Stupid question: how long has it been doing this? Are you sure it isn't just the initial cooling down of the contents to operating temperature? When things cool they can creak and groan as various components shrink. Some freezers also go through regular cycles to get rid of ice that has built up and to recirculate coolant. But obviously this shouldn't just happen continuously and for days on end...

CAG should make an exhaustive list of retailers in the UK which abide by the DSR's as expanded by the OFT. I reckon it'd be a very easy list to make on account of it being very short. Having said that, it seems reasonable that the retailer be given the opportunity to try and limit their losses. In this instance, one way of doing that would be for them to try to see if the noise was just due to a simple fault which could be rectified. If there was a fault, they could rectify it and presumably both the customer and the retailer would be happy. Of course they take the risk that it is not a fault, the customer is (still) not happy, and they pay for an engineer to visit AND swallow any loss on the unit being returned and refunded. I wonder how DSR's affect CurrysPCWorld's laptops and PCs sold online. In order to evaluate a computer these days, you pretty much have to switch it on, register it under your name, set up an account on it, connect it to the internet, etc. Windows will not even boot to a desktop unless you do this. And I don't see how you can "evaluate" it until it does. As clear and equitable as the law is, it can be completely impractical in some circumstances.

Further investigation reveals the following: I have found receipts for repair of the "replacement" laptop I refer to above (the one I have been making payments on for years without realising). So it seems that this "replacement" laptop apparently also failed and I sent it in for repair. Whilst waiting for the repair I purchased a new laptop. When the one being repaired came back, I gave it away to a friend, as I had a third older laptop that I could use as a backup and really didn't need three. (Ah yes, I recall this bit now. I had a *double* laptop failure. The one sent for repair had a complete, irrecoverable hard drive failure. My backup laptop failed due to a MS Vista problem. Reformat/reload followed by installing Vista security updates took well over 24 hours, making it a particularly memorable and unpleasant experience.) It is at this point that I thought I cancelled the old agreement (I wasn't going to pay for a support arrangement for a laptop I no longer owned). But I can't prove I did this. Lesson learned!!

Unfortunately my carrier only retains records of calls back to Oct 2010. Probably this is a good thing. And on thinking about it, I wouldn't want Dixon's retaining information about me for longer anyway. And when I attempted to restore my IPhone to get back details of all my old calls, it said, "all media and data on the phone will be wiped". That's exactly what it did when I "backed it up"!! Stymied.

