knowhow not repairing my laptop

[zack007]

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope you can give me some advice on a problem I am facing.

 

On 06/03/2009 I purchased a Dell inspiron 1545 laptop with the whatever happens agreement paying around £9 per month.

 

About a month ago my wife was using the laptop and went to check on my son who was in the bath. She slipped in the bathroom and the laptop hit the bath and went into the bath which had water in it. she immediately took the laptop out and called me whilst i was at work. I rang the knowhow company and told them the laptop had fell in the bath. They told me to drop off the laptop to your local store and it will be picked up from there and repaired.

 

A week later I had a phone call to say that it was being returned without repaired and to follow instructions on a letter that you will get with the laptop. I asked what the problem was but they said something like " the damage is exceeded"

 

I've picked the laptop a few days ago and looked at the letter which i think was from knowhow claims investigation.

 

"we have carried out an inspection and in the opinion of our engineer the damage seen is inconsistent with the reported explaination and/or the damage exceeds what we would expect given the circumstances. As a result of our findings repairs are not covered by your agreement and we are returning your product to you unrepaired"

 

They have also said that the service has now stopped.

 

I am very shocked that they have written this. This was a geniune accident from my wife.

 

I have written a letter which i have not sent. Please advice on what I should do.

Regards,

Mo

 

letter:

I write with huge disappointment to a company who I have purchased goods for over 10 years. I purchased my Dell inspiron 1545 with the support agreement on 06/03/09.

 

The laptop was being used by my wife, she went to the bathroom to see my son (5) who was having a bath. My wife slipped in the bathroom and the laptop hit the bath and fell in the bath. The bath had some water in. My wife got up and quickly removed the laptop from the bath. My wife then contacted me whilst I was at work and told me to contact knowhow and tell them the laptop fell in the bath.

 

I contacted Knowhow and told them "the laptop had fallen in the bath". I was later told by my wife in detail of what had happened.

 

I was told to drop off the laptop to a store and it will be taken to the repair centre, which I did.

 

Around a week later I received a phone call to say that my laptop is being returned without it being repaired and a letter will be sent with the laptop on what you need to do. I mentioned why this is the case but they said something like "the damage is exceeded", I asked the person to elaborate as I didn't know what it meant but the person was unable to do so.

 

On 20/09/12 I picked up my laptop from Curry’s and read the letter that came with the laptop and was shocked with what was written.

"We have carried out an inspection and in the opinion of our engineer the damage seen is inconsistent with the reported explanation and/or the damage exceeds what we would expect given the circumstances"... therefore not covered by the agreement.

 

Now I do not know what Knowhow expect if a laptop falls in a bath with water in there but the laptop accidently fell in the bath with water in it, there is nothing more to that and how can your engineer say the damage is inconsistent with what was reported?

 

I have been paying for this support on my laptop for a long time and I expect Knowhow to repair my laptop as this is covered in my support agreement. I would like my laptop to be repaired or replaced.

 

Knowhow have already been on watchdog last year with over 100 complaints in the period of a few months. I will not hesitate contacting the relevant departments in getting my laptop fixed or replaced by Knowhow.

I trust you will look into this in detail as you may not have had the full details previously.

 

Regards,

[dx100uk]

we have them onboard here:

 

you will not be able to PM

this gent

please follow the info below:

 

From:Paul - CurrysPCWorld

Hi Guys,

you can contact me at http://getsatisfaction.com/curryspcworld/

I will be able to chat to you further from there.

Kind Regards,

PaulThe KNOWHOW Team

 

or

Thanks for taking the time to post your issue on the forum.

I am sorry to read of the trouble that you have experienced

If you would like to email me at letusknow@knowhow.com with your agreement details and postal details and tel number,

I will look into this for you to see what I can do to resolve this.

 

 

Kind Regards,

Paul

The KNOWHOW Team.

................

 

 

dx

[labrat]

please stop refering people to paul for this

 

unfortunatly if its gone to coverplan referals then it has gone a long way beyond what paul is allowed to deal with

 

what you can do however

 

1. contact the appeals process in with the letter explain in full whats happened, not just "she was carrying the laptop", was it open, was it closed, was it under her arm, was it in one hand

2. point out that dispite their opinion there is genuine reasons for having a laptop in a bathroom (im often on mine while the water runs)

3. ask for a copy of the report, point out under data protection rules your entitled to it, it will list the reasons why they have rejected it

4. try not to show too much anger, yes its not nice but these people do deal with genuine fraud attempts unfortunatly some other cases do get caught up

5. if you get a refusal of appeal letter dont panic, you can appeal as much as you like, if your still not happy theres always the court route

 

sorry if its not what you want to hear but it is the only real way

[zack007]

Thanks for your advice. I'll detail the letter and hope for the best.

Should I ask for the report in the letter I am writing?

 

Regards,

[labrat]

no reason why not to, worst they can do is refer you to the data protection officer to ask again

[Conniff]

Any progress with this ??

[zack007]

Hi guys just an update

 

I had a call from a investigations officer on 15/10/2012

 

I had a brief chat with him, he wanted some previous information about a previous claim I had around 2years ago where the laptop fell in the bath and because of this he said to me that it is very unlikely that knowhow will accept this

 

I did tell him that its possible that accidents like this can happen but he was inclined to thinking it was neglect rather than a accident

 

What I did notice was, when I picked up my laptop from currys few weeks back and I had a letter which stated that the knowhow agreement had now stopped but looking at my bank statement they took £9 a few days ago

[dx100uk]

time to get it back then.

 

dx

[Conniff]

I can see their reasoning, obviously it can happen, but it's one hell of a coincidence that it fell in the bath twice.

[zack007]

time to get it back then.

 

dx

 

I already have the laptop

 

What do I do with the £9 they have taken from my account for the service?

[summerxxxx]

hi guys im having a similar problem although i went down the stairs head first when my ankle gave way

they said the same thing to me and now they are referring to apparently £2000 woth of repairs on the agreement im sorry but when the laptop stop working i called them and they asked for it to be collected and repaired thats what i thought i paid the monthly payments for plus the laptop was a replacement and bought with vouchers they gave me when they wrote the last one off and its a re-furbished laptop, they are saying i need to check the terms and conditions in the agreement what is covered so im awaiting the 2nd letter and i will reply and also ask for the engineers report.

[summerxxxx]

they are doing the same with me still taking £7.99 out of my account for a laptop thats sat in my bedroom?