Mrs M v comet RESULT

[MandM]

I would just like to let people on this forum know that SOG act does work.

My story is as follows:

In May 2008 I bought my daughter a much needed laptop as she was going to Uni to study music. I went to Comet and a very nice assistant advised me to buy an Acer as the sound system would be ideal. I paid £600 which was a bargain as they were doing a promotion. All went well until 2 months later and it had to go back for a fault on the screen. Got it back and about 3 months later the sound was going erratic, sometimes it was alright other times you could not understand anything coming out of the speakers. As she was at Uni about 23 miles away I had to wait until the Christmas break and we went back to the shop.

The assistant behind the customer service desk told us it was a problem with the internet and advised us to buy a Kaspersky Virus software. We did, whether it was a coincident but it seemed to work. Lo and behold less than a month and it was back with a vengeance. Had to wait until the Easter Break to go back to shop. Saw same man and he said "It is probably the internal speakers, get some external speakers". I reminded him that as this was a portable computer would it not look stupid carrying around another bag with the speakers in, and he said try it. I told him that the warranty was going to run out soon and he said thats alright still bring it back.

The speakers did not work and as my daughter was doing exams and all her work was on the laptop we could not get to the shop until 1 week after the warranty expired.

 

Well you can probably guess the rest, "No madam your warranty has expired you will have to pay to send it away and then pay to have it repaired" said the same bl**dy assistant.

 

I was fuming my daughter was crying as she was going back to Uni in less than 4 months and had to have a laptop for her studies.

I July 2009 I decided to do a letter to the Managing Director of Comets, explained everything in the letter and, 2 weeks later got a call from a lady at his office called Liz. She said as a gesture of goodwill they would send the laptop to a top Tech and not charge for it. I was ecstatic.

 

I took the laptop to the local store told the new assistant what was wrong with it and off it went.

 

9 days later got a call from some Tech guy in Croydon and he informed me that the problem was dust, I said "Okay so the sound works fine now". He got very shirty and said " It was full of dust and now it isnt so yes it works fine and you now have to pay £53.83" I informed him that it was supposed to be free of charge and he said "No only the shipping was free and if I did not pay then I would not get the Laptop back". So I paid with my Debit card.

 

Got a call 2 days later from the shop to say my laptop was back and I could collect it.

 

Got the laptop and took it up to my daughter at Uni.

 

My daughter called me the next morning in tears and told me the problem was still there in fact it was even worse.

 

I called Liz at the Directors Office and explained, she told me to leave it with her.

 

I decided to ring Trading Standards and get advice on the Sale of Goods Act.

They advised me to write and inform Comets that I wanted a new Laptop as under the SOG the laptop they sold me was not fit for purpose.

 

Got a call back from Liz saying they would not replace or refund but they would repair, I refused saying they already had the chance to repair it and did not.

 

Comet refuted my claim under the SOG so I sent a Letter Before Action to tell them I was taking them to court.

 

I had the laptop looked at by a specialist laptop Techs and they informed me that the motherboard was faulty,paid £40.

 

Put the court papers in and Comet decided to defend.

Received their defense no paperwork just a typed statement as follows;

 

The claimant has had the laptop for some time

Blah blah blah.

Then the last thing was that the laptop was cleaned and the sound problem happened after it was returned to me.

 

I eventually directed the court to ask for the job sheet which went with the laptop to the Croydon tech and it proved that I had told them of the problem when it went in to them.

 

I was due to go to court on Monday and on Friday they called me and said they would give me a new laptop, I informed them that my daughter had to buy a new laptop last year before she started back at Uni.

 

I got a call today from someone else and they offered me a gift card for the value of the laptop, I declined and said " I would not buy anything from your store again " so no. He then asked what I would be prepared to take and I said "Full refund of the laptop and all my court costs and part of my out of pocket expenses". He agreed.

 

So the moral of this story is do not give up, If you think you have a good case stick to your guns, but only if you have a good case. One other thing I will say if you ever have to take anything back for repair always take a photo copy of the job sheet before you give it back to them.

 

My daughter is very happy she can now buy some decent food.

 

 

Mrs M

[Lefty]

Hi

Thanks for sharing this. It's an excellent example of statutory consumer law working as it should.

Thanks!

Cheers

Lefty