Laptop broken and Out of warranty - Would Dell help?

The Lovely Muffin

Hi,

Basically my laptop is broken and out of warranty. I have no idea what is wrong with the laptop.

It was bought from Pixmania.ie in Dec 2008, it had a one-year warranty which expired in Dec 2009.

Would Dell would repair it? And if so, would it cost much?

Thank you.

Piriz

hey,
i suggest you ask the folk over here http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=529

try to explain in detail whats happening when you try to turn it on etc.
it might be more simple to fix then you think..

you could as a last resort bring it to a laptop repair shop, you'll find some places online or ask in that forum which one is the best where you live..
could cost you 100-200euro depending on what the problem is..

The Lovely Muffin

Piriz wrote: »

hey,
i suggest you ask the folk over here http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=529

try to explain in detail whats happening when you try to turn it on etc.
it might be more simple to fix then you think..

you could as a last resort bring it to a laptop repair shop, you'll find some places online or ask in that forum which one is the best where you live..
could cost you 100-200euro depending on what the problem is..

Hey,

Thanks for that.

I completly forgot that I had already made a topic about my laptop there lol.:o

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055868816

Mods/admin feel free to move/merge both topics. Apologies.

dudara

Thread closed while under discussion in Laptops. OP, if you want this thread reopened at a later stage just let me know.

dudara

dudara

Reopened at OP's request.

dudara

Elessar

What kind of problems are you having with the laptop exactly? Is it a hardware fault?

Don't mind the warranty, you are still covered under the sale of goods and supply of services act 1980. This states that goods must be of merchantable quality and last a reasonable period of time. It's perfectly reasonable for a laptop to last longer than 1 year and 4 months.

What you should do is contact the retailer who sold it to you (i.e. Pixmania), quote the act and state you would like them to repair it. This should be at no cost to you. I believe there is a Pixmania representative here on boards who has posted in the consumer issues forum - you should find him/her with a search. They should arrange collection and repair it.

Don't let them fob you off with out-of-warranty excuses or telling you to deal with Dell. It is the retailers responsibility to fix a faulty item.

As long as there is no accidental damage and it's not a software problem, you should be fine.

The Lovely Muffin

Elessar wrote: »

What kind of problems are you having with the laptop exactly? Is it a hardware fault?

From the other topic in the 'Laptops' section

I'm having problems with my laptop not responding and then it freezes.

I keep my hand on the power button for a minute until the laptop switches off and then I turn it back on.

I did try to turn it off properly (start > shut down / start > restart) but it doesn't work.

Info about the laptop:

DELL Inspiron 1525
Windows Vista
Bought in Dec 2008 from pixmania.ie
The slot for the memory card is broken/damaged (my cousin got something stuck in it before and my mam used a knife/scissors/key to get it out, she didnt realise it a knife/scissors/key would damage a laptop, so she says ). Now I have to press/hold the card in the slot to get it to work.

I do understand it would cost me (well my mother) to get the memory card slot fixed as it wasn't a fault of PIxmania/Dell, it was my mother's fault.

Elessar wrote: »

Don't mind the warranty, you are still covered under the sale of goods and supply of services act 1980. This states that goods must be of merchantable quality and last a reasonable period of time. It's perfectly reasonable for a laptop to last longer than 1 year and 4 months.

What you should do is contact the retailer who sold it to you (i.e. Pixmania), quote the act and state you would like them to repair it. This should be at no cost to you. I believe there is a Pixmania representative here on boards who has posted in the consumer issues forum - you should find him/her with a search. They should arrange collection and repair it.

Don't let them fob you off with out-of-warranty excuses or telling you to deal with Dell. It is the retailers responsibility to fix a faulty item.

As long as there is no accidental damage and it's not a software problem, you should be fine.

Thank you.

All I need now is a contact email address for Pixmania. So far all I have found is one postal address for France.

I have looked in the 'Talk to' section of the 'Biz' area and haven't found any Pixmania represntative's on Boards.ie, because if they were an official rep, surely they would have their own forum in the 'talk to' section?

Elessar

It's not official but there is someone here that has helped people in the past, pixmania is in the name.

ch750536

can you get by using a USB memory card reader instead?