Hi all, I want to post a general warning to check your Curry's/PC World PC Performance/Whatever Happens TWICE. Here is my story. After being alerted to CAG users finding that these agreements do not cover what they think they do and that some users have had payments taken out long after they thought they cancelled agreements, I decided to check mine. Yeah, it couldn't happen to me right!? Firstly, I called to see if laptop batteries were covered by Anything Happens (see further down the forum for the thread regarding this). They aren't. I then decided to cancel an agreement I had for a laptop whose battery had died and for another old laptop I was trading in (see even further down for a thread about my experience with this trade-in experience!). Taking note of the experience of other CAG users I then decided to go through all the old agreements I had paperwork for and ensure they were all cancelled except the one for my most recent laptop. I did this over the phone. I then asked if the (very helpful) customer support agent could then check that I definitely had only one agreement active (for my most recently purchased laptop). He did so, and told me he would send out paperwork to confirm cancellation of the two agreements that I had cancelled during that call. Instead, I got a single letter in the mail to thank me for starting a *new* agreement (on a laptop I no longer own). Say what!!!? I rang up today to find out what had happened. I was told (by a different, but still very helpful customer support agent) that no new agreement had been started, but that I had been sent the wrong paperwork! But then came the real shocker. I was then told that I had an outstanding agreement (active since 2009!!) for another laptop that I gave away nearly two years ago! Say what!!!? Not believing this could have happened to me, I checked my bank account. And lo and behold, there were indeed three lots of payments coming out every month, all with reference numbers which do not correspond with *any* of the support agreement numbers or the direct debit reference numbers I have on the paperwork I have meticulously retained! Say what!!!? I called back and after a very long call (with a very helpful customer support agent) I managed to match up the direct debits coming out of my account with actual agreements -- something I could not do myself as the numbers are not present on the paperwork. In fact, one of these active agreements I do not even have paperwork for! Edit: I have subsequently found this paperwork. In other words, not only was it impossible for me to cross reference the payments with the agreements without making a call to Dixon's, but I have been paying for an agreement since 2009 for a laptop I have long since given away! Now, I have a distinct recollection of trying to cancel an old agreement in-store when I purchased a new laptop some years back. They told me it was not possible to cancel in-store and that this must be done by phone (why Dixon's, why!!?). This I have a memory of doing subsequently, within a few days by phone. After a very long discussion on the phone I have managed to determine roughly the order of events. I originally purchased a laptop from Curry's and it failed within 28 days. I was refunded for that laptop and within one day of the return, I purchased a new laptop from a different PC World store. The support agreement on the original returned laptop is apparently cancelled automatically as a matter of course, due to the return, as one would expect. But Dixon's has no record of me ever having cancelled the agreement on the replacement laptop which I purchased (despite my recollection of making a call to cancel an agreement at some later point). I have absolutely no way of proving that I did cancel the new agreement. Edit: removed some incorrect information here. There is no way for me to investigate this any further. At this point I have to give up and assume I made a mistake and that my recollection is false, or that my recollection is only of cancelling the agreement which was to be cancelled automatically anyway due to refund. I cannot prove that I cancelled the new agreement much later when I bought a subsequent new laptop, gave away my old laptop thus no longer requiring the agreement. Note that £9.99 a month for 3.3 years is nearly £400, probably £200 of which is surplus to requirement. So, I urge all CAG users with support agreements to check your bank statements, and if you aren't sure, call and confirm that all the agreements are cancelled that you think are cancelled. Then call again on another occasion and check again. Ask to check all active agreements AND all old agreements for all addresses you have lived at. It's impossible for me to conceive how the support representative, being so thorough and deliberate and apparently intelligent about it at my request, was unable to tell me that I had this old agreement still active. The only thing I can think of is that a more recent laptop which I have purchased, for which I have an agreement, but for which no direct debits have been taken out yet was *assumed* to be the old active agreement. I have been instructed to call again in a week to check that everything is as it should be, because it wasn't even possible for them to actually cancel the old agreement today since the next payment is "in transit" (and thus a refund of that amount also has to be processed). They have actioned it as cancelled, but because "mistakes can happen", they've asked me to call back to confirm that it has actually been cancelled in a week or so. I'm literally stunned that this has happened, especially after doing due diligence to ensure that it had not happened! Fortunately they will at least refund the most recent payment (presumably the one still "in transit") that has occurred after I rang up to ensure all old unused agreements were cancelled. Fair enough, if I made a mistake then I can't complain about that. But it is annoying that there isn't enough information on record for me to be able to determine if I did. And sure, I should have been checking my statements to check that the right number of payments were coming out each month, not just that I "recognised" all the beneficiaries of the payments. But surely I should be able to match the reference numbers on the actual payments with some information on the paperwork for the agreements themselves. And surely if I call up with the specific intention of cancelling all old agreements and to check that no other old agreements are active, I should be able to do this and have confidence that it is done. I have to accept that the reason I don't have paperwork for the old active agreement is a mistake on my part. Edit: it was -- I found the paperwork. {Removed incorrect guess here} Keep all your old paperwork. Write all dates and details on them. Check your bank statements and if there is still any doubt, check with Dixon's TWICE. I pose the following questions to Dixon's (I know someone from Dixon's monitors this forum): * Why aren't laptop batteries covered? They are cheap enough to just include in a Whatever Happens agreement. They are not "replaced regularly", as they are not disposable, but rechargeable. At the very least, fault due to manufacture defect in batteries SHOULD be covered. It was NOT in my case. * Why is it possible to take out agreements in-store, but not cancel them in-store? Why? Is this even legal in the UK? I thought EU consumer legislation of which the UK is a signatory barred selling contracts which it was not possible to cancel in the same manner in which they were purchased. Please, correct me if I am wrong on this. I'm a bit rusty. * Why don't the reference numbers on my bank statement for the direct debits correspond to numbers on the actual agreements that I am given in store when I purchase a support agreement? * Suggestion: why aren't users emailed or snail mailed once a year to confirm details of all agreements currently active? OK, people move and change their email address without telling you. So, you can't cover everything. But at least you can cover one class of mistakes! * Why was paperwork thanking me for taking out a new agreement sent in lieu of two pieces of paperwork confirming I had cancelled two agreements? This surely shouldn't even be possible! * Why was a polite, intelligent, diligent, patient and deliberate customer support representative unable to see that I had an old active agreement when I specifically asked whether there were any old active agreements and after I had gone through all old active and inactive agreements to check this explicitly with him on the phone? What is wrong with the system you have him using? Note, I have not changed my name or address since this agreement was taken out. It should have been immediately visible. * Why aren't details of *all* past calls kept and records made accessible by your customer service representatives? I was able to determine (to within a month or so) when cancellations that have actually taken effect occurred (apparently even these may not actually take effect until some weeks after I request them due to various circumstances, e.g. the laptop I returned on 30/7/09 didn't have a cancellation showing for its support agreement until 10/9/09, with presumably a subsequent refund for the intervening period). However, I was not able to check whether I made a call some time around 13/2/10 and what it was about, nor whether I made one around 30/7/09 and what it was about. Were such a record retained and available, I could determine when the call I have a recollection of was made, and settle the matter. Edit: ok, for privacy reasons I agree there has to be a limit on how long personal information is retained by Dixon's. Now, I don't know how to get a copy of all telephone calls made from my phones, past and present, to see if I can locate this information myself. Unfortunately, the latest Apple update wiped my entire contact list, most of my texts and past phone calls from my IPhone due to my new laptop not being "authorised" for use with my ITunes account. But, I will see what I can do...

