Broken Laptop but Dixons won't repair

Michael Collins

A relation of mine got a laptop from Dixons there a few months ago. Within a week a small greenish patch appeared in the corner of the screen, it wasn't too noticable so they ignored it, it slowly grew until one day they opened it and there was this huge crack down the screen!

So they brought it back to Dixons and, as I suspected, they bascially said "get lost, you obviously dropped it". Now it hasn't moved from the desk since it was bought, there's no way it was dropped.

What happens in this situation? Do Dixons have to prove it was dropped or do they have to prove it wasn't? Where the onus lie? I know if it was my laptop I certianly wouldn't be willing to take no for an answer, but what can you do?

Thanks...

Danno

You should have reported it earlier when the green in the corner appeared. They won't repair it free of charge. Expect to pay around €300 for it.

AlmightyCushion

OK, a little off topic here but still kinda relevant. These screens generally don't crack on their own (or at least not that I've seen). They also don't need to be dropped for them to crack. If you put too much pressure on the screen then it can crack it. This can even be done while closing the lid. You should have brought it back to them as soon as you seen the green patch on the screen.

Michael Collins

Well the person in question did ring up Dixon's customer service to report that but it proved very difficult to get through to a human being. From my point of view it's quite simple, the screen broke, through absolutely no fault on the consumer's part, and Dixon's won't repair it. There's no fairness in that at all.

Michael Collins

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

OK, a little off topic here but still kinda relevant. These screens generally don't crack on their own (or at least not that I've seen). They also don't need to be dropped for them to crack. If you put too much pressure on the screen then it can crack it. This can even be done while closing the lid. You should have brought it back to them as soon as you seen the green patch on the screen.

Yep I've never noticed it happen to any laptop before either, but I'm quite convinced that that is exactly what happened here. I mean it is conceivable that there was too much pressure internally on the screen and adding normal use to that could have push it beyond its limits - but anyway, that's for their technicians to investigate.

Like I say, an attempt was made at reporting it, but they just didn't have the time to bring it back to Dixons, especially not knowing what that green patch actually was, they wouldn't be the most well up on computers.

I do see the difficulty here obviously, since they can't just go around replacing everyone's broken screen but it's so frustrating not to have some come back!

projectmayhem

Michael Collins wrote: »

I do see the difficulty here obviously, since they can't just go around replacing everyone's broken screen but it's so frustrating not to have some come back!

someone has to pay for the repair, and since the fault is not something that would normally crop up as standard, dixons won't be quick to foot the bill. try through the manufacturers, as they may have a bad batch that dixons wouldn't know about. failing that, you may be on your own unfortunately.... as was said already, as soon as a fault appears on something like that, you need to get it sorted asap

craichoe

Call the manufacturer.

I do know that there is cases whereby the hinges can be overtightened during manufacture and cause the screen to crack due to excessive stress.

xfiler

As a daily user of laptops, computers etc I have not seen such an issue. However if you did not cause the issue in the first place then I would suggest contacting www.consumerconnect.ie.

You have rights as a consumer. Did you talk to the manager in Dixons? I would suggest contact the consumers affairs office prior to talking to Dixons. This way at least you will have some leverage when you go to Dixons.

At a bare minimum I also thought the laptop warranty would have covered this.

Xcellor

Coming from Tech support background LCD issues like this are always handled on case by case basis. Cracks don't just appear by themselves... probably something was too tight and it was causing pressure the user closed the notebook a bit hard one evening and bang the LCD cracks.

The moment you notice something not right with something you purchased you report it... you phone/fax/email or whatever it takes then you have something to fall back on... By continuing to use something that is clearly faulty you accept that fault and if that fault then causes further damage you are partially responsbile

One of my customers wanted me to repalce his LCD because some bugs had crawled underneath it and died and he couldn't get them out... haha it was really funny. We said bugger off

Warranty only covers normal use and not accidental damage which cracks in LCD screens are. If you kick and scream enough you will get what you want most likely but it won't be easy

X

Big_Mac

projectmayhem wrote: »

someone has to pay for the repair, and since the fault is not something that would normally crop up as standard, dixons won't be quick to foot the bill. try through the manufacturers, as they may have a bad batch that dixons wouldn't know about. failing that, you may be on your own unfortunately.... as was said already, as soon as a fault appears on something like that, you need to get it sorted asap

No

craichoe wrote: »

Call the manufacturer.

I do know that there is cases whereby the hinges can be overtightened during manufacture and cause the screen to crack due to excessive stress.

