Advent laptop - what to do?

[Parva]

Bought an Advent laptop (£550 as I recall) in September '06. I still have the receipt kicking about. Being November now it's obviously out of its 12 months warranty.

 

This is my daughters laptop, it's come adrift at one of the two hinges. It still works perfectly fine but having the screen rely on just the one hinge now is scary. She obviously hasn't abused it as it's still in damned good condition apart from the broken hinge and I've read threads where other people have had issues with hinges on Advent laptops.

 

My question is, do I make an issue of it with PCWorld (bearing in mind it's over 12 months since purchase now) or do I just forget?

[ForestChav]

You would need to take it to PC World first of all see what they say - I suspect they would initially refuse to do anything on either of two grounds:

1. The product is out of its 12 month warranty

2. The nature of the fault sounds more accidental damage, or misuse, or wear and tear than any manufacturing fault.

 

Your rights under the Sale of Goods Act (which are separate from your rights under the warranty, which vary depending on what T+Cs the manufacturer has set) rely on the fault existing when the product was bought, so in other words an inherent fault; it was always going to happen.

 

Personally I doubt cracked hinges is an inherent problem (though sometimes it has been proved so) so you're unlikely to get anything with that.

 

And you will need to prove it was faulty at purchase (as you are the one making the accusation, so to speak). You can do this in many ways but obtaining an accredited engineer's report proving so is probably the easiest. (The cost of the report would be recouped in the event of successful action).

[Parva]

Clearly not worth the aggrevation then. I better tell her to start saving for a new one.

[gyzmo]

Is it me or does there seem to be a whole lot of people with Advent laptops that don't work properly? These cases should be reported to Consumer Direct, as then Trading Standards will have an idea of the scale of the problem and may be able to do something if the manufacturer or seller is not trading fairly. It may not help in individual cases, but if the commerce world is not playing ball, and action is taken against them, then perhaps iin future they will stop selling defunct goods, which will benefit everyone.

 

I suspect however taht many people may not care that much. I hope I am wrong.

[ForestChav]

They're no different in origin to any other brand but the quality is variable, occasionally you do get a "model" with a few issues.

[fred2009]

it is proven that a advent is made from cheaper parts then lets say a sony.sorry but there is a difference in origin in parts. sony screens are different from advent screens (x-black for instance) yes probably toshiba and advent screens are the same but the hinges and cases are different.

 

hense the price difference.

 

laptops have a shelf life of about 3-5 years depending on what lifestyle it is used for.

 

gamers for instance need upgrades to play latest games every few months and office users can be ok for 4 years without needing to upgrade.

 

pcworld staff are untrained with regards to SOGA. id suggest asking them to check their OASIS system.

their oasis system has three area's.

 

1) what to do under reasonable time from purchase (28days)

2) what to do in first year

3) which is simply called - "faulty"

 

ask to see what is placed under the title "faulty" as this is what their remedy will be in your case.

 

or call 0844 56 1 00 00 and ask about the OASIS remedy.

[gyzmo]

Or do as I said and report it to Consumer Direct so that they may have grounds for investigation under the Enterprise Act (see Fred - legislation is there for a purpose). It may not help you now, but it will contribute towards companies being forced to provide a decent service, product etc in the furture - one that you may well buy, and be thankful that the seller realises he cant just rip you off for.

[Guest mad-16]

Here is the link to the sale of goods act. As a consumer you have right under the act to have the product repaired in the first instance, or if that fails to have it replaced. The Contract is with the Companythat sold you the product and not with the manufacturer,

 

Trading Standards Central - Trading Standards and Consumer Protection information for the UK

 

Hope this is of use to you. I used this to good effect when my son's laptop broke.

[Guest mad-16]

The manufacturer's warranty is in addition to your rights under the sale of goods act, and as I said in the previous post you need to take up the complaint with the supplier of the goods. The SOGA clearly states that a product must last for a reasonable time, in many cases up to 6 years. In the case of a laptop, I would expect at least 3 years if not more. just go in to PC world and be firm but polite.

[fred2009]

being polite but firm is always good advice. but the store staff are trained to not accept or deal with any issues over a year old. by law they cannot do this but they just do what there employer are told. i do not think this is writen training or a writen policy just what they get told by managers.

 

i would not simply ask them firmly to deal with it. use the right words. ask them about their own oasis system's remedy about what is the remedy under the title faulty.

 

ask them to either follow it or give you the information such as the engineers contact details or the details for their own customer services/complaints department.

 

there policies are not right but its all they know so the only way to get a right result is to either threaten law action which they could class as abuse if you use anger. which will result in you getting banned. or by playing their game and finding out who can deal with it.

 

no one wants to go to court to get action so asking questions to the staff instead of demanding, can help avoid court cases and arguments instore.

 

their oasis system is what the staff know and follow. it falls within soga guidelines so to the staff its all they care about. the staff are not personally legally accountable to deny you a remedy. they dont want stress, they are not paid enough to deal with stressful customers so be polite and simply ask about their OASIS remedy solution and ask them if they can follow it.

 

SOGA is your legal right but to get a positive result usually means going to court to get a judge to assess and demand a remedy. some retail staff dont care about consumers rights. just about avoiding stress from customers, by asking them to leave if they raise their voice and avoid stress from their management by causing hassle.

 

so dont cause hassle and arguments. be polite. dont demand a replacement or refund. ask them what their remedy solution is.