The Lovely Muffin

Well I emailed Pixmania quoting the 6-year EU thingy and have had a reply. I sent an email to the CEO at 16:27 and got a reply at 16:44. I will go to a few IT places in town tomorrow and see if they can give me some quotes for what a report will cost and how long it will take.

A huuuuuuuuuuge thank you to Elessar for letting me know about a Pixmania rep on here.

Their (Pixmania) reply email is as follows:

Dear Mrs XXXXX,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I am sorry if your laptop is no longer working.
As mentionned on the product description at the time of purchase, the warranty for this item is 1 year.
Under the terms and conditions of the act you mentioned, you will be required to provide an approved engineer’s specialist report deeming this product as not fit for purpose prior its enactment. If you have this report we could contact the manufacturer immediately for free repair/ exchange feasibility.
Please contact me if you have the above.
Best Regards,
Alice WALKER

European Mediation Manager/Responsable Service Médiation Européen

<PIXMANIA POSTAL ADDRESS>

ch750536 wrote: »

can you get by using a USB memory card reader instead?

I don't know what that is lol so I don't know if I have one.:o

evolutionqy7

its only a USB card reader that plugs in through the USB port instead of being integrated into the laptop

wow first time i seen a pleasant helping letter from pixmania

The Lovely Muffin

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

its only a USB card reader that plugs in through the USB port instead of being integrated into the laptop

wow first time i seen a pleasant helping letter from pixmania

Like any of these?

http://search.dell.ie/1/4/usb-stick

evolutionqy7

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ALL-CARD-Memory-Reader-Writer-USB-for-Fuji-Cameras_W0QQitemZ390178505021QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Photography_MemoryCardReaders_RL?hash=item5ad873813d

more something like this you can get the USB stick type ones there plenty ones like them 2 I just wouldn't buy it off dell their price range is a bit out of range to the price/quality ration just if you buy a card reader of eBay make sure its not see thru or from china they might cost a quid or so but will fall apart after a year i got a memory card mircoSD from England a year or two ago and it came with a microSD mini usb card reader and they were from china not saying that things from china are bad its just most of stuff that they would sell on ebay from china could be dodgy bought laser lights 2 Wii remotes and nun chucks and a docking station for Wii from china and still not a problem and they got the best customer service in the world but some stuff you gotta be extra careful

The Lovely Muffin

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ALL-CARD-Memory-Reader-Writer-USB-for-Fuji-Cameras_W0QQitemZ390178505021QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Photography_MemoryCardReaders_RL?hash=item5ad873813d

more something like this you can get the USB stick type ones there plenty ones like them 2 I just wouldn't buy it off dell their price range is a bit out of range to the price/quality ration just if you buy a card reader of eBay make sure its not see thru or from china they might cost a quid or so but will fall apart after a year i got a memory card mircoSD from England a year or two ago and it came with a microSD mini usb card reader and they were from china not saying that things from china are bad its just most of stuff that they would sell on ebay from china could be dodgy bought laser lights 2 Wii remotes and nun chucks and a docking station for Wii from china and still not a problem and they got the best customer service in the world but some stuff you gotta be extra careful

Thank you.

I don't have one of those. Will see about getting a cheap one in town (if possible) and back-up what I need.

Currently to back stuff up, I just burn stuff to CDs lol.

evolutionqy7

find a partition manager

i use easus partition master 4.1 so if i need to restore to factory settings or something after restart everything stays even if the c drive goes corrupted there's more chance of saving ur items on the spare partition i never use memory sticks for documents or memory cards if i need some work transferred i email it to myself u cant loose it and its handier cause u can open it everywhere u have access to a router or internet the only usb stick i use is for putting music on it so i could play it on the headset in the car saves burning tonnes of mp3 cd's

The Lovely Muffin

Quick update;

I left my laptop into a computer repair place in town and the repost will cost around €25 euros. It will take about a week.

The Lovely Muffin

Another update lol

Had a phone call from the engineer today.

The hard drive is what's wrong. He said it's failing. He also said for a laptop that's 16mths old, this shouldn't have happened.

Have emailed Pixmania, so just waiting to hear what they have to say. Hopefully they can help.

