Problems with harvey norman.

TheHoban

Hi guys,

I've had my laptop for the past 10 months and last night it suffered a hardware failure. According to a friend who works in the industry the hard drive is basically f**ked and it's not going to be an easy repair.

Anyways I went into harvey normans today only to be told they will only try to repair the fault. I questioned them, as I had been told by my friend it's not near an easy repair and asked what other options I had... I was informed that by law they have to attempt to repair the item before they will even consider any other form of compensation.

Theres still two months left on the warranty and I'm just wondering where I stand with this issue.

Cheers,

Adam.

MagicMarker

What's the problem? They'll just send it off for repair.

TheHoban

From what my friend has told me it's basically a hardware failure thats going to require more than likely a number of critical parts to be replaced and that it's not worth their while trying to fix it and it takes around 5 weeks for it to be fixed, which is a bit much!

I'm just curious as to when it was made law that they must repair an item before they will even talk to you more about it.

MagicMarker

I don't know, but it's up to them what they do. IF they can't fix it, they'll replace it. Again, I don't know what the problem is?

EKRIUQ

It really doesn't matter what your friend says they will have to check it out them selfs, before doing anything. Maybe you could go straight to the manufacturer of the laptop they may offer a quicker service.

TheHoban

I know it's impartial as to what my friend says, but according to them by law I have take the repair which can take around 5 weeks in which it will take HP to actually check and attempt to fix the problems... Seems a bit much if you ask me.

Del2005

TheHoban wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've had my laptop for the past 10 months and last night it suffered a hardware failure. According to a friend who works in the industry the hard drive is basically f**ked and it's not going to be an easy repair.

Anyways I went into harvey normans today only to be told they will only try to repair the fault. I questioned them, as I had been told by my friend it's not near an easy repair and asked what other options I had... I was informed that by law they have to attempt to repair the item before they will even consider any other form of compensation.

As the others have said they have to verify that's it's broken and will then replace it. Hopefullly you're fully backed up!!

Theres still two months left on the warranty and I'm just wondering where I stand with this issue.

A warranty is in addition to your consumer rights, it doesn't superseed them. You have 2 years cover on most products under EU law and more under Irish law.

Kensington

The law states Harvey Norman must provide you with one of three options:
- repair
- replace
- refund

Harvey Norman will offer you one of the three (which they have done) and once they do that, they are within the law.

You, as a consumer, then have the option to accept or reject Harvey Norman's offer, either by coming to an agreement with HN themselves on another form of sorting it out, or by other means such as the Small Claims Court.

Neither the retailer or consumer gets to decide, there and then, the form of recourse under the law - otherwise, there'd be need for repair to be there since everyone would just get replacements or refunds!

In your case, HN (or more specifically, HP) will want to check the laptop. Hard drives are finnicky things, they do not take kindly to any sort of vibration or jolts. How are they to know you didn't drop the laptop or bounce it around on your lap while it was on? If it is a result of damage due to shock then you'll be charged before they will repair, otherwise it'll be covered under your warranty. They'll be able to tell immediately what the cause of failure was.

The repair won't take 5 weeks either, hp are usually very quick on turnaround. 8 days was the average when I used to deal with them, sometimes quicker. Despite what your friend may have told you, a hard drive failure is about the most simple repair you can do on a computer, although the pain of losing all of your programs and documents isn't as easy! 10 minute job to physically replace the drive, then about half an hour to reinstall the operating system (which for the most part is a completely automated process). You will have lost all of your documents and installed programs - hope you backed everything up!

Tarakiwa

Kensington wrote: »

hope you backed everything up!

Ouch - yep, that seems to be the big headache alright!

jor el

TheHoban wrote: »

I know it's impartial as to what my friend says, but according to them by law I have take the repair which can take around 5 weeks in which it will take HP to actually check and attempt to fix the problems... Seems a bit much if you ask me.

You don't have to take the repair, but since HN have offered, they are meeting their legal requirements.

If the hard disk is dead, it will be replaced. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to determine this, and replace the disk, but the delay will come in shipping and queuing your laptop for repair once it arrives with HP.

You can take the matter further, if you wish, but "a friend of mine says it will take ages to fix" is not going to hold up in court.

Fey!

Has your friend opened the computer, or is he basing his prognosis on your description of the symptoms?

If he has opened it, then he may well have invalidated the warranty - read your T&Cs and check for this.

Antigone05

to be honest i think you should disregard your friends opinion as the retailer in this situation will just send the computer for repair.

HP repairs are fast (1-2weeks at most)

HN are saying 5 weeks to cover themselves incase HP need a certain part and it takes longer. same with any retailer.