Thanks for the advice. Whilst I agree that the batteries tend to be less than £20 on ebay, the ones for my particular model are priced around the £40 mark. It's possible I could have saved a penny or two shopping around. And actually, the retailer I selected which offered "Same day dispatch if ordered before 5pm" reported that they are unfortunately "just" out-of-stock on those particular batteries (after I placed the order of course). To their credit, they did not charge me and offered the opportunity to cancel the order, so I won't name them.

Bear in mind, I spent a number of years in the computer industry (some time ago now). I did not require any sales advice. I spent over an hour in the store looking at every laptop/ultrabook multiple times until I made a decision I could live with. I knew full well that Curry's/PC World specialises in low to mid-range computers. I have a very definite opinion about the level of knowledge of their sales force. The reason I went to Curry's is that I like to get my hands on laptops before I buy them. And in my vicinity, I am not aware of any other stores that allow me to do this easily. I could write a book on the technical problems with their promotion and I saw/heard more than a couple of corkers when standing around in their store for over an hour. But I went to the store with a specific goal in mind, and that goal was met with the exception of this trade-in deal not being a smooth ride. Another thing which is relevant is that this is at least the third British retailer this week that has ended up causing me grief. Add to that one freight company and one online marketplace which has let me down and Curry's looks pretty much bang on target for Britain. The only reason I brought the issue with Curry's to this forum and not the others is that *as it seemed to me* Curry's had not replied promptly, they time-limited their offer, they reserved the right to change terms and conditions of a contract and it would have been exceedingly unjust to potentially numerous consumers to not fix the problem. I commend Curry's for ultimately sorting it out.