No

The contract for the goods is between the purchaser and the shop, not the manufacturer. Don't bother wasting your time going to them, stick with the shop.

Sorry but if they noticed the fault and didn't do anything about it then this can easily be interpreted as the customer accepting the machine with the ingrained fault in it. If they couldn't get through to someone to report it when it originally occurred, I hate to be harsh but its their own tough luck for not persevering.

I would keep at them though, and I agree kick up enough of a stink and you might get it repaired by them, but please be careful how you do it. Walking in shouting the odds will get you nowhere except ejected by shop security. State your case (in writing is usually better) in a calm and clear manner. This normally works much better in my experience.

SerialComplaint

Big_Mac wrote: »

N
I would keep at them though, and I agree kick up enough of a stink and you might get it repaired by them, but please be careful how you do it. Walking in shouting the odds will get you nowhere except ejected by shop security. State your case (in writing is usually better) in a calm and clear manner.

You might be able to tread that narrow line between getting ejected by security, and causing enough of a fuss in the shop to be visible to other customers who are considering a new purchase.

swingking

SerialComplaint wrote: »

You might be able to tread that narrow line between getting ejected by security, and causing enough of a fuss in the shop to be visible to other customers who are considering a new purchase.

Nothing worse than seeing a customer acting in a stupid, childish way. I hate people who come across in an immature way; in fact I usually just laugh at them when I am buying something from the same shop and the shop assistant does too.

axer

The problem here is that this is not a clear cut case since it is fairly rare that a laptop screen would crack by itself - although im sure it can happen. There is also the problem that:

Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 wrote:

s53. 2. ( b ) the buyer, promptly upon discovering the breach, makes a request to the seller that he either remedy the breach or replace any goods which are not in conformity with the condition,

The shop could argue that the screen cracked because the consumer in question did not act promptly upon discovering the problem i.e. the green patch. That it may have been a simple problem to fix then but now the screen has to be replaced.

The onus on proving that the buyer acted promptly is on the buyer.

Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 wrote:

s53. (3) The onus of proving that the buyer acted with promptness under subsection (2) shall be on him.

Did it not feel tight to open the screen etc?

The consumer in this case will most likely have to bring this to the small claims court this will mean having to prove what caused the problem since dixons will just say it was dropped.

You could try going back to the shop looking to get someone who will help you but I wouldn't count on it since im sure they actually do get people who chance their arms trying to get cracked screens replaced when they are not entitled to.

Failing that the small claims court is your only option. It doesn't look good though.

the_syco

Michael Collins wrote: »

So they brought it back to Dixons and, as I suspected, they bascially said "get lost, you obviously dropped it". Now it hasn't moved from the desk since it was bought, there's no way it was dropped.

What happens in this situation? Do Dixons have to prove it was dropped or do they have to prove it wasn't? Where the onus lie? I know if it was my laptop I certianly wouldn't be willing to take no for an answer, but what can you do?

Thanks...

Onus? What onus? The screen is cracked. How do screens most likely get cracked? Sitting on the laptop (I'm not messing), the laptop was dropped or something fell on the laptop screen.

The customer said that the laptop was always on the desk? Well, how was it cracked, then? The tooth fairy? You have to look at it from a logical point of view. Laptops sitting on desks don't just magically crack. There's no onus on Dixons, as the screen is visibly cracked, and unless there's CCTV showing the laptop on the screen since the day it was bought, the customer can't prove otherwise.

=-=

If caused my a manufacturing fault, the manufacture of the laptop may pay for it to get fixed, but as laptop screen cracks don't just crack by themselves, meh. Prepare to pay.

craichoe

Big_Mac wrote: »

No



No

The contract for the goods is between the purchaser and the shop, not the manufacturer. Don't bother wasting your time going to them, stick with the shop.

Sorry but if they noticed the fault and didn't do anything about it then this can easily be interpreted as the customer accepting the machine with the ingrained fault in it. If they couldn't get through to someone to report it when it originally occurred, I hate to be harsh but its their own tough luck for not persevering.

I would keep at them though, and I agree kick up enough of a stink and you might get it repaired by them, but please be careful how you do it. Walking in shouting the odds will get you nowhere except ejected by shop security. State your case (in writing is usually better) in a calm and clear manner. This normally works much better in my experience.

Nah, at the end of the day the laptop will have to be repaired. The retailer is just a middle man. To the shop this is accidental damage, to the manufacturer this may be a known fault. Your just wasting your time banging on about consumer rights in this case as the screen is cracked.