 

in the past consumers from other forums have tried saying "i will not leave until my product is replaced" again that is not a positive way of saying it. because you are demanding something which the staff are untrained to do. in one case from another forum the consumer was left instore for an hour or so until the store had closed and the staff then said "if you dont leave then we will call the cops", the retailer called the customers bluff and the customer left.

 

laptops are suppose to last a reasonable time but a hinge is hard to prove if it failed due to mis-use or by manufacturing process. lifting a laptop lid from a single side rather then lifing from the centre or from both sides can cause the hinges to twist and eventually break. this is considered as miss-use if you personally made it twist to break.

 

from my experiences of pcworld from the questions i have asked them i beleive that getting an independant engineers report and contacting their head office may be faster. but if the stores own oasis system has a faster solution then use that.

 

in the end you may have to threaten court action to get a result as hinges are a grey area. but being abusive instore will get you no-where so definetly be polite.

[Delta-NC]

Uhh, I was under in impression that all consumer electronics had a minimum two year warranty at a European level. Am I mistaken on this?

 

From Directive 1999/44/EC

The Directive applies to

·any defective movable consumer product

·any seller, that is to say any person who, under a contract, sells consumer goods in the course of their trade, profession or business

·a producer, meaning the manufacturer of consumer goods, the importation of goods or any other person who purports to be a producer by virtue of their name, brand or other distinctive sign

 

The directive calls for

·a guarantee of at least 2 years for new goods (or longer if the Member State wishes) where the seller will undertake without extra charge to reimburse the price paid or to replace and/or repair consumer goods if they do not meet the specifications set out in the guarantee statement or relevant advertising.

·a guarantee of at least one year for used goods (except those sold by a private seller)

[spikeachu]

As far as I'm aware, European law is not automatically entered into UK law. Also, the Sale of Goods act under UK legislation provides greater protection than the European equivalent.

[Delta-NC]

European laws are placed above national laws. It is in effect where we have agreed to make a law standard across the whole of the EU. The only way a country would be exempt is where it is specifically stated within the directive. The only mention of the UK in Directive 1999/44/EC is as follows

 

Sale of Goods Act

Dealers and manufacturers usually repair or replace faulty components under warranty. The Sale of Goods Act does not legally oblige them to so. The Directive stipulates that from 2001 repair or replacement will become a legal liability for UK sellers of new goods. Consumers will also have the right to financial compensation.

I'm no legal expert though, It's just the way I read it. If anyone can say for sure ether way it would be useful.

[spikeachu]

Again, I'm no expert, but if this was a requirement in the UK, then all retailers would be supplying goods with a 2 year warranty. As it stands, this isn't the case. Any warranty that is provided is usually accompanied by a phrase that states that your statutory rights are not affected. I don't even think it's a legal requirement to provide a warranty on goods in the UK.

[Delta-NC]

Not necessarily. I just think retailers and manufacturer would prefer to keep hush hush on this. I have actually seen this legislation referd to on the front page of a newspaper. ("50 years of the EU, 50 reasons to love the EU" but I forget which paper it was)

 

The law always overrules what it says on the box, a company can't write "10 day warranty" on something and get away with it, the case would be the same here. If this was relevant in the UK, it would overrule any supplied text stating one year of warranty.

 

I have noticed an increased number of products now stating that they have a two year warranty.

[fred_2009]

assumptions assumptions assumptions.

 

please research more. reading literature without knowledge of its validity or relevance is not good enough.

 

UK retailers do not under any directive have to provide warrenty or guarantee.

 

manufacturers have to by law have atleast one year on all electronic goods.

 

manufacturers guarantees are separate from SOGA and other consumer rights.

 

retailers have their own methods of solving consumer issues under SOGA. for instance as i build the machines i sell i fully deal with the issues from day one all the way through to year six.

 

in most cases i could prove that the computer was only suppose to last a couple years lifespan but i still deal with my customer issues after that.

 

in larger retailer chains its easier, faster and cheaper for retailers to use manufacturers guarantees. then after that assess it at their own costs and work out if it is cheaper to repair or replace.

 

in most cases shop floor staff are untrained to assess this so the product normally has to get sent off for assessment and remedy.

 

i have offered on many occassions advice about the fastest routes a consumer can take without causing themselvess stress. the true legal route is to leave it with retailer and if they dont fix it then file a small claims courtcase against the retailer.

 

but this is long winded. my advice is options to try such as calling the manufacturer or the companies repairline direct for inhome repair/pickup. and if that fails then you have your SOGA rights to fall back on.

 

many advisors on this site only want to show consumers the route which ends in a court case. giving no consideration to the length of time it takes to give the retailer time to remedy and then time to be notified of the court case.

 

there are other routes to rememdy solutions and faults. research them as you may learn something.

 

reading legal literature is not enough to fully be helpful with consumers. try working in a retail store for a few weeks. learn some of the retailers rights not just the consumers rights. and realise that consumers have responsibilities aswell as rights.

 

such as opening a laptop evenly, pulling the switches fully before lifting the lid. etc.

[davethemaniac]

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM BUT i STUCK TO MY GUNS AND GOT A PARTIAL REFUND JUST AFTER THE 12 MONTHS WARRANTY RAN OUT.

[davethemaniac]

Thats not true it is expected that a laptop should last at least 3-4 years