Oh my GOSH! They request a JPEG or PDF image of the receipt and specifically suggest a smartphone photo. I took an IPhone photo and attempted to upload the resulting JPG. It yields an error and says "Please upload a file of one of the specified formats below". I had to open the damned thing in MS Paint (yeah that's how hard it was to find a viewer for a .JPG from an IPhone) and save it as another kind of .JPG before I could upload. Face-palm.

Update: I just received an email from Curry's support which actually confirms that entering the incorrect amount will not affect my rights. This looks to be a successful resolution on their part. I will now attempt to trade in my old laptop.

I think that to make a SOGA claim, I would have to verify that replacement batteries for this model laptop were still readily available. Otherwise I will have caused the retailer additional costs in rectifying the issue by leaving it so long. The issue definitely wasn't a battery mismanagement issue. Despite the fact that I pay no attention to claims that batteries should be exhausted before recharging, I very likely did this often over that first year due to the way I normally used the laptop. However, I am sceptical of pushing the SOGA for laptop battery replacement in general. Even under ideal operating conditions, I don't see that a standard laptop battery is expected to last six years from the date of purchase (the amount of time mentioned in SOGA). I still reject that laptop batteries are "regularly replaced". They are rechargeable, not disposable. In my specific case, SOGA may well cover the failure as it likely resulted from a fault in the manufacturing process. Whether I can quite justify the time to prove that fact and make a claim, I am not sure. After all, if replacements are readily available, my time to make a claim may be more than the cost of purchasing a replacement. Edit: yeah I just checked online. Readily available for this model, £43.80 incl delivery, reputable retailer. I should have done this ages ago. Definitely not going to do a SOGA claim in this case. Thanks for the advice though.

It's really stretching my memory now, but I seem to recall that the battery was working fine one day with good charge levels, and then the next day my laptop suddenly went black whilst using it. I switched it back on and it went again. This happened a few more times over a week. Then I find an email (just over a year after I bought it) where I refer to "having trouble getting my battery to retain a charge". I don't exactly recall how this manifested. But I seem to recall that persisting with it would make it "come good", again giving me good levels of charge. Suddenly it died altogether, refusing to accept any charge. The machine itself popped up a fault message when plugged in which stated the battery had developed a fault. This was not a matter of the charge gradually becoming less and less over a period of time. However, I pay no attention to claims that batteries are supposed to be discharged before being recharged. The so-called "memory effect" (see wikipedia on that subject) applies to nicads. It is my understanding that modern laptops have software which "optimises" battery performance anyway. HP laptops certainly do this. Moreover, there is no mention of any such "battery procedure" in the care instructions supplied with the laptop. Although I worked in the computer industry for some years, I am not an expert on laptop batteries. If someone thinks I am incorrect and has reliable information to the contrary, that would be interesting.

Yes, it failed within two years of purchase. I bought the laptop on 13/02/10. I found an email from myself to a colleague where I mention that my laptop battery doesn't work on 04/08/11, though it probably failed some months earlier than that. But of course the laptop is not now within two years of purchase. I'm simply very stubborn when it comes to surrendering my laptop for repair as I use it so much. Sometimes my workload gets too heavy to justify even copying files to a replacement laptop. So, given the state of affairs, I am happy to wear this. What I wasn't happy about was to find that my "Whatever Happens" didn't cover it. But, as mentioned, problem fixed, I no longer have that.

