Under Warranty Laptop - Lost by Courier

[D4x3n0]

Good day!

 

i would like to ask for an advise. Lately, my laptop is having a hardware issue, and it is still under warranty. So I have contacted the Laptop Company (MSI) about it and they have arranged to have it collected from my home to have it checked and repaired. MSI's service provider contacted me that they are the one who are going to check the laptop and they have arranged a courier (DPD UK) to collect it. My laptop was collected 2 days after by the DPD UK, and it was properly package as instructed to be sent to the Repair Center. 8 days after, thinking that my laptop is getting fixed. the Repair Center contacted me that they have not received my laptop and they are waiting for the courier company to contact them to find out what happened to my laptop. So i contacted the courier company as well, and they told me that the package was Lost in Transit. The courier company told me to get back to the Repair Center and advise them to contact the Courier Company's Claims Department to process a claim. when i phoned the Repair Center, they were not very helpful at all and they just told me to "Wait until the result of the investigation". Not very happy about the answer, i contacted MSI, and give them details of the incident. I also emailed them about it. I got a reply stating that they are passed it to the higher office.

 

Can someone give me advise about the issue?

 

Thanks!

[BankFodder]

Because it is MSI which have instructed the courier, MSI are directly responsible. If they try to shift the blame to the courier then they would be wrong. However, although you do not have a direct contract with the courier, because of The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act, you could also sue the couriers directly because under that act where you are clearly intended to be the beneficiary of the contract, then you have the same rights as the primary contracting party – MSI. If you want to read more about this then you could usefully look at the new Consumer Survival Handbook for information about third-party rights and lots of other consumer protection hints.

 

You should start recording your telephone calls but also you should start putting everything in writing so that you got a paper trail. Also, the big question is how long you should wait. I think the answer is – not very long. Apart from anything else, the laptop defect is a warranty matter so you would have expected it to be sorted and return to you very quickly.

 

Although I hope that you won't have to take legal action, you might be better off preparing for it now and showing your teeth to MSI and it will also save you time later on. Under the County Court rules you are required to enter into a "pre-action protocol" which basically means that you have to give 14 days notice that a legal action is going to be started. I think in this event 14 days is easy enough.

 

You could find yourself getting into an exchange of correspondence and being simply told by MSI to wait, and then 14 days down the line, you decide to take legal action and you then have to give a further 14 days notice – meaning a month in total. I think it's very important not to get involved in a protracted correspondence.

 

My advice would be to have a read around about starting a County Court action – lots of information about this in the Consumer Survival Handbook but also lots of information on this forum about it. Decide if that's the way that you would be prepared to go. If you think that it is then I would write to MSI, lay out the detail of what has happened and tell them that you are not prepared to accept any delay on this and that if they will not provide you with your laptop fully repaired, or if they are unable to find it, then a replacement, that you would begin an action in the County Court for the full replacement cost plus the cost of your action. Tell them that you will begin this action in 14 days. Point out to them that as they have instructed their own careers in this matter that they are directly responsible.

 

By doing this, at least you will have invoked the pre-action protocol so that if at the end of 14 days you still have no laptop you can then go directly to start a legal action. If you don't think that you would want to take this kind of action then simply write them a letter and get involved in an exchange of correspondence but I imagine that it will eventually be drawn out and you will lose patience and you will be back here and once again we will end up advise you to take legal action.

 

If you are lucky, a new laptop will be provided to you within the 14 days and then you can move on. However, I rather suspect that these things go on and on. If you're very lucky, the courier might find the laptop and then it will be repaired – but you shouldn't hold your breath on this.

 

I would also copy all correspondence into the courier so that everybody knows where they stand.