Reasonable Laptop Lifespan?

looksee

The problem with Currys/PC World is that they use Techguys, who have to be some of the most useless, incompetent technicians going. We had a laptop with an extended warranty (though it was still inside the one year warranty when it started) going to and from Techguys - away for 4 to 6 weeks at a time. Never any question that the laptop might be complete dud, 'we can only send it off to England'. Eventually by making a persistant, loud fuss at the service desk we got a credit note.

Elessar

The ignorance of the law on this thread is shocking :eek:

Excluding accidental damage cover, extended warranties are a complete waste of money; a rip off of unbelievable greed by retailers who prey on people's ignorance of their rights.

I would never purchase an extended "warranty" on anything. I'd rather throw money down the toilet.

You are already covered under the SOGA 1980!! If the retailer won't listen (like 99.9% of them, also ignorant of the law), take them to court! A €15 process designed to be a simple and painless as possible for the consumer.

OP, I would chance the Small Claims Court route. You have only €15 to lose. There was a thread on the Mac forum last year with a macbook user in a similar position to you. His macbook failed outside warranty and Apple told him to stuff it. A registrar in the SCC told him he had a good case as it was reasonable to expect his €1400 laptop to last AT LEAST 5 years. Within a week of lodging the claim Apple repaired his laptop free of charge.

www.smallclaims.ie - it would be worth it to just give them a call and get their opinion on your case.

jimmyendless

I'm posting this from my repaired macbook. I had a small claims court date set for Oct 2nd where Apple and myself would have had our showdown but it never came to it.

My story isn't cut and dry though. When the macbook died over a year ago I went and bought another power supply. That made no difference so I presumed it was dead. Then I filed a claim through small claims and then apple wanted to inspect it, and they did and said it worked with there power adapter bizarrely. They replaced all the bezels at the front and the keyboard/trackpad so it looks like new. Don't really know how it worked out so well and it doesn't make much sense but hey I'm happy. They did it all free of charge.

kippy

jimmyendless wrote: »

I'm posting this from my repaired macbook. I had a small claims court date set for Oct 2nd where Apple and myself would have had our showdown but it never came to it.

My story isn't cut and dry though. When the macbook died over a year ago I went and bought another power supply. That made no difference so I presumed it was dead. Then I filed a claim through small claims and then apple wanted to inspect it, and they did and said it worked with there power adapter bizarrely. They replaced all the bezels at the front and the keyboard/trackpad so it looks like new. Don't really know how it worked out so well and it doesn't make much sense but hey I'm happy. They did it all free of charge.

Good to hear you at least got the machine sorted out.
Just as well you weren't in a rush though.

As an aside, what is the "Consumer protection watchdog" (What ever they are called now, I know there are a few areas that look after this) doing to ensure that consumers are aware of their rights in relation to this type of thing? Anyone know?
You would think this would be a pretty important thing to be aware of as a consumer in tight times (any times)........

foggy_lad

kippy wrote: »

Good to hear you at least got the machine sorted out.
Just as well you weren't in a rush though.

As an aside, what is the "Consumer protection watchdog" (What ever they are called now, I know there are a few areas that look after this) doing to ensure that consumers are aware of their rights in relation to this type of thing? Anyone know?
You would think this would be a pretty important thing to be aware of as a consumer in tight times (any times)........

Really the consumer protection people can only do so much in these tight times because they are losing funding as much as everyone else.

It is up to the consumer to find the information which is all freely available.

kippy

foggy_lad wrote: »

Really the consumer protection people can only do so much in these tight times because they are losing funding as much as everyone else.

It is up to the consumer to find the information which is all freely available.

emmmm,
Thats what the consumer protection people get paid to do - and there are a number of groups that are responsible for this I believe.
It is plain to see from this and other threads that the law is on the consumers side however the retailers do not want to play ball.
Is it acceptable that the poster on this thread took almost a year to get the issue sorted, at a fair bit of hassle to him and a fair bit of negativity from the supplier?

The information is out there, no doubt, but until some body that is responsible for consumer protection uses whatever clout they have been given to ensure that retailers play ball, the information, while useful, will still end up having the consumer jump through hoops.

EDIT:
This is a listing of all the groups that are responsible for consumer protection:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/consumer_rights/consumer_protection_organisations.html

Surely the needless purchasing and indeed selling of warrenties is something the consumer should be more aware of?

foggy_lad

kippy wrote: »

emmmm,
Thats what the consumer protection people get paid to do - and there are a number of groups that are responsible for this I believe.
It is plain to see from this and other threads that the law is on the consumers side however the retailers do not want to play ball.
Is it acceptable that the poster on this thread took almost a year to get the issue sorted, at a fair bit of hassle to him and a fair bit of negativity from the supplier?

The information is out there, no doubt, but until some body that is responsible for consumer protection uses whatever clout they have been given to ensure that retailers play ball, the information, while useful, will still end up having the consumer jump through hoops.

EDIT:
This is a listing of all the groups that are responsible for consumer protection:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/consumer_rights/consumer_protection_organisations.html

Surely the needless purchasing and indeed selling of warrenties is something the consumer should be more aware of?

The supplier/manufacturer has no obligations towards the consumer unless there is a valid warranty in place but most people are unaware that their statutory rights will most times provide greater protection than any manufacturers warranty or indeed most paid for warranties and insurance coverplans.

With all faulty consumer items the seller is legally obliged to offer redress in the form of repair replacement or refund and the consumer can reject any offer and request a different form but in the event of dispute they can ask the small claims courts to decide.

