Currys PC World - Dell Laptop.

[OldandGrumpy]

I purchased a Dell Laptop 6th July 2018. I paid £1649.00 (via Paypal.) I took it in for repair Feb 2020 – wireless card failed and it would no longer connect to the internet. I was told it could be fixed in the store 3 visits and a week later they finally looked at it. They then sent it away for repair only to find out that the parts could not be ordered and they sent it back for me to collect - even though it is still one of the latest models and they still stock it. I collected the laptop and started it, the touch ID button is getting red hot (cannot touch it and computer shuts down)! This was not broken when it was sent to PC World! Also, from online research this wireless card issue is a well-documented problem with this model. Dell has in previous cases refunded or replaced the item for many many customers.

 

After contacting the out of warranty team they stated that 18 months old (when in for repair) they will pay me £753.40 fair value as a refund I simply need to take it into the store. I argue many times that I want a full refund or swap for another product. They stick to the original offer and wont pay more or offer anything else. After wearing me down I took the laptop into the store today. I waited over an hour and they called the team to discuss it. They said I couldnt have a refund in cash (fair value) I had to have this in vouchers. I said no took my latop and left. 

 

I had threatened them with legal claim, letter before action (CCJ) and they just sent me the address of the legal department.

 

I just wanted some advice if someone else had been through this and if you could possibly help me - am I likely to win if I go to court? I have given them the chance to repair it, also the letter before action. I feel like issuing a money claim but dont want to if I am missing something really obvious?

 

Thank you if you can help, if not thank you for reading my rant, it feels 1% better to just type this..


 

[45002]

If possible couldn't you use a Ethernet cable save going through all that Hassle ?

Edited June 29, 2020 by 45002
spelling

[OldandGrumpy]

Yes, or a Wifi adaptor - but the power button switches off as it gets hot now, yet they say that they did nothing to it, also what's going to fail next?

 

[BankFodder]

Please monitor this thread for a reply tomorrow.

I think you have an excellent chance of success but not for the full amount.

 

Currys are renowned for having extremely poor customer service. The treatment you are getting is quite normal

 

[BankFodder]

16 minutes ago, 45002 said:

If possible couldn't you use a Ethernet cable save going through all that Hassle ?

 

I'm sorry to find a long established member of this forum being prepared to suggest and also to accept half measures.

[OldandGrumpy]

Thank you for the reply. I'm willing to issue proceedings, I have given them an email and noted it as a letter before action, I have given them option to repair (AT MY COST.) However they have been appauling and because of that I just want to issue a claim now. I just wondered if I need to do anything technically that they could'nt just get out of it.

[BankFodder]

So you have already sent them a letter of claim. However, do you have a plan? When did you send the letter of claim? How much do you intend claim for?

Are you aware of your rights under the consumer rights act?

Consumer legislation provides that you are entitled to purchase an item and that it should be of satisfactory quality and remain in satisfactory condition for a reasonable period of time. "Satisfactory" and "reasonable" are measured by the expectations of a reasonable consumer. Go and figure it out.

You had the laptop for 18 months and presumably used it without any problem before the Wi-Fi failed. Nowadays Wi-Fi is so fundamental that I would say that this is a serious problem with the laptop and therefore it ceased to be in a satisfactory condition and the fact that it only lasted for 18 months certainly indicates to me that it did not operate satisfactorily for a reasonable period of time.

It would be nice to think that you could make a claim and receive 100% reimbursement – but I'm afraid this is not the way that it works here. You would not get a new replacement for an item which you had already enjoyed for 18 months.

The way to deal with it is to estimate the lifetime of the laptop. Let's say that it is reasonable to expect it to continue working satisfactorily for eight years. You can try some other figure if you want. You then have to calculate 18 months of satisfactory use as a percentage of eight years – and then you reduce any claim by that amount.
I'm afraid that my maths ability has already been defeated by this. I'll leave it to you.

A complicating factor here is that you say that when it was eventually returned by them, it had developed an additional fault. The problem is that this is going to be very difficult to prove – but on the other hand it seems to me that because you would merely have to convince a judge that what you were saying was "probably correct" – that this wouldn't pose too much of a problem.

Before you took the laptop back to Currys, presumably you could have gotten quotes elsewhere for its repair. In fact I can tell you that replacing a Wi-Fi module is not too difficult and probably only takes half an hour once you have obtained the Wi-Fi module. However, with the new fault – even if you did this now, presumably you would still have this overheating problem even with a working Wi-Fi.

This certainly is a complicating factor.
Currys are absolutely wrong simply to a few vouchers. There is absolutely no reason for you to have to accept them and a court would certainly not order that vouchers be paid over to you by Currys.

You should understand that Currys/PC World seem to have a shocking customer service attitude – and of course one of the problems is that since the demise of Comet, there has been no real competitor other than online providers.

I certainly think that you should pursue Currys for this. I think that you can successfully argue that the fault with the laptop is so fundamental that it has effectively destroyed the purpose of the contract – and I think that you should claim for the value of a new laptop – and then be prepared to settle upon a second hand value using the kind of formula which I have suggested above.

I think your case is particularly strong as you tell us that the issue with the Wi-Fi is a documented issue. You should start collecting screenshots around the Internet where people are complaining about this – especially if you can find information on Dell's own website.

Please tell us about the letter of claim that you sent – and when you sent it. You might even want to post a copy of it here.