Ebay warrantys

[ubersonic]

Hi, this is a simple one, just under 4 weeks ago I bought a used laptop of ebay from a company with good feedback who seemed to specialise in refurbishing this type of laptop among others (they sell a lot of them) and it came with a 14 day warranty. it has now developed a pretty major fault

The laptop (Dell XPS M1730) has SLi 8800m graphics cards and the second one appears to have gone west, with SLI disabled it runs fine but if its enabled the laptop crashes either shortly after loading windows or straight away when a 3d game is loaded.

Do I have any ground to stand on with the sale of goods act? (I would prefer it be repaired as I like the laptop). Sorry if it seems like im whining but I didn't realise the warranty was only 14 days at the time I just concentrated on the returns accepted bit. And tbh I think its pretty reasonable to expect a £600+ laptop to last more than 4 weeks.

Thanks for any advice

 

[ubersonic]

item number is ......

350390029420

I assume there is no warranty direct with Dell?

Nope

From what i remember the SoGA over rides any "14 day cover" claims they make. Being a second hand item you need to be prepared to lower your expectations about how long the item will last, but i think 4 weeks is a bit too low if you know what i mean.

Yeah I know I wasn't expecting it to outlive me but I wasn't expecting it to break within a month of ownership either...

 

[ubersonic]

was it a proper ebay shop? check if they have an actual website and check there to see if theres a phone number or email address on there

edit: was it by any chance UK Laptops Limited? if so they have a phone number : 08443 573 543

Yeah its an actual business, they sell items on their website as well as ebay but I chose to get one through ebay cos I thought using paypal would protect me better than just buying on-line with a debit card. according to their site http://www.mcscom.co.uk/termsconditions.htm they would have given me 30 days warranty if I had bought it from the site but only 14 as I bought it from their ebay shop >.>

*edit*

On their site they actually appear to offer a 1yr warranty for the laptop type I bought, this one was the same price: http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=12453 and is identical baring a slightly different CPU (200mhz slower than mine)

 

[ubersonic]

OK guys got this reply from them today:

Hi

Sorry this auction finished on the 2nd October with a 14 day warranty so is not under warranty now. We can have a look at the video card for you but there will be a charge for the repair.


Many Thanks

Well, I guess they are not going to be amicable about it, Can somebody tell me what kind of reply I should send? I know its out of their 14 day warranty but I am right in believing I should be covered under sale of goods act yeah? Its supposed to work for a reasonable amount of time and as they sell the same thing on their website for the same price and it has a 1 year warranty it be unreasonable for mine to die after just over 3 weeks of use

HELP!

 

[ubersonic]

OP

talk to CAB

TY, I looked on their site and found the following for auctions:

Auctions
Second-hand goods
If the seller is a trader, you will have the same legal rights as if you bought the goods in a shop - see under heading Your legal rights when you buy goods.

then this:

Second-hand goods
If the goods you bought from a trader are second-hand or seconds, you still have all the same rights as if the goods were new – see under heading Your legal rights when you buy goods. However, if something goes wrong, you will need to take into consideration the price you paid for them when deciding whether you expect the trader to put things right. You should also not expect the goods to be of perfect quality, and have lower expectations of their performance.

Now I paid less than the original retail cost (when the item was new and in production), but almost the same price that they sell the item for on their website with 1 yr warranty. considering that my complaint of it dying after just over 3 weeks of use seems valid but the CAB site only tells meof my rights not what to do about them, should I contact the seller again quoting the law or simply open a dispute via paypal?

TYVM

 

[ubersonic]

Here is the time-line for events:

02/10/10: Won the auction.
06/10/10: Paid fist thing via paypal (took 4 days as I was away over the weekend when auction ended and had no computer with me).
07/10/10: Was delivered and I started using it, although advertised as having no operating system it came with an unlicensed version of Windows Vista on it which I replaced with my personal copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.
14/10/10: The problem started, I updated the drivers (un-installed from safe mode then rebooted and installed new ones) this appeared to fix it
16/10/10-25/10/10: I was on holiday with my G/F
28/10/10: I noticed when running Unreal 3 that the fps was low, while checking the settings I discovered that un-installing/reinstalling drivers on the 14th had set SLi to its default (off) setting (I was unable to notice this previously as I had not run a game capable of maxing out a single GPU), I enabled it and the problem returned crashing the system after reboot.

I have managed to get it running in SLi disabled mode again but this isn't a solution and I would like for them to replace the graphics card module in the laptop (they are removable). Im just asking for what I paid for really, Id prefer it to be fixed now refunded or replaced.

 

[ubersonic]

I sent them this:

Hello,

I do not want the item Repairing under your warranty I want it repairing under my statutory right under
the Sale of Goods Act.

The SoGA states that an item must be of satisfactory quality. This means that the goods should be free
of any faults, including minor ones and remain so for a reasonable period. It also says that the
definition of a reasonable period must be re-evaluated for second hand and pre-used goods but I do not
believe that developing a major fault after a few weeks of ownership is a reasonable amount of time for
a £560 laptop to last.

I don't want to go the legal route on this I only want a working system as I paid for, I am not
demanding my money back merely that the item is repaired or if necessary replaced.

Regards, James

Awaiting reply, if they try and mess me around further I will either open a dispute with paypal or contact my credit card company over it.

 

[ubersonic]

Looking good now

Hi

Please return it with a copy of this email and we will repair the card for you.


Many Thanks

Wish I hadn't needed to quote consumer law to get the response I wanted though lol

 

[ubersonic]

Well it failed again today, exact same fault, what a great start to the new year >.>

 

[ubersonic]

Unbeliveable luck, I was writing an email to the company to tell the the GFX had died again and BANG laptop dead, wont turn on with or without the A/C or battery connected (I didn't try with neither). As soon as I plug the A/C cord in the light on the adapter turns off, system is totally bricked, fantastic >.>

So in slightly over 3 months of ownership the 2nd GFX card has died twice and now the whole things gone... I really do not think this is acceptable for a £600 laptop, ive essentially paid £200 a month for the use of it FFS

If anybody could tell me what to do at this point id be very gratefull, do I just contact the office of fair trading or would paypal be any help?

*EDIT*

Dont know if it means anything these days but I paid via credit card, does that give me anything extra from a legal pov?