Cracked Laptop Screen, Not accidental, Small Claims Court.

xtremepoizn

Hi,

Bought a Laptop last year from a well known retailer. Around 4 months ago while watching a DVD movie the laptop screen went white and a few seconds later a crack was visible in the middle left of the screen which almost touches the bottom of the screen. It SEEMS to be crack as only when it is turned ON can you notice that it is cracked and a white screen is shown. When turned off the screen is a good as new with no sign of any damage etc. The external screen is perfect, so is the LCD cover,lid etc. No sign of any Damage etc...

When this happened the laptop was on a flat glass desk. It had been kept running for a few days I think as I usually close the lid leaving the laptop to run on its own.

Now I went back to the store taking the laptop with me and no sooner the store assistant saw the laptop box I was told to contact the manufacturer. They didn't even listen to what the problem was but said contact the manufacturer.

When I contacted the manufacturer they said it is "Accidental Damage" and I should book a chargeable repair which I disagreed with. A week later a computer technician was around to fix another laptop and I asked what could have been the cause of this laptop crack and was given a few reasons... I contacted the manufacturer again and was told that sorry we understand that this might not be accidental damage but our warranty clearly states that the LCD isn't under standard warranty, I think they also mentioned that the software, power supply and batteries too are not covered under warranty.

I contacted the National Consumer Agency who told me to contact the retailer, but as they said to contact the manufacturer I emailed the retailers head office who asked me to contact the manager. After months of waiting I am not told that they cannot do anything as the manufacturer said that this isn't under warranty.

There is nothing more I can do and now I am hoping to make an application to the small claims court to solve this... any help in making the application is welcome!

Has anyone had a similar problem? and if so what was the outcome?

davo10

I think I know who retailer is, maybe two letters followed another word for planet?. I had a similar problem with a printer which conked out after a couple of weeks, they told me i had to deal with manufacturer and that they would have nothing more to do with it, i argued vehemently with the store manager, he rang the regional manager and I think just to get me out of the store they gave me a new one. That one broke after a few months so I spent a bit more and bought one off a local retailer.

xtremepoizn

Don't want to name the retailer as I don't want to spoil things if this reaches the small claims court.

The manufacturer and retailer have point blank refused to accept any responisbility for this.

jor el

A cracked screen is always going to look like user damage, unless it was like that on the day you bought it. Since it was several months old at the time, this is highly unlikely to be a manufacturing fault. Someone damaged it, and it only became apparent when the screen went dead. This could have happened in the hours before it went off, and you didn't notice.

Since both retailer and manufacturer have declined to help you, your only choice would be the small claims court, but I think this is going to be a waste of your time.

xtremepoizn

As I said above, there is no physical damage and you can't even see that it is damaged when it is turned off. Even the so called "Protective" outer screen is perfect. Its like the LCD has two screens and only the inside screen is cracked with the outside screen fine. The Laptop wasn't moved in ages. It was always on the table.

I still plan to go ahead to the small claims court. And if they question about accidental damage I'll ask them what is the protective screen for or maybe I'll buy them a laptop and ask them to create the same kind of crack! :mad:

xtremepoizn

Btw the technician said the manufacturers usually look for "impact" points in these cases and couldn't find any... and so he then gave me a few reasons what the cause could have been.

Run_to_da_hills

xtremepoizn wrote: »

Btw the technician said the manufacturers usually look for "impact" points in these cases and couldn't find any... and so he then gave me a few reasons what the cause could have been.

By any chance could this laptop be fitted with an OLED screen?

If it is it would be at least 50% more fragile than standard LCD as they are about 30% thinner.

They can crack very easily if you pick the laptop up by the screen with your thumb pressed very lightly on the glass.

foggy_lad

Don't have any more dealings with tIe manufacturer as you have no contract with them! Write a letter to the store in question explaining the situation and ask them to either repair replace or refund. Let the shop send the laptop away to be examined but take pictures of it first and if it is found to be customer damaged then they should have a report to back this up!

IF they can't prove customer damage then off to the small claims court with you.

xtremepoizn

Nope it isn't a LED display. It is the common FAT one. This happened in March and retailer said to contact manufacturer who said that there is a clause in their standard warranty saying the LCD is excluded. Went back to retailer who said that manufacturer says that in this case the system is out of warranty. No one checked the laptop till today, four months since this happened!

I can't see hoe it can be accidental damage simply as the laptop was kept on a glass desk for weeks without being moved. It was being used as a desktop replacement. So there was no chance of physical contact...

slimjimmc

xtremepoizn wrote: »

Nope it isn't a LED display. It is the common FAT one. This happened in March and retailer said to contact manufacturer who said that there is a clause in their standard warranty saying the LCD is excluded. Went back to retailer who said that manufacturer says that in this case the system is out of warranty. No one checked the laptop till today, four months since this happened!

I can't see hoe it can be accidental damage simply as the laptop was kept on a glass desk for weeks without being moved. It was being used as a desktop replacement. So there was no chance of physical contact...

A warranty, no warranty or expired warranty does not affect your statuatory rights that the computer must be fit for purpose and free from defects for reasonable time. If the defect is due to non-compliance with these rights (as opposed to abuse or accidental damage) it is the shop's legal obligation to offer you a resolution which will be either repair, replacement or refund.

As foggy_lad has already said you should deal exclusively with the shop, it's their problem if the defect is not covered by the manufacturer not your's.

foggy_lad

slimjimmc wrote: »

A warranty, no warranty or expired warranty does not affect your statuatory rights that the computer must be fit for purpose and free from defects for reasonable time. If the defect is due to non-compliance with these rights (as opposed to abuse or accidental damage) it is the shop's legal obligation to offer you a resolution which will be either repair, replacement or refund.

As foggy_lad has already said you should deal exclusively with the shop, it's their problem if the defect is not covered by the manufacturer not your's.

and basically the shop can say the manufacturers warrenty is 6 months ot 2-3 years or 28days but that has nothing to do with you or your rights as a consumer! you bought from the shop not from the manufacturer, and any manufacturer warrenty is as an extra to your statutory rights!

your statutory rights allow for the goods to be fit for their intended purpose for a reasonable amout of time and free from defects from manufacture or design,

there is no time limit to these rights except for the statute of limitations(6 years) but mostly a reasonable timeframe is adopted so that a washing machine might be expected to last 3-8years depending on the level of use it gets, in a large family with a few washes a day the machine might last about 3 years or sometimes less but one or two person houshold could expect it to last 6-8 years if it is kept in good condition and used properly,

and similarly with a laptop that might be reasonably expected to last 3-6 years depending on the amount paid and how it has been used.

Cuddlesworth

You or somebody in your house broke it. They don't just break.

Something was left on the keyboard with the screen closed after, it was picked up by its screen, it was knocked off the desk. Screen can develop faults, dead pixels, color lines etc. But a crack is a crack and a break is a break. I'm not surprised nobody has entertained you so far.

Oh yeah, impact points don't happen when the screen is flexed. Only if something hits it. A flex shows exactly what you described.

slimjimmc

Nobody has entertained him so far because they're passing the buck and trying to wash their hands of it, not because they have identified the cause of the crack as being misuse or accidental damage. In fact a manufacturing defect or it not being fit for purpose hasn't been been proven nor disproven yet, neither have other possible causes including the ones you described.