Faulty laptop (not hardware or software forum)

[Steve]

My mother recently (4th march) bought a new laptop from Comet. I went round yesterday and the laptop has developed a crack through the LCD layer, with black "inky" stains in it. I have seen this before in phones and calculators etc. My mother insists they havent dropped, hit, bent it etc. There is no damage to the outer case of the laptop anywhere, nor any dents in the screen.

I rung the Asus helpline (at 8 pence per minute), who said it is probably customer damage. I insisted that it isnt, and he suggested emailing in some photos and an explanation so an engineer could look at it. The other option from them was a £35 pickup and inspection charge, which would be refunded if they found it was a manufacturing fault. Clearly without me pressing my case, they are going to insist it is customer damage (I know myself, this is what it looks like, but it isnt)

This is the email I sent today (with 3 photos attached - I tried to send 7 but their server rejected it)

Hi, further to my phone call with one of your representatives at 16:00 yesterday, I have attached 7 photos of the laptop in question (serial number ******************). The laptop actually belongs to my mother, who is not very technically minded, therefore I am dealing with this on her behalf.

As I hope you can see, the photos show no signs of any external damage to the laptop. I did try to send more photos but your mail server bounced it back to me saying the email was too large.

Photo 522 shows more detail of the cracked area. Clearly the whole left of the screen is unusable. There are visible cracks in the liquid crystal layer, from the black blob at the top, diagonally to the left, then another at the bottom left, with a third crack coming off this to the blob at the left side. There is no crack on the surface of the screen - the plastic surface is still intact. Only the liquid crystal layer is cracked, with the backlight just visible through the crack.

Photo 527 shows a reflective shot of the screen and surround, showing that there are no dents in the laptop around the screen, or on the screen itself.

Photo 529 shows the outer case of the laptop at the left of the screen. Hopefully this image conveys the fact that there is no damage, or indentations to the case of the laptop.

I find it hard to imagine a hard knock to the lid or screen of a brand new laptop would render the screen useless, yet leave no visible physical damage. Your representitive on the phone explored the possiblity of closing the laptop lid onto a wire or a pen, however I can assure you that this has not happened. A pen (or other object) would have left an indentation in the fragile surface of the screen - there is none. And to close (And BEND) the lid onto a wire would have required more force than any sensible person would have thought nessecary to close a laptop screen.

I hope that an engineer that reads this and studies the photos will conclude that, as I am explaining, the laptop was somehow manufactured with a fault that caused the screen to go faulty after only 18 days of use.

I do not see how, by sending the laptop in, someone will be able to conclude otherwise, since as the photos show, the laptop is cosmetically perfect, as new, showing no signs of forceful damage. Therefore, I would ask that Asus repair this laptop under its warranty, as in this case my mother has clearly been sold a faulty product.

Please reply by email to myself or telephone me on ************** to discuss the next steps in having this laptop repaired. My preference is email, so I can keep a written record of this matter.

Thankyou

Does anyone know if they will be able to tell if it IS customer damage by removing the screen casing? As far as I know it is down to them to prove this, so I want to know if there is any chance of this by them taking it to bits.

How can I attack this on their reply? I think their reply will explore the lines of "the screen could have been bent, without leaving superficial damage". Is it still down to them to prove this?

I really want to get this resolved for my mum - she waited ages to buy this laptop, and now its gone faulty.

One thing I didnt mention in the email is that this laptop has a poor design with regard to the screen hinges - when you fold it down, it gets so far then there is no resistance and it "drops". This is because there is no "clip" to hold it shut so there can be no resistance at the bottom of travel, or else the screen would never close. I dont know, but perhaps this might have contributed to this. Should i mention this next?

 

[Alarm]

Take it back to Comet.

Why are you fluffing about?

 

[peaps]

Customer damage is up to them to prove, take it back.

 

[EddieM]

I'm afraid 10:1 you wont get anywhere with it, a cracked LCD without being knocked is pretty much unheard of, and even then its because it's been in a hot place. You may get somewhere, but i doubt it unfortunately. good luck.

