Legal questions regarding being screwed by a UK laptop company.

randomcountdown

So last year, late last year (September), I bought a laptop from [SNIPPED] It was fine, build quality was a bit average, but the performance per Euro was very good, and there were no problems with it, so I was happy.
About 5 months after I had bought the laptop, I was carrying it between lectures, and it ust wouldn't come out of standby after that. I tried everything, and long story short ended up having to send it back on RMA to the company for repair under warranty. The RMA was filed fine, TNT came to pick up the laptop, and I sent it off as described so the warranty still covered it (foam packed, original packaging, etc).
I heard nothing for about a month, maybe more, and decided to ring the company to see what was going on. They went "Oh, your laptop has evidence of liquid damage, we're not fixing it under warranty". They had completely forgotten to tell me this, and then told me I'd have to pay exorbitant fees to have the laptop repaired (About 3/4 of the cost of the laptop, quoting for replacement of motherboard, hard drive, and shipping back), or if I just wanted the laptop back so I could do the job myself and save a ton of money, I'd have to pay them what came to about 300 euros roughly in "wasting our time" and shipping charges. I asked for evidence of the liquid damage and got sent these, which show no evidence of liquid damage whatsoever (I thought, and had this confirmed by several other specialists):

[SNIPPED]

I wasn't having any of this, so I contacted the Irish consumer association, who pointed me towards the European Consumer Centre because rockdirect was a British company. They were slow but insisted they were dealing with it, so I left them to it. About a month after I had contacted the ECC, [SNIPPED] declared bankruptcy and entered administration. The ECC then dropped the case since the company was not running anymore, and told me to seek compensation as a creditor. Before I could do this, [SNIPPED] was bought out by Stone, a British computer company, and released a news post on the website declaring they'd be resuming business and honoring all previous warranties. I told the ECC, who have claimed they've taken the case back up, but they're slow, Irish, and unrealiable so far.

Now, here's the interesting part. When I contacted rockdirect about my laptop the first time, they told me the insurance company responsible for warranty payouts was refusing to pay out for the laptop, not Rock Direct themselves, but the interesting thing is, when the company folded, the notice informing everyone to seek reiumbursement as a creditor stated that laptops still in their first year of warranty are rockdirects direct responsibility, and only laptops over their first year guarantee are paid for by the insurance company, this adds to the fishiness of the original liquid damage claim (As a CS student, I can honestly say that is a traditional hackneyed excuse pulled out by lots of dodgy companies).

Basically, I want to get my laptop back, I can't afford the repairs or a replacement, and I need it for college. It's been 4 months since the laptop was sent off, and I have no idea what to do. I have no idea what my legal standing is, what I can do, or how to go about it, I want my laptop back and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get it back, I just don't know what.

It goes without saying not a single drop of liquid has ever touched the laptop.

I do not know who to turn to for legal advice since legal stuff is so expensive in Ireland.So I have no idea what to do.

axer

Have you tried contacting the new company? I think they have to take on the debts of the old company.

Tom Young

You need to contact a solicitor about this.