faulty digital camera

[annabee]

Bought a Panasonic 12mp digital camera for my daughter in early December. After Christmas she noticed a black line had appeared on the screen (when you view, does not affect the actual pictures you take). This had now spead and become a black blotch. If it continues to spread obviously it will eventually become impossible to see what pictures you are taking.

 

Took it back to Argos and was quite suprised to be told that 'she must have dropped it' and there is nothing they would do for us. Daughter is adamant it has not been dropped. There are no signs of damage to the case, cracks in glass etc, which seems to support what daughter says.

 

We did buy Argos replacement cover at the time, costing us £29.99 and Argos says our only option is to use this. But if we use this then any replacement camera will not be covered, so we would have to pay out the £29.99 again. In addition to this, the price of the camera has now gone up by £10 and they would only give us back the original price we paid. So to sort this is going to cost us £40 overall, when we have done nothing wrong!

 

Is there anything we can do? Anyone know the cause of the mysterious black spot??

[rebel11]

Hi anna

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The staff in the store aren't qualified tech people, so it's only there opinion as to the cause of the black bloches. As you say there isn't any external damage so it's guess work on there part. I would take it to an independent camera shop where there is a tech present and see if he can shed anylight on the cause. Check the internet to see if others have had a similar problem with that particular model. Then theres also SOGA that you can use, but it's good to establish possible cause

free of charge first.

[Cardiff Devil]

Hi there.

 

Obviously the LCD screen itself has become cracked somehow. It's difficult to say for sure without seeing a picture of the damage but if the screen looks as if it's "bled", unfortunately the most likely cause of this is an impact e.g a drop onto a hard surface. I'm not implying for one second that this is what has happened, but unfortunately it could be quite difficult for you to prove otherwise. The standard year's warranty only covers breakdown, not accidental damage, which is what the extra cover you purchased will cover you for. I dropped a Sony PSP onto the floor once and it cracked the LCD inside with no external damage. When I worked at Argos I had to argue the exact same issue over several PSP's and DS's that cracked screens simply don't just happen.

 

As Rebel said, you could try taking the camera to a camera technician for a second opinion but this would almost certainly cost you extra, and there's no guarantee you would be able to claim that money back. The only way you could get Argos to honour the year's store warranty would be if you could somehow prove that the camera had not been dropped, which would be nigh on impossible.

 

The Argos staff are correct in that once you make a claim on the accidental damage cover, the cover is deemed as "used". This is pretty much standard for insurance policies. Of course it's up to you if you wanted to re-purchase the cover for the new camera or not. Regarding the price change, I'm not 100% sure of the situation here since it never cropped up during the time I worked there. You could always try talking nicely to the store manager to see if they could waive the £10 difference as a goodwill gesture.

 

Sorry if this wasn't the exact news you were hoping for but unfortunately you seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[annabee]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

 

Well we took advice from Which Legal Service who said that in the first 6 months it is assumed that a fault with an item was originally there, ie Argos would have to prove it was dropped rather than us prove it was not. They said Argos should replace or refund.

 

Took it back to Argos yesterday and this time spoke to the Manager, who agreed with us. As they no longer had the orginal camera in stock, we exchanged it for another one which was better, paying £5 extra for this. The replacment cover has been transferred to the new camera.

 

So very happy now, good outcome in the end.

[rebel11]

Well Done, result:-D

 

Thanks for your replies everyone.

 

Well we took advice from Which Legal Service who said that in the first 6 months it is assumed that a fault with an item was originally there, ie Argos would have to prove it was dropped rather than us prove it was not. They said Argos should replace or refund.

 

Took it back to Argos yesterday and this time spoke to the Manager, who agreed with us. As they no longer had the orginal camera in stock, we exchanged it for another one which was better, paying £5 extra for this. The replacment cover has been transferred to the new camera.

 

So very happy now, good outcome in the end.