HP Laptop died 2 months out of warranty

March 19, 2008 9:59 AM

A few lights blink, but no-one's a home. No bios, no whirring, no help from the retailer (PC World UK, and no I didn't go there, this question is for a friend)...

PC World say that the motherboard is finished and that it will cost more than the £700 original cost to fix it.

Now this thread offers some good sounding advice for someone in a very similar position but with two vital differences: it was still in warranty and they are in the US, so the tip for getting to a Level 2 rep probably won't work so well.

My main question is am I right in thinking that the warranty is not the be-all and end-all of the situation? 14 months is very much like 12 months, if you ask me, especially for a underused and never dropped, no spills, no damage etc. laptop. (This thread seems to say that EU regs say a warranty must be minimum of 2 years, does anyone know if this has any force in the UK?) Secondly, has anyone got any good tips for handling HP UK?

posted by criticalbill to computers & internet (3 comments total)

If you are convincing and get a hold of the right people, you might be able to convince them to do something for you. If not, write a letter to someone with the power to get you what you want and cross your fingers.

As an aside: understand that warranty lengths are not picked randomly. A warranty is the manufacturer's way of saying "if it dies before this date, there's a problem", the corollary is that the devices are wont to go belly-up at any point after the warranty expires, and people should make their purchases expecting to have to replace them the day the warranty expires -- anything beyond that is basically luck.
posted by toomuchpete at 11:50 AM on March 19, 2008

Did you buy with a credit card? Many credit cards double the warranty of purchases you make with them up to a year.
posted by almostmanda at 3:46 PM on March 19, 2008

anything beyond that is basically luck

nonsense. in the uk, warranties are basically the bare minimum. that's why they use the phrase 'this doesn't affect your statutory rights'. the sale of goods act dictates that goods must be of merchantable quality, and that it's up to the retailer to ensure they are. a pc failing 2 months after the warranty runs out was not of merchantable quality.

tell your friend to go back to pc world, ask to speak to the manager, and tell them to tell the manager that they know their rights under the SoG act, and that if they don't repair the computer for free, they'll be calling their local trading standards. i'm pretty sure they'll have the computer fixed sharpish.

if not, call trading standards, get their advice, and write to dixons parent company. you can take these things as far as the small claims court, if need be.
posted by ascullion at 4:19 PM on March 19, 2008