Faulty Laptop Your Rights
Your statutory rights give you six years from the date of purchase to make a claim (five years Scotland) and are in addition to any warranty that came with the laptop. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 is fundamental and says that goods including laptops must be:
- Of Satisfactory Quality
This includes fitness for purpose, life expectancy, and finish taking into account the price paid and the type and age of the laptop. For example, a cheap second-hand Netbook might be expected to have a shorter life expectancy than a brand new £2000 Apple Powerbook. - As Described
The laptop needs to correspond to the description provided. For example, if the description states that the laptop can play DVDs when it can’t then your rights have been breached and you can get a refund.
How to get your laptop fixed for free
This depends upon when you bought the laptop. If you have just got it then you could reasonably expect your money back or a replacement rather than a repair. If the laptop was bought less than six months ago it is assumed to have been faulty when it was delivered and the shop has to prove otherwise. However, when it is more than six months since you made the purchase then you have to prove that your laptop is actually faulty and the retailer may ask for an engineers report. In practice, this is only likely to happen once the warranty has expired.
When the warranty has expired it seems to be normal practice for retailers to simply shrug their shoulders and say they cannot do anything. There is no mention of your statutory rights! In these circumstances you need to stand firm and state that the laptop is not of satisfactory quality and you are making a claim for a repair under the Sale of Goods Act and this is nothing to do with the warranty. At this stage, you will probably be talking to the manager or head office. They are likely to ask for an engineers report to prove that the item is faulty, which is reasonably and to be expected. All you need to do is find a local reputable computer repair shop and ask them for a report. Don’t worry they should reimburse you for this. If the laptop is found to be faulty then the retailer should agree to a repair. If they cannot repair the laptop they can offer a replacement or a cash refund taking into account your usage.
If they don’t agree to repair your laptop and it is less than five years since purchase then you will have to take them to the Small Claims Court. This is easier and cheaper than you may think and can be done online.
It is worth noting that when your laptop is being repaired you should not be significantly inconvenienced and depending on your circumstances you may be able to make a case for a loan laptop.
Related posts:
Good morning. I was wondering if you could give me a hand with a matter somewhat out of your jurisdiction. I live in Australia…
I have tried searching through our own Sale of Goods Act, but cannot see the sections pertaining to what you are discussing here.
The problem I am facing is a 15″ MacBook Pro, bought just over one year ago, it is less than a month since the expiry of its warranty. My Trackpad has broken. It will not click.
I NEVER eat or drink near my laptop, i have never dropped it or clicked overzealously… The rest of the laptop is in mint condition, so it is obviously a fault. i would be happy to get an engineer’s report, but do you know if this would be the next step in Australia?
Sorry to ask such a left-of-field question…
Any help at all would be appreciated, as will your time, regardless of the outcome.
Thanks again.
Olivier
Hi
I bought my laptop 6months ago from a major catalogue company and am still paying for it over a 12month period. There a few problems with it but the main issue is the sound which was reduced to an echo and crackling.
I emailed them and told them I was having problems – they advised me to contact their suppliers. I did a quick search for my rights and came upon this site. After reading a thread about it not being the manufaturers responsibility and that I wouldnt be happy with a repair as £500 laptops should not have hardware problems after 6months and this did not indicate durability etc.
They then emailed me the technical Support tel number and said that as this is a first fault they would go with repair.
Technical Support talked me through reinstalling the Sound drive, which removed the echo but I still have a crackle. They told me that I could send it in for repair which would take 8-10days to complete.
I use my laptop every day as I write html/jave code for web applications and it would really inconveniance me waiting for a repair and they always take longer than they tell you. I really am not happy that I should have hardware faults with this laptop after only 6months, it should not need repairing. Also I googled the fault (echo in sound) when I was trying to remedy the problem myself, just to check it wasnt something simple (Im not really clued-up on hardware) and found that there were several pc help-sites with threads of people who have had the same problem with the same model of laptop.
Am I wrong in expecting a replacement at this point? If Im right, can you advise me on what I should be telling them in order to get them to take appropriate action?
thx
cont…..
Oop! the 4th line of my comment is a bit mixed up. I meant to say that after reading a thread on your site, I emailed them again and quoted The Sales of Goods Act telling them it was their responsibility and not their suppliers and that I wouldnt be happy with a repair…etc
thx