Laptop issue not covered by warranty - Grrrrrrrr

_Jimlad_ · 10 Jan 2012 at 09:31

my Dell studio 1557 which is 18months old and covered by a 4 year warranty has developed a broken hinge. being an i7 cpu based one i paid a fair whack for this.

called Dell expecting them to arrange a time for them to come and fix, but no they want me to send it in and pay £130 for a hinge and plastics replacement, it's not covered by warranty being a non mechanical part (which in my view a hinge is mechanical - more so than a motherboard!!)

i made a complaint and waiting for customer services to call back, really peed off about this, as the sales of good act states about an item being fit for purpose and a reasonable amount of time, for me to need this sort of repair after 18months is not so.

I have changed many a set of hinges of dells before, and could do it myself, but i really don't want to risk voiding my crappy warranty... as i can see the screws i need to remove are the blue sealed warranty ones

any thoughts on this ocuk?

AntiHeroUK · 10 Jan 2012 at 09:37

Yeah keep pressing the issue. A man I know had his replaced for free under warranty after a polite chat with them. He also had the 4 year warranty. An engineer turned up noticed it had been caused by screws that had become loose over time, and had everything sorted for free.

_Jimlad_ · 10 Jan 2012 at 09:57

yeah gonna go nuts when they call me back, i lost my fence in high winds last week, no insurance payout as it clearly states in the t&c's that i should have read its not covered, dell says all mechanical parts... but apparently hinges are not mechanical and part of the plastics which is not covered - grrrrrrr

AntiHeroUK · 13 Jan 2012 at 17:36

Any update on this James?

_Jimlad_ · 13 Jan 2012 at 17:40

no they said they would do it for £65 but im awaiting customer service to call back

Meaker · 13 Jan 2012 at 17:44

All parts of the notebook (apart from batteries for obvious reasons) should last a reasonable amount of time under european law, I believe that's at least 2 years for an expensive item like a notebook.

Talk to trading standards to find out exactly where you stand.

support_bae · 14 Jan 2012 at 20:41

Wow. Apple only charged me £14 to fix my macbook pro hinges and even then I still blagged my way to a free repair.

Keep at it, don't give up.

New World Order · 14 Jan 2012 at 20:50

Meaker said:
All parts of the notebook (apart from batteries for obvious reasons) should last a reasonable amount of time under european law, I believe that's at least 2 years for an expensive item like a notebook.

Talk to trading standards to find out exactly where you stand.

Only 2 years even though he has four year warranty?

beermonster · 14 Jan 2012 at 21:31

The 4 years covers mechanical break down, but Dell are claiming this isn't covered so the length of his warranty is irrelevant. However your statutory rights when purchasing goods are that they must be fit for purpose and last a reasonable length of time giving the price and nature of the goods. Problem here though is it's over 6 months old so the onus is on the purchaser to prove that the goods sold aren't of satisfactory quality, and no misuse or damage to the item has occurred.

Behemoth · 15 Jan 2012 at 15:21

Please don't get your legislation mixed up, the 2 year EU legislation doesn't cover the UK, we've got Sale Of Goods Act which gives us much longer than 2 years.

Jokester · 15 Jan 2012 at 15:28

A hinge, not mechanical? They're having a laugh. Persue it.

_Jimlad_ · 15 Jan 2012 at 16:39

Jokester said:
A hinge, not mechanical? They're having a laugh. Persue it.

I know its a joke.

Purgatory · 15 Jan 2012 at 21:11

Thanks for the heads-up on that won't be buying an XPS then or any Dell laptop then. Cheeky buggers.. I would write to their head office a strogly worded letter and with pictures of the damage. They are taking the micky you paid for a 4 year warranty and they should honour it, hinges not mechanical ... unreal.. They just lost a sale on a high end XPS model because of what you said.. £130 for a plastic part (insane), they could have atleast been nice to offer to send you the part for you to try repair it if you could.

Psyisk · 16 Jan 2012 at 12:19

buy some incurance, claim on insurance

Threepwood · 16 Jan 2012 at 12:44

Behemoth said:
Please don't get your legislation mixed up, the 2 year EU legislation doesn't cover the UK, we've got Sale Of Goods Act which gives us much longer than 2 years.

Yes it does cover the UK, we are lucky in the fact we also have our own sale of goods act too.

Jokester · 16 Jan 2012 at 17:50

The SOGA is our implementation of the EU directive.

Threepwood · 16 Jan 2012 at 18:39

The difference is the EU Directive covers a 2 year period where the seller has to undertake without extra charge to reimburse the price paid or to replace and/or repair consumer goods.

Our sale of goods act only gaurentees not being charged anything at all for the first 6 months. Even tho it goes upto 6 years (5 in scotland) after that 6 month period the seller is within their rights to expect the buyer to accept part payment. But it gets murky and depends on the item etc.

This is the joy of the EU directive, thats 2 years where you should not be expected to pay anything at all what so ever. Even tho the onus is still on the buyer to show that the item is not fit for purpose.

Jokester · 16 Jan 2012 at 20:55

The EU directive is exactly that, it's a directive to EU governments telling them what is expected of them in their own legislation on the subject of the sale of consumer goods. Anything that's in the directive that isn't in the SOGA isn't enforceable law.

Threepwood · 16 Jan 2012 at 22:05

Which ever way you look at it, that is the main point of the EU directive, the fact that it's a 2 year period where you have to be taken care of free of charge that is the most important thing.

Jokester · 16 Jan 2012 at 22:11

Yes, but as Behemoth correctly points out, it's not applicable in the UK.

Laptop issue not covered by warranty - Grrrrrrrr

Gangster