Sale of good act

[Zampa]

Can anyone advise me here?

My sister bought a new laptop from a local shop...10 months into it they noticed the battery just wouldnt hold a charge

Took it back...the shop had a look and said it was a faulty battery..ordered another and replaced it

Same problem continued..

Took it back the shop said it wasnt their problem now and advised sister to send it to Acer..

Acer looked at it and said it wasnt the battery at all and they had been mis diagnosed

Sent it back with the problem apparently sorted..but it wasnt..

They have now told my sister she should post it back at he rown expense, they would look at it for£53 then tell her what needed doing and she would have to pay for the repair as it was now out of warranty

This cant be right surely?

 

[megawatt]

Bit of a grey area this one.

If a fault identified during the warranty period isn't resolved once the warranty expires the shop is still liable under the sale of goods act irrespective of the warranty period.

The fact is, though, they diagnosed and replaced the battery when the fault was (probably) in the charging circuit and this fault wasn't identified during the warranty period.

The best plan is to get your sister to take it back to the shop and become vocal with the manager on as many occasions (Saturdays are best when its REALLY busy) as she needs until they change it to get rid of her

Tell her to stand at the entrance to the store and tell everyone her story as they enter, how bad the customer service is etc etc.

I saw a fella doing this at PC World last December ... 10 minutes it took before the manager came out and sorted out his problem ... With sales as bad as they are at present the last thing they need is a disgruntled customer scaring off their potential buyers.

MW

 

[snico]

Take it to the shop and ask for a replacement or a refund, They cannot decline you. Mention the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Sale of Goods Act

You should be ok then

 

[megawatt]

They cannot decline you

Oh ... They really can

They probably won't though.

MW

 

[WDIK]

originally the 1977 sale of goods act, now the 1994 sale of goods act.

what it says is the seller is responsible for the goods they sold and an abridgement states that the goods will or shall be fit for purpose for a period of up to 6yrs from the date of purchase.

thats why those extended warranties are worthless and fraudulent.

anyway a strongly worded letter to the vendor rejecting the goods as not fit for purpose, has to result in a full refund.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/ukpga_19940035_en_2

 

[megawatt]

What it says is the seller is responsible for the goods they sold and an abridgement states that the goods will or shall be fit for purpose for a period of up to 6yrs from the date of purchase.

This does not mean that the shop is obliged to provide a replacement though ... Their repair, manufacturers repair or third party repair are all legitimate options for the retailer.

MW

 

[^woody^]

The contract is with the supplier not Acer.

Batteries are consumable items, so unless she can demonstrate that the laptop caused the battery to fail, then she may have no warranty claim.

The Sale of Goods Act 1979, has largely been replaced by the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002

If the laptop is the problem, then under the 2002 regs, it would be expected to last a reasonable time. Reasonable is not defined, but say a Wing-Fu £99 laptop off ebay is not expected to last longer than Sony Vaio costing £2k. The supplier can have responsibility for the laptop for up to six years

After 6 months , the onus is on the buyer to prove that the fault exists with the product. Costs of returning the laptop are payable by the supplier, not the buyer

Either way your sister should deal with the supplier and push for a repair/replacement if she thinks the laptop is faulty.

 

[snico]

They cannot decline you

Oh ... They really can

They probably won't though.

MW

I mean legally

 

[megawatt]

So do I ... They are not obliged to replace or refund ... They can REPAIR.

MW

 

[^woody^]

They cannot decline you

Oh ... They really can

They probably won't though.

MW

I mean legally

Yes they can.

And its really a contract issue and not a legal one

 

[Zampa]

Thanks very much everyone for your imput..looking into it as we speak...or rather, as I type..

Batteries are consumable items, so unless she can demonstrate that the laptop caused the battery to fail, then she may have no warranty claim.

After the shop said it was a faulty battery (and it wasnt) my sister sent it to Acer who said it wasnt the battery..and as MW mentioned..possibly in the charging circuit.

My sister said she was fed up with the whole thing and was going to leave it...but thats a touch of the old English disease...we get **** service and accept it...if it was America and you took something back and mentioned the fact you were becoming 'stressed' with the whole affair they would bend over backwards for you...knowing that you'd either sue them..or turn up with an M16!

Taling of rules and regs..somthing I discovered on the consumer direct site..a shop isnt obliged to provide a receipt...I never knew that, I thought they were obliged by law to provide one.

Thanks very much for the imput so far

 

[snico]

http://www.detini.gov.uk/cgi-bin/ge...revpage=&stid=161&openbus=9&golive=31-10-2003

Everything you need to....

 

[Zampa]

Cheers all...

 

[Steve]

Taling of rules and regs..somthing I discovered on the consumer direct site..a shop isnt obliged to provide a receipt...I never knew that, I thought they were obliged by law to provide one.

Aye, our new tills dont print reciepts unless we tell it to. So if a customer buys a paper or a pack of smokes, it would be a waste of paper to print a reciept. If customer changes their mind and wants a reciept, we can print it up to 5 transactions after. I think the law is, if the customer wants a reciept, they must be given one. Even before these new tills, i probably only ever gave one in 5 customers their reciepts.