After being prompted by other threads in this forum to read my Whatever Happens contract, I just discovered that laptop batteries are not covered by the agreement, even if they fail completely and suddenly. What makes this relevant for me is that my laptop battery did fail completely and suddenly, i.e. it holds no charge whatsoever. Actually, this happened well within (I think) a year after I purchased it. However I use my laptop so much that I could not justify sending it for repair until now (I recently purchased a new Sleekbook making it feasible) and have been using it plugged into the mains at all times since then. I'm astonished that a laptop battery is not considered essential to fitness for purpose and that it is expected to be regularly replaced. Oddly enough, my local Curry's store does not sell replacements for my laptop battery requiring "regular replacement". It's even more amazing that Curry's did not offer to replace the battery given that they sold it to me! So, I cancelled the "Whatever Happens" agreement for this and another old laptop just now. Apparently it is Whatever Happens, so long as it is not one of the things on list of exclusions on the policy. To be fair to Curry's, I did once neglect to send a laptop in for repair under a current agreement because I had used it (legitimately) so much in the time since I bought it that I didn't feel the usage amounted to normal conditions of operation. For reasons I don't recall, this came up when speaking to a Whatever Happens Customer Support person and they insisted that I was entitled to have it repaired or replaced, which they then arranged. On the other hand, the defects were probably manufacturing defects that existed since I bought it and possibly covered under the SOGA. Also on the other hand, the laptop came back from repair with the keyboard incorrectly installed and some keys not functioning (I since repaired it myself as this only required knowledge of how to use a screwdriver and how to ground oneself). Thanks CAG for making me aware that these support agreements are not really "Whatever Happens", just "Some Things that Happen". From now on, I will no longer hold these agreements for longer than the battery is giving me good service.

This morning I received an email from the original help email address for the promotion that I contacted. They advised me that I will be eligible to participate in the trade-in scheme at the price that I paid. All that they require is that I lie on the form about the amount I paid, i.e. enter £499.99 instead of the £449.99 that I actually paid. If users here believe this will not affect my statuatory rights and that this is the right course of action to take, I will respond in this way and see what the outcome is. Given that they have now increased the price of the laptop in question by £150 as mentioned above, this issue clearly shouldn't affect other consumers unless they bought the same laptop as me at the old price.

I recently purchased an HP Sleekbook from this retailer. The laptop was marked £299.99 after £150 trade-in of my old laptop. The pricing was not accidental, it was recorded at that price on their website and in-store. It was also £50 cheaper than a similar but later model containing a small 32GB SSD drive, but lower spec processor. The in-store advertising, including a brochure I retained, and the in-store sales assistants all maintained this laptop was eligible for the trade-in deal. I was also directed to a list of conditions online which I have electronically retained a copy of. However, when I tried to claim the rebate, the website (operated by a different company on behalf of the retailer) refused to accept my claim on the basis that the minimum purchase was £499.99. As you can easily see, £299.99 + £150 (the amount I paid) is £449.99. Thus I am unable to claim. (It is necessary to provide a photographic record of the receipt in order to claim.) I emailed the help email address and after some days received absolutely no reply whatsoever, not even an acknowledgement. I subsequently sent two further emails to this address pointing out the information online which proves that my claim is eligible. I then emailed the retailer's support email address yesterday. I also asked for a copy of the company's complaints procedure and the address of their corporate headquarters for such correspondence, should it become necessary. After a full working day I have received no reply, though I did receive an immediate automated acknowledgement of my email. However, since that time, the retailer has modified their pricing (increased the price of the model of laptop I bought by £150) and added the £499.99 condition to their terms and conditions (I can prove all this -- I have photographic evidence). Edit: actually I have just discovered there are two sets of terms and conditions online, one which lists the £499.99 condition and one which does not. In fact, I cannot prove that the one which lists the £499.99 condition has been altered. It may be useful if a CAG user could volunteer to be an independent witness of the information which is currently showing online and retain an electronic copy of it. I would be happy to provide the relevant URLs for this. /Edit Can someone advise me what I should do about this situation? Given that the offer expires 14 days after purchase, I cannot see how I can prevail. Does anyone know how long I must give them legally to respond to my email? And what should be my next step if the matter is not resolved? Would Trading Standards be the appropriate place to take this up? I know the OFT could not intervene in my specific case, so it seems pointless going there.