Comptuter Repair question

elainee40

Hey folks,
Gd monday morning to u,

I bought a Packard Bell laptop from Currys on the 1st Nov 2010, On Saturday while i was working (im an online chat host for bingo site) in middle of shift it froze and got a fading white screen, rebooted it and then said that windows had an error or not configured right, tried to do system restore nothing worked.
Brought back to Curry's yesterday and they ran a diagnostics which showed that the hard drive was corrupt and not working so it would have to go off to uk for repair.
They tried to do back up on it but couldnt as as they used the computer the hard drive proformance was going lower and lower, so nothing could be backed up, work files, wedding info and pics now gone.

They are saying repair can be a few wks, im on a loan lap top now.

What i want to know is am i entitled to a new laptop as was only gotten on the 1st Nov worth 550 euro.
Cant really do with out a lap top for wks as ill be down money from work

Sorry for the story

ch750536

You need to come to an agreement on whether repair, replace or refund is the best way forward. If you can't come to an agreement then the small claims court is the way forward. Neither party has the right to veto.

In my opinion it's obvious this is a failed drive \ drive controller and perhaps the best way forward is to request they repair as quickly as possible, which takes about 13 seconds to pull the old drive out and put the new drive in.

As a side note I use a google account to store all my precious data like pics, video, letters etc, costs $20 a year for 100gig. This way I will never lose them.

elainee40

Thanks for comin back to me.

They are sending the laptop off to the uk to see if its repairable, Only goes off on Thursday this wk though and was told could be wks to come back depending on how many computers are there needing fixing.

Also the battery was only charging to 90% in the last few days and when i said this he wasnt at all interested had to ask him to write it on the bookin in sheet as he just had diagnostics on it. wasnt at all happy to do this he wasnt.

Thanks for reply

johnnybv

Not sure if they are going to backup the personal documents. If it was a virus there still a chance to save them. If the HDD failed. No files will be saved. The waiting list is long. Could take few weeks until they will have a look at. Hope they will be faster. You have to ring the shop every 2 days to make things go faster. They are very very slow.

elainee40

Hey Johnny,

The man tried to back up everything but the hard drive was just getting worse so they couldnt back up anything

Boggles

elainee40 wrote: »

Thanks for comin back to me.

They are sending the laptop off to the uk to see if its repairable, Only goes off on Thursday this wk though and was told could be wks to come back depending on how many computers are there needing fixing.

Also the battery was only charging to 90% in the last few days and when i said this he wasnt at all interested had to ask him to write it on the bookin in sheet as he just had diagnostics on it. wasnt at all happy to do this he wasnt.

Thanks for reply

That's 2 problems, make sure both are fixed.

Also it has to be fixed in a reasonable fair time. It's not your problem their busy.

Get everything in writing if you can, including a copy of the report.

Speak to a manager and get an approx time of return, them shrugging shoulders and saying "it could be weeks" is not professional, and certainly doesn't help you.

Remember it's all about fairness, the less fair it becomes on you the more you are entitled to move on and ask for one of the remaining 2 R's.

Who gave you the loaner laptop, was it them or someone else?

elainee40

it was them who gave me the laptop as i work on the laptop and use it 5 nights a wk.

ShooterSF

It's insane that a laptop with a failed hard drive has to be sent to the UK to be "repaired". If the drive has failed its simply going to be replaced and the OS reinstalled. All of which shouldn't take over an hour and could be done by anyone with the ability to turn a screwdriver, insert a disk and pick next a few times.

I know that doesn't help OP. As far as legal standing, as has been mentioned both parties have to agree to a refund, repair or replacement. If they can't then you could go to small claims. Unfortunately if you ask for a replacement or refund currys will probably refuse and going to court will probably take at least as long as their drawn out repair process.

You better check on the battery when it comes back though as it's a "consumable" and you'll have to fight them after 6 months if you want it replaced. Their warranty (excluding any rights you have for a minute) only covers it for 6 months.

Fey!

You could always ask them to return the old drive to you if it has been replaced so that you can try and get your files recovered from it.