PC Half fixed - Whats my legal position?.

Soldato
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Ok, a month or so ago, my ASUS RoG Laptop suddenly gave me a blank screen after I did something in the BIOS.

I was unable to fix it as there seems to be no way to clear the CMOS and so I decided that I will send it off to see about getting it repaired.

They checked it over and on 27/04/2021, they gave me a quote for £295.55

300 quid is a lot of money for a Laptop thats a few years old now, but its been a great one and so I thought ok.... So I sent off the agreement by post and I paid the £295.55 via my debit card on the phone ( They wanted the money up front as they had to order the parts ) .

So, a shoprt time later, they said that it needed some more work.

Then, the other day, I get another Email telling me that the Motherboard also needs replacing, and that I now owe them £512.39

Thyey also said that if I decided NOT to go ahead with the repair, that I will still have to pay for the LCD Screen as they have scrapped the original screen.

Now, I have told them that I wanted the screen returned with the laptop.

I knew that there was nothing wrong with the screen. They simply misdiagnosed the thing.

They are trying to charge me twice now. Of course if they assumed that I never paid the first £300 and thats an honest mistake, sure, after all I can prove it as I paid with my ddebit card, but can they do this to me?

I mean... The first quote of £295.55 was for it to be fixed, but I could have it returned to me but I would have to pay £45 for them looking at it...

But now it looks like if I dont pay this £200 more, that I will have paid out £300 for nothing and I will have a broken laptop.

Can they do this?

Is it even legal?

After all I was given a quote and I paid it and they were wrong to have given me the quote then arent they?

I am perfectly happy to have my laptop returned, but I will also want a refund of £250 too!

Or would it be best if I spoke to a solicitor about this?
 
Man of Honour
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I can't help you at all but Asus and RMA is LOL - there is a reason I absolutely won't buy Asus any more.
 
Soldato
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The Laptop is out of the ASUS warranty. I fully accept that I will have to pay. Thats not the issue.

Couriers came to pick it up, and it went to a compnay called letmerepair in scotland.

They quoted me 300 for a screen and I told them that its not the screen, its the BIOS.
But I do get confused and so I had to trust them.. After all I have fixed enough, but this was clearly beyond me.

I told them I wanted the screen back then when they return the laptop but they have scrapped it ( B/S )

But yeah ,its asking for more money on top after I paid their quote.

They misquoted me and they made the mistake, so why should I have to suffer?

The thing is, that it did not need the screen replacing, that was their issue not mine and it should not cost 500 quid.

Ah, Im absolutely sickened by it.

If this does not get sorted then Iabsolutely will NEVER buy ASUS again, and I will make sure that everyone I know avoid them too!

What is even more annoying, is that I own loads of computers, and most of them are ASUS, a few AsRock and some Gigabyte. Almost all of my DVDRW drives and Graphics cards are ASUS and my soundCards used to all be Creative but now I am only ASUS and I even got 2 STX cards and those buggers cost a lot of money ( to be honest, they are no better than any other card if you ask me )
But I have spent thousands over the years on ASUS parts alone, never mind all the other bits...

But yeah, if they dont sort this out, then Im going back to Gigabyte.
 
Caporegime
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Is this thread a windup? £300 spent on repairing an old laptop by a company called "letmerepair", you'd get better value for money burning the notes on the fireplace.

Solicitor will charge hundreds more, not worth the money.
 
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They checked it over in the future? 27/04/2021 ?

Tell them you are not prepared to pay the extra money as this wasn’t discussed in the original email for the repair work and that they can’t just add money onto a repair when they feel like it.

They miss-diagnoses the problem in the first place so explain that too them.

Can you tell me what the exact model of the laptop is please?

Edit: it looks like you not the only one with problems. This company needs shutting down pronto!
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/letmerepair.co.uk
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/letmerepair.co.uk
 
Soldato
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I don't get some people, why would you send your laptop off to a company without checking them out online first? Could you not have opened it up yourself and manually cleared the CMOS?
 
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I don't get some people, why would you send your laptop off to a company without checking them out online first? Could you not have opened it up yourself and manually cleared the CMOS?

This. I would have looked up a disassembly guide for the model of the laptop and figure out where the laptop battery and CMOS battery are located. When they're removed, it would have reset the BIOS back to default. Most modern laptops are difficult to open, so make sure you have a pry kit first and a set of jewellers screwdrivers. You said that you already own a lot of computers, so I'm sure you know all of this already.
 
Soldato
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Back on topic vs the "should have done this"

I would ask them why it wasn't correctly diagnosed in the first place and you didn't agree to the cost and work as mentioned above.

Attempt to come to an agreement and make sure you make it clear you're unhappy. Take it as a lesson learnt and see if you can pay minimal for return of laptop.