The Lovely Muffin

I've had a reply email from Pixmania and it said;

Dear XXXXXXXXXXX,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I’m afraid that there is nothing more we can do as the warranty is no longer valid.
Best Regards,
Alice WALKER

Is this correct? According to the engineer, the hard-drive should not fail after 16mths. He said Pixmania should fix it.

Thanks.

Elessar

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

I've had a reply email from Pixmania and it said;



Is this correct? According to the engineer, the hard-drive should not fail after 16mths. He said Pixmania should fix it.

Thanks.

Absolutely incorrect. Make sure you get what the engineer told you on paper (header paper preferably). Then mention that the warranty is in addition to, and not a replacement of your statutory rights. Mention that under the sale of goods and supply of services act 1980 the laptop is not of merchantable quality and that you believe it is reasonable to assume it should last longer than it has. Say you would like a repair or replacement.

Mention also that if you don't receive a satisfactory response within two weeks, you will open a case with the small claims court. They should have an Irish address so send this in a registered letter (if it gets to court you want to be seen as having given them ample opportunity). Also keep all your correspondence with them.

AFAIK the engineers report is not really required. As far as I understand it, that is in relation to a UK law whereby the customer has to prove faults were apparent in a product after 6 months. In Ireland there is no such requirement, either it is of merchantable quality for a reasonable time or it isn't. An independent report will go a long way to helping your case though.

This could end up being a long road (especially if they do not have offices in Ireland) but you are entitled to get your rights upheld if that is what you want.

Another, simpler option would be to buy a new hard drive and install it yourself. Personally, I would follow this through, on principle.

The Lovely Muffin

Elessar wrote: »

Absolutely incorrect. Make sure you get what the engineer told you on paper (header paper preferably). Then mention that the warranty is in addition to, and not a replacement of your statutory rights. Mention that under the sale of goods and supply of services act 1980 the laptop is not of merchantable quality and that you believe it is reasonable to assume it should last longer than it has. Say you would like a repair or replacement.

Mention also that if you don't receive a satisfactory response within two weeks, you will open a case with the small claims court. They should have an Irish address so send this in a registered letter (if it gets to court you want to be seen as having given them ample opportunity). Also keep all your correspondence with them.

AFAIK the engineers report is not really required. As far as I understand it, that is in relation to a UK law whereby the customer has to prove faults were apparent in a product after 6 months. In Ireland there is no such requirement, either it is of merchantable quality for a reasonable time or it isn't. An independent report will go a long way to helping your case though.

This could end up being a long road (especially if they do not have offices in Ireland) but you are entitled to get your rights upheld if that is what you want.

Another, simpler option would be to buy a new hard drive and install it yourself. Personally, I would follow this through, on principle.

Brilliant, thank you.

I'll phone the engineer and get him to do me report. The engineer can put a new hard-drive into the laptop for me, but it would cost €80+, + €25 for the engineers report + €75 for a back-up of anything on the laptop. It was Pixmania who asked me for an engineers report.

Also, will Pixmania have to refund me any costs for the engineer?

Thank you.

Elessar

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Brilliant, thank you.

I'll phone the engineer and get him to do me report. The engineer can put a new hard-drive into the laptop for me, but it would cost €80+, + €25 for the engineers report + €75 for a back-up of anything on the laptop. It was Pixmania who asked me for an engineers report.

Also, will Pixmania have to refund me any costs for the engineer?

Thank you.

I don't think the remit of the SCC includes compensation, but ask the registrar for sure if it gets that far. I do know though that any repair under the act should come at no cost to you, so you should not have to pay for shipping the laptop to them or vise versa.

The Lovely Muffin

Hi guys,

I got my laptop back yesterday and I got the engineers report. The report said, the hard-drive is faulty.

I had to get the engineer to back up a few bits for me from the laptop, it cost €50 as he had to put them on an external hard-drive for me.

The total cost was €125 euros.

Will Pixmania have to reimburse me some/all of what it cost me? I understand they may not have to reimburse me the €50 euros for backing up the stuff/external hard-drive. It was also Pixmania who requested I get an engineers report.

I don't want compensation, only my laptop fixed/replaced and also any costs reimbursed to me.

Also, if they have to replace my laptop, do they or I choose the replacement laptop?

Also, how should I word my letter? lol I am useless at writing letters.