Most people can find out all they need to know with a little simple searching the internets and a few minutes light reading, the consumer agencies can only do so much and if people want a situation resolved they will have to get off their backsides and act, write that letter of complaint, turn up in the store, or simply keep a record of poor performance to prove you are not getting the service you are paying for etc etc etc

NewHillel

whiterebel wrote: »

EU Law never enacted in this country. There is a 6year limit to bring a case where there is deemed to be an underlying fault ..

According to the EU Report on the implementation of Directive 1999/44/EC , the Directive is transcribed into Irish Law in Statuary Instrument S.I. No. 11/2003.
(Plain English, it is now part of the Sales of Goods act.)

a

Tayla

I paid around £400 for my laptop 18 months ago and the hard drive is dying now so as it's out of warranty i'll have to buy a new harddrive, it's annoying yes but it's only around £30, it's especially annoying because the hard drive in my laptop are normally covered for 3 years but whatever arrangement Packard bell came to with them when they put the hard drives in their laptops doesn't cover us for 3 years.

I think a lot of people consider laptops these days to be disposable...because they cost more to repair than to buy a new one and to be honest I don't look after my laptop either, it's always on, I use it on the bed where it gets hot, I let the baby play with it so i'm pretty happy with the 18 months i've got out of it. (Not that i'm happy to throw away money in case i've given you that impression, I buy the cheapest phones etc. but I think with the amount of use this laptop has got that it was worth it)

I'm thinking of signing up with Permanent Tsbs plus package next year as I have to get a few new electrical items, for €10 a month you can get gadget cover on 2 items and then extended warranty on 6 new items plus other unrelated things such as travel insurance so it's a good deal for anyone with PTSB rather than taking out individual extended warranties.

Boggles

Tayla wrote: »

I paid around £400 for my laptop 18 months ago and the hard drive is dying now so as it's out of warranty i'll have to buy a new harddrive, it's annoying yes but it's only around £30, it's especially annoying because the hard drive in my laptop are normally covered for 3 years but whatever arrangement Packard bell came to with them when they put the hard drives in their laptops doesn't cover us for 3 years.

I think a lot of people consider laptops these days to be disposable...because they cost more to repair than to buy a new one and to be honest I don't look after my laptop either, it's always on, I use it on the bed where it gets hot, I let the baby play with it so i'm pretty happy with the 18 months i've got out of it. (Not that i'm happy to throw away money in case i've given you that impression, I buy the cheapest phones etc. but I think with the amount of use this laptop has got that it was worth it)

Laptops are not considered disposable items.

Do not leave an electrical item that can generate heat in excess of 100 degrees on all the time, especially don't leave it on something that blocks it's vents.

Tayla wrote: »

I'm thinking of signing up with Permanent Tsbs plus package next year as I have to get a few new electrical items, for €10 a month you can get gadget cover on 2 items and then extended warranty on 6 new items plus other unrelated things such as travel insurance so it's a good deal for anyone with PTSB rather than taking out individual extended warranties.

Or have more respect for the items you purchase, you have plenty of cover with your consumer rights if you do not mistreat what you buy.

Tayla

Boggles wrote: »

Laptops are not considered disposable items.

Many people do consider them to be disposable, I know many people who have had to replace theirs rather than pay for certain repairs.

Boggles wrote: »

Or have more respect for the items you purchase, you have plenty of cover with your consumer rights if you do not mistreat what you buy.

If i'm happy getting 18 months + more when I replace the harddrive out of a £400 laptop then it doesn't bother me, some people buy expensive phones, new ones every year...I don't, my Laptop is my only gadget, I don't have and yes it gets a lot of abuse but that's just the way I use it,

I specifically said in my last thread that I don't like to throw money away and I said that 1. because it's true and 2. to avoid comments like the one above. If all I got out of it was 18 months then that is approx £22 per month..I consider that good value.

If I paid €1000 for a laptop or paid €400 and used it for light use then yea I'd expect a few years out of it.

tallaghtoutlaws

Tayla wrote: »

I think a lot of people consider laptops these days to be disposable...because they cost more to repair than to buy a new one and to be honest I don't look after my laptop either, it's always on, I use it on the bed where it gets hot, I let the baby play with it so i'm pretty happy with the 18 months i've got out of it. (Not that i'm happy to throw away money in case i've given you that impression, I buy the cheapest phones etc. but I think with the amount of use this laptop has got that it was worth it)

One of the worst places to put a laptop on is a bed. I tell people this all the time but they dont listen. When you sit it on a bed 99% of the time you are blocking the vents. There is only so much heat the CPU and GPU can take before they lose performance or die. The vents are there for a reason.

Also if you are going to leave it on all day download software that allows for fan control. My laptop is on all day and I have software that allows me to control the fans so they keep the computer cool all day. But if I walk away from it and am not using anything in particular I close the lid and put it on standby.

If more people looked after their laptops there would be less problems with them.

Tayla

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

If more people looked after their laptops there would be less problems with them.

I agree with that completely, that's why I feel I got value for money out of my own laptop, because it took all that abuse and is still ok except for the dying hard drive.

If I took care of it then yes i'd expect it to last a lot longer!

I do know they're not supposed to be on beds and I used to have one of these which was absolutely brilliant but it got broken, I would definitely recommend.

My whole point was that there are plenty of people like me out there that don't look after their laptops (but then they complain when they break) whereas I take responsibilty for my carelessness and know that if it breaks it's my own fault.

Also when I meant it was on all day, I didn't mean 24 hours a day, it's closed and on standby a lot...