think that you are entitled to a new machine or a full refund.

 

Have a chat with Trading Standards, they're usually very helpful.

[chrisobee]

I would think that you are entitled to a new machine or a full refund.

 

Have a chat with Trading Standards, they're usually very helpful.

 

Thanks, I have. I got home today and there was a message on my answering machine from Curry's saying they were prepared to replace the PC ( very noble of them !) but the PC I originally bought was out of stock.* However, they were offering me a "similar, slightly more expensive model" as a replacement.

Well I have looked at the PC they are offering, not more expensive at all, exactly the same price and looks pretty much identical from the online pic to the piece of rubbish I already have.

Anyway, it's clear that I'm entitled to a refund so that is what I'm going to tell them when I ring back tomorrow.

 

* Which probably means that the model is so bad it's been withdrawn from sell !

[saint_stevo]

buy a USB mouse and keyboard? Not that you should need too

 

Ill take a look if you want.

 

I have never had any problems with Dell laptops, had 75 D630's in about a year, and no hardware faults on any of them to date. Recently we had an E6500 come in with POST failure, phoned Dell as still in warranty and did some over the phone diagnostics in relation to the Caps, Num an Scroll lock lights and next day an engineer arrived with a new DDR2 stick and MoBo. Had 55 Toshiba Tecra M7's, sent about 5 back with dead CPU fans, but not too bad considering.

 

If i am buying a laptop or desktop i will usually go for an HP as much as possible, and avoid buying anything from P.C World or Curry's. Smaller, more intimate businesses such as local computer shops are ideal as they usually have very good customer service and will do anything they can to keep you happy.

 

I have a Compaq P.C at work i use for a bit of testing which is 14years old, running 3.1, works a dream.

[chrisobee]

Hurray! A full refund to be processed today. Thanks for all the advice

[saint_stevo]

try this......

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169717

[chrisobee]

try this......

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169717

 

A pile of junk, I don't think so !

[saint_stevo]

middle of the road decent system..

 

what are you after then? Did you pay for Norton with the PB? Remember seeing it on your order, if you did, please stand on an upturned plug

[benjii]

middle of the road decent system..

 

what are you after then? Did you pay for Norton with the PB? Remember seeing it on your order, if you did, please stand on an upturned plug

 

Is Norton gash then?

[RedAndWhite91]

Dell computers are actually designed to knacker 367 days from purchase. FACT!

 

Exactly my point.

 

This seems to be the case with almost all electronic equipment now.

 

I'm in danger of starting to sound like my dad but I struggle to find any manufacturers that I trust to sell me something that will last much beyond the end of the warranty (if it even lasts that long).

 

It's called planned obsolescence.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

[lettuce]

I had problems with Time Computers back around 1998/99, they sold me a PC which failed exactly 1 week after taking delivery of it, took about 3 months to get it sorted - lots of phone calls, having to get the faulty PC collected by a courier, having to go to a courier depot to collect replacement - went on and on and sent them several letters. Always mentioned in the letters that a copy of each letter was also being sent to BBC Watchdog and my local Trading Standards office.

 

After a couple of letters were sent I got a phonecall from my local Trading Standards office (Birmingham) and the guy very helpfully offered to call Time Computers to "remind them of their legal obligations and the consequences of not fullfilling these obligations"... as if by magic I got a call an hour later from Time saying "Sorry for all the trouble you've been having, we'll beef up the spec of your replacement PC as compensation"... an hour later I got another phonecall from someone else at Time saying "Sorry for all the trouble you've been having, we'll throw in a ton of free software as compensation"!!! Obviously the right hand wasn't talking to the left hand at Time!

 

Thankfully, Time Computers went out of business soon after, but my advice from that episode is get Trading Standards involved, because a call from a Trading Standards officer is taken far more seriously than a call from an irate customer!

[chrisobee]

middle of the road decent system..

 

what are you after then? Did you pay for Norton with the PB? Remember seeing it on your order, if you did, please stand on an upturned plug

 

It appeared on the order though I didn't actually order it, I returned that already ( as new) and got a refund.

Edited 11 September, 2009 by chrisobee

[chrisobee]

I now have a very good one year old HP Pavillion which I wiped completely and reinstalled everything.It is working Ok at present so I can look around before buying.

[Thedelldays]

I had problems with Time Computers back around 1998/99, they sold me a PC which failed exactly 1 week after taking delivery of it, took about 3 months to get it sorted - lots of phone calls, having to get the faulty PC collected by a courier, having to go to a courier depot to collect replacement - went on and on and sent them several letters. Always mentioned in the letters that a copy of each letter was also being sent to BBC Watchdog and my local Trading Standards office.

 

After a couple of letters were sent I got a phonecall from my local Trading Standards office (Birmingham) and the guy very helpfully offered to call Time Computers to "remind them of their legal obligations and the consequences of not fullfilling these obligations"... as if by magic I got a call an hour later from Time saying "Sorry for all the trouble you've been having, we'll beef up the spec of your replacement PC as compensation"... an hour later I got another phonecall from someone else at Time saying "Sorry for all the trouble you've been having, we'll throw in a ton of free software as compensation"!!! Obviously the right hand wasn't talking to the left hand at Time!

 

Thankfully, Time Computers went out of business soon after, but my advice from that episode is get Trading Standards involved, because a call from a Trading Standards officer is taken far more seriously than a call from an irate customer!

Time computers were terrible...we got our first PC when I lived at home around 97/98 and got a "Time Machine"...was terrible