 

[Bahco]

Phone Consumer Direct who will advise you of your legal rights and options ,

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/index.htm

 

[Steve]

Comet gave my mum the old "if anything goes wrong phone the manufacturer" line, with a list of phone numbers stapled to the reciept. I think the reason they do this is because of the complexity of these products - if "Amy" who works on the return desk every other weekend doesnt know an LCD from a CRT, she could be refunding all sorts of stuff which the customer has damaged and isnt covered by a warranty! Therefore they direct customers to the people who know. Though I know the responsibility is with Comet to pass back to the manufacturers. I get the feeling if I take it to Comet, they'll ring Asus themselves when I'm there, and get the line they fed me, leaving Comet to conclude it was our fault - "there's the door, take your damaged laptop through it."

BUT if I get no joy out of Asus, I might consider going in and enquiring nicely to start with, then inform them I will be going to trading standards with this. The thing is, I'm not overly confident at arguing with people over these things, especially when I know my case is extremely weak!

The issue is, is anyone (Comet, Asus, trading stds, consumer direct etc) going to believe this is NOT customer damage??? Certainly I'm getting negativity on here! All I can say is what my mum says, and I trust her word that she's not done anything wrong to it.

 

[misterhelpful]

My nephew's girlfriend had a similar problem with an Asus laptop from Comet. They bought one each in the January sales and in February hers developed a 'crack' in the screen with half of it being blank. They took it back to Comet who sent it to Asus who said they would repair it under warranty.

Having read your thread, I just rung him to ask what happened and, apparently, Asus still have it. They are dragging their feet, but must know it was a manufacturing fault to offer the repair.

I'd suggest you stick to your guns as there are probably a lot more cases like yours out there.

Have to admit, I'm running an Asus laptop that's pushing 18 months old and never had any real problems (as yet!) other than the usual technical stuff.

 

[Alarm]

And your not listening, the store has the first responsibility.
You take it back with the receipt.

I bought my ex wife and eldest son a laptop each at xmas and one has gone wrong it went back to the store and it was replaced there and then.

I think your trying the postal way for a reason, if anyone buys something and it goes wrong ( And not too bulky) it goes back to where it was bought or the nearest same name store.

Easy to understand.

PS you state your not good at arguing yet are not doing bad here, and also state your case is weak.
Hope your not a solicitor.

 

[joe-90]

And your not listening, the store has the first responsibility.
You take it back with the receipt.

I bought my ex wife and eldest son a laptop each at xmas and one has gone wrong it went back to the store and it was replaced there and then.

I think your trying the postal way for a reason, if anyone buys something and it goes wrong ( And not too bulky) it goes back to where it was bought or the nearest same name store.

Easy to understand.

PS you state your not good at arguing yet are not doing bad here, and also state your case is weak.
Hope your not a solicitor.

How many times have you been out to an alarm and the customer tells you one thing, swearing on a dozen bibles and the alarm memory tell you another?

People remember what they want to believe - not necessarily
the truth.

 

[Alarm]

I agree.
Its always funny when the logs say differently.
Hence why I mentioned his methodology is strange.

Why go the postal route when the shop can deal with it.

Hoping it gets damaged in transit?

They also warn against insufficient packaging too.

Totally agree Joe.

 

[Steve]

I'm not going down any route yet, merely making enquiries. If Asus reply to say that they will still be charging £35 to inspect (and godknows how much to return it to me etc), I will go down the shop and complain and ask for the manager if they get funny etc.

I'll write some stuff down to prompt me when I'm in there.

I'm good at writing things down, arguing my case in letters etc, but face to face, and on the phone, I just turn into a nervous wreck if I have to argue my corner with someone I dont know. My mother is the same. But I take inspiration from my Uncle (a plumber), who once got us a refund on a £400 toilet from Homebase that was unsuitable for UK plumbing directly, didnt work, and was purchased about 4 months previously. They didnt want to refund it, insisting it was out of the refund period etc, but he got onto the store manager on the phone and eventually got us gift vouchers.

So I shall get this sorted, one way or another.

 

[joe-90]

Just claim on your insurance.

 

[Steve]

Just claim on your insurance.

Why? Do insurance companies now underwrite product warranties?

 

[joe-90]

It's nothing to do with a warranty - they've broken it and you know it. They know it but choose to believe otherwise.

 

[peaps]

And your not listening, the store has the first responsibility.
You take it back with the receipt.
.

Not in the case of a manufacture warranty. Same goes for HDs, memory, graphic cards and on and on and on.