Best course of action to get a pre-built PC with issues sorted?

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

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I've put this in GD because its more about how to get a problem resolved rather than a hardware issue.

Secondly, this definately IS NOT a PC purchased from OCUK - so hopefully I am not breaking any rules and I wont mention the competitor.

My brother purchased a custom pre-build PC from one of the established PC hardware websites about a month ago.

He purchased the extended 2 warranty.

The PC is constantly crashing, sometimes blue screening, sometimes just out of games, but its really regular, something isnt right, and IMO it shouldnt be up to him to try and diagnose it, the whole point in buying a pre-build PC right?

The company he purchased it from are fobbing him off, hes emailed etc and they've given him a wishy washy response, and hes now asked for a refund and they are ignoring him.

What the best course of action to get this sorted?
 
If he's being fobbed off constantly, small claims court will be the only way to get attention. HOWEVER, you do need to follow some steps to make sure you can prove you have given them chance to put it right. This guide looks pretty good.

I had to do similar many years ago with a faulty gas fire. Took a while for the legal steps to work through, but I got full refund in the end with all costs.
 
Is he ringing them or sending emails? Make sure he has evidence of him repeatedly trying to get in contact with them regarding the issue and then go to small claims!

If he paid with a credit card it might be worth contacting his provider to see if they are willing to help..
 
BUDFORCE said:
IMO it shouldnt be up to him to try and diagnose it, the whole point in buying a pre-build PC right?
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Not necessarily. Buying a pre-built PC might just be the hardware. It depends on the terms and conditions/warranty, which you will need to refer to on their website. You would at least need to make some effort to say you have even attempted to restore it.

How do they know that something was installed, which is causing the problem which isn't their fault?

What does the extended 2 warranty cover?
 
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Purchases extended warranty, computer needs warranty, seller won't provide warranty. Isn't that daylight fraud? Credit Card companies should reimburse you if all else fails, but they'll probably expect you to go down other venues first.

But, i wouldn't be surprised if the shop has an influx of people saying "muh PC crashing, it's ****". When in reality they bought a cheaper PC and are trying to run all modern games at stock or high settings. Or have messed with drivers or something. So the warranty thing will need reading, and more information on the problem (new installs, hardware changes etc), will need to be listed to give a true story. At the moment it could either be user or shop error with the lack of information.


Best of luck, but you will get it sorted.
 
I'd still do some basic testing myself. What's the spec and is it overclocked? If it's regularly crashing and fairly obvious something is wrong then it shouldn't take too long to identify.
 
What kind of warranty is it? Assuming it was bought online I'm guessing it's a return to base. Did you check the warranty to ensure you weren't out of pocket for delivery costs? How are they robbing you off exactly?

I'm not saying you've done anything wrong here, but there's two sides to every story, so those suggesting small claims are jumping the gun by a long way.
 
To answer some of the above, no it's not overclocked at all, I don't know the specs but I'll ask him about the warranty and wording and that.
 
Did it come with the OS preinstalled?

If not then unless he can diagnose and prove a hardware issue then ultimately its not their problem.

If it did then has it been doing it since day 1? Has he restored to its original state (assuming they provided some kind of restore media) or done a fresh Windows install?

If it still happens on a fresh install/restore without him installing any software then that would indicate either a hardware problem or a problem with their OS image, otherwise, as other posters have mentioned, there's no way to eliminate something he has installed.

It's pretty crappy customer service either way to just fob you off, but at the same time, they can't be expected to provided endless tech support for any problems which may arise from what the user may do/install, and ultimately its going to require some troubleshooting on your brother's part to at least identify whether it is something which should be covered by the warranty
 
If he paid by debit card he can speak to his bank and get them to arrange a charge back this might take some time to arrange however as the bank has to investigate what's happened before they do anything. Firstly send an email summarising everything that's happened, explain if no refund or reasonable alternative is offered within the next 48 hours you will call your bank/credit card and arrange a charge back and they can come and collect the PC at their own expense.
 
Freddie1980 said:
If he paid by debit card he can speak to his bank and get them to arrange a charge back this might take some time to arrange however as the bank has to investigate what's happened before they do anything. Firstly send an email summarising everything that's happened, explain if no refund or reasonable alternative is offered within the next 48 hours you will call your bank/credit card and arrange a charge back and they can come and collect the PC at their own expense.
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And if after doing this the company find that the fault was caused by the brother applying some stupid Bios settings or installing some dodgy software, then he will find himself on the wrong end of legal action to recover the money, along with the cost of any diagnostics they've had to perform, collection costs etc.

Probably worth making sure he is actually in the right before jumping to a course of action which could result in significant costs against him...
 
Haggisman said:
And if after doing this the company find that the fault was caused by the brother applying some stupid Bios settings or installing some dodgy software, then he will find himself on the wrong end of legal action to recover the money, along with the cost of any diagnostics they've had to perform, collection costs etc.

Probably worth making sure he is actually in the right before jumping to a course of action which could result in significant costs against him...
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If the company has been as uncooperative and as suggested in the OP good luck with finding a sympathetic judge that will side with the company.
 
Haggisman said:
Did it come with the OS preinstalled?

If it did then has it been doing it since day 1? Has he restored to its original state (assuming they provided some kind of restore media) or done a fresh Windows install?

If it still happens on a fresh install/restore without him installing any software then that would indicate either a hardware problem or a problem with their OS image, otherwise, as other posters have mentioned, there's no way to eliminate something he has installed.
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Thats actually a really good idea/advice I'll pass it on.
 
Freddie1980 said:
If the company has been as uncooperative and as suggested in the OP good luck with finding a sympathetic judge that will side with the company.
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That depends on what was purchased, and what the response has been.

I'm all for standing up for your rights against companies that take the **** but please make sure you are actually in the right before making an expensive mistake.

If the company recover the PC and are then able to show that it was caused by something the OP's brother did, then of course the judge would side with them, the brother wouldn't have a leg to stand on!

If the OP could let us know exactly what was purchased, the terms of the warranty, and the communications from his brother and the company's reply (sensitive info redacted ofc) then some more useful advice could be given, but at this point there isn't much to go on
 
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Haggisman said:
That depends on what was purchased, and what the response has been.

I'm all for standing up for your rights against companies that take the **** but please make sure you are actually in the right before making an expensive mistake.

If the OP could let us know exactly what was purchased, the terms of the warranty, and the communications from his brother and the company's reply (sensitive info redacted ofc) then some more useful advice could be given, but at this point there isn't much to go on
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The warranty might be with a third party so it might be worth giving them a call and see if they can help.
 
Best advice so far has been restore it to original software condition
If it's OK then something brother has installed /altered/driver update etc is the fault
If not OK then hardware
And yes if bought on credit card the credit card company has a lot more clout than a customer
That's if no other way of resolving it works

Other best advice tell him to buy from ocuk next time. :)
 
It appears that there's a complete refusal to diagnose the issue and just have the shop do all the work. If that's the case then I'm not surprised he's being fobbed off. He could have installed software or added hardware (usb) that is causing a conflict. It's really not the shops problem until you prove that it is.

Open a thread in the relevant section and get him to put a little effort in. It'll make it a lot easier to explain the issue to the shop, and more likely he'll fix the issue himself and move on.
 
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