All else fails, go to small claims - no need for solicitors etc.
 
Caporegime
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Did you not plug a monitor into it to see if it was at least a display fault or a dead mobo/ram etc?

Seems like you've opened yourself up for a right shafting but they shouldn't be carrying out repairs that you haven't authorised. I'd ask them to put the old LCD back in and only pay for the labour.
 
Soldato
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Yes, I have a habit of waffling and so I tried to keep it as simpler as I can.

As has already been mentioned, I actually did this though ASUS themselves and they sub-contracted these bozos to do it for me.

I am usually more than capable of repairing laptops myself I have done hundreds and this one I was unable to ghet the parts for and so thats why I decided to go through ASUS.

Now, as to the price... The laptop is old for sure, but when I bought it, it was hellishly expensive, plus I was working out what kind of Laptop I could get for the price of the repair, and at 300 quid, I wont get a very good laptop at all... I have a few of them, and this one has 2 HD ports, plus I have converted the DVDRW to another, and so it has a 240GBSSD plus 2x2TB WD Blacks, it has 32GB RAM, and a nVidia 970 Graphics Card ( yes card ) and its an I7 ( 4 Core / 8 Logical ) running at 3.4 and so you tell me if I can find one for 300 quid?

Plus, I have owned it from new and so I have been 100% happy with it, and another one I simply dont know its past.

So yeah, I was a bit annoyed they asked 300 but I was also weighing up the pros/cons and I decided that its worth it.

tlrBeta.
Yes, thats a good one. Why didn't they diagnose it properly?
Now as for Small claims, I used them a few years ago when a shop sold me a Motorbike and they gave me a different one that was a death trap.
We went through mediartion and the mediator advised him that I will lose in court and so he should just sort it out... The guy was supposed to MOT it and fix the issues, but he just MOTed it and it managed to get about 300 yeards downm the road ant it seized up. I then took him to court and I lost because according to the court papers, he only needed to give it an MOT? - The mediation was supposed to also say that the other issues needed fixing. ( its a huge long story, but it cost me £78 to get small claims to een look at it, and theh another £150 to go to court... A Court case that it was simply not possible to lose... I never even got it into court as the judge said that I had the MOT.

So, even small claims will cost me
But, I asked my mother, who used to be a solicitor, although not in this sort of thing and she gave me some tips... among the tips, she said that they have broken a common law in that they have broken the contract "mid-contract". I have not found the actual law yet, but that is basically what they have done.

tlrBeta is also saying a great point but yeah, they absolutely should have done the diagnosis properly.

Not only that, but I told them what I did and I told them that the BIOS is locked, so they knew it was not the Screen and I also told them that whjen they are done, I want the screen and any older parts returned with the laptop, but they said they have scrapped it.

What else?
Yes, I did do all the usual checks. I would have fixed it myself, but all it needed doing, is resetting the BIOS. I went into the BIOS and there was some options that completely locked me out and had a display, but then when I got it back up and running, it then started up and just stopped displaying.

I did of course connect it to a HDMI cable, but that also failed to display... I did think that maybe its got the choice of LCD or EXTERNAL screen, as most do, but nothign would show, and it did NOT boot up either... If it was something to do with the screen, then it would still boot up, or sound like its booting up, you would hear the HDs whirring away and so on, but it did nothing .. just the fan stayed on.

So yeah, it was simply not diagnosed properly at all.

Heck I did say I waffle.

Anyway, I have now been in touch with CAB who have then taken some info from me, and they said that yes, the Common law mid-contract break is something I can perhaps look at, but they are going to contact trading standards for me, and they in turnm will be phoning me sometime.

I am also working on a letter to these bozos that I might send RECORDED DELIVERY, with my position on this.

Ok thanks guys. Its all appreciated it really is.
 
Soldato
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Ok, a month or so ago, my ASUS RoG Laptop suddenly gave me a blank screen after I did something in the BIOS.

I was unable to fix it as there seems to be no way to clear the CMOS and so I decided that I will send it off to see about getting it repaired.

They checked it over and on 27/04/2021, they gave me a quote for £295.55

300 quid is a lot of money for a Laptop thats a few years old now, but its been a great one and so I thought ok.... So I sent off the agreement by post and I paid the £295.55 via my debit card on the phone ( They wanted the money up front as they had to order the parts ) .

It's at this point that I stopped reading. This is no cliffhanger, there is but one outcome and one alone.
 
Soldato
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17 Oct 2002
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5,538
Did you buy the laptop from Ocuk? I know it's not a warranty thing, but you seem to have been messed around and they might be able to help - contacts and all that. tag 5ub or gibbo on these forums and they might be able to help.
 
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