New laptop - BIOS reset needed

abff

I'm just wondering what my rights are in the following situation.

I bought a new (fairly inexpensive) laptop from a major electrical retailer last October as a present for my son. A couple of weeks ago, he found he was unable to access the computer. Whenever he turned it on, a screen would come up asking him to enter a password, but his usual password wouldn't work.

I brought it back to the retailer and they told me to leave it with them and that they should be able to fix the problem. They called me later to say that they were unable to fix it and they would have to send it back to the manufacturer as it needed a BIOS reset. I was also told that this would be covered under the warranty and there was no mention of a charge being applied. I received a docket from them saying Under Warranty.

They called me today to say that the manufacturer is looking for a fee of €100 to reset the BIOS. When I queried this they said that my son must have entered a password and that it would now require a factory reset. When I asked why the fee was so high, they told me I would have to talk to the manufacturer's agents.

When I called the manufacturer, they told me that a BIOS reset was not covered by warranty and that the fee included the reset plus courier costs plus an administration charge. They have not yet done the reset. I told them that I do not want to pay over €100 for a reset and they said that it would cost me €76 plus VAT to have the laptop returned to me. The cost would be around €25 less if I was prepared to collect it from their premises.

I called a company that I have used previously both to buy a computer and to have one fixed and they told me that my son would have to have entered the same password twice in order to create a BIOS password and that the best solution would be for him to try various combinations based on his normal password to see if this works. They also said that they might be able to fix it (but couldn't guarantee it) but the cost they quoted was significantly less than what the manufacturer is proposing to charge us.

While I accept that my son may have inadvertently caused the problem by entering a BIOS password and then forgetting it (he's not sure how this happened), the fact is that I would not have allowed the retailer to send the computer back to the manufacturer if I had been advised that it might be subject to a charge, particularly one of this order to magnitude.

I got back onto the retailer and made this point with their customer service representative, including pointing out that, as they knew the problem was that a BIOS reset would be needed, they should have been aware that this would incur a cost and should have notified me accordingly. I got nowhere with the representative, but he agreed to get a manager to call me back. That was around lunchtime today and I'm still waiting for the call.

Can anyone advise me what my rights are as a consumer in this situation. What I would like is for the laptop to be returned to me in the same state as when I left it with the retailer, without any charge being applied. I would then go through various password combinations with my son and, if this doesn't work, bring it into the repair store to see what they can do.

cml387

From working in a company that has lots of laptops,I know that the password on a laptop is not as easy to reset for security reasons.
The motherboard may have to be removed and possibly some soldering done.
I don't think this can be considered a warranty issue, the laptop is not faulty.
If your son can't remember having set the pasword (!) then I don't see how he can remember what he set the password to.

Cabaal

At the end of the day BIOS passwords don't just set themselves, it has to be set by somebody with physical access to the laptop.
Its not a fault or defect so charging for it is perfectly reasonable.

They had previously advised you that the BIOS needed to be reset so you were informed of what needed to be done, in addition the retailer may have had no way of knowing if the BIOS password was a fault/defective or user created. (many retailers do little or no technical troubleshooting for products they sell).

However, the manufacturer who would know their products far better and have more advanced technical knowledge then the retailer so they could obviously confirm the BIOS password was user created and not a fault/defect.

So its not really that unreasonable that the retailer had to send the item away to confirm exactly what what had to happen,

abff

Thanks for the responses. I accept that this is not a warranty issue and I now understand that it's not necessarily all that simple to resolve the issue.

My problem with the retailer is that at no time was I warned that this might not be a warranty issue and that there would be courier costs plus an admin charge in addition to the cost of fixing the laptop if it transpired that it was not covered by the warranty. If I had been aware of that, I would have explored other options before having it sent back to the manufacturer. At the very least, it was poor customer service and I feel that I ought to have some comeback.

slimjimmc

abff wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. I accept that this is not a warranty issue and I now understand that it's not necessarily all that simple to resolve the issue.

My problem with the retailer is that at no time was I warned that this might not be a warranty issue and that there would be courier costs plus an admin charge in addition to the cost of fixing the laptop if it transpired that it was not covered by the warranty. If I had been aware of that, I would have explored other options before having it sent back to the manufacturer. At the very least, it was poor customer service and I feel that I ought to have some comeback.

I would tend to agree with you. According to your opening post the retailer led you to believe the warranty was going to cover costs and you have the docket which reinforces this. However sending the item back to the manufacturer does not guarantee the problem is covered under the T&Cs. At the very least the retailer should have advised you that costs may be incurred should the warranty claim be rejected.

I'd bring the docket back to the seller, speak to the manager and see if they'll waive the €75 shipping cost, or at least go halves with you. Ultimately you could take it to the Small Claims Court which will cost you €25 (which you won't get back).

homer911

Resetting the BIOS on a PC is usually just a matter of popping out the NiCd battery for a minute and reinserting it - am I missing something?

gctest50

homer911 wrote: »

Resetting the BIOS on a PC is usually just a matter of popping out the NiCd battery for a minute and reinserting it - am I missing something?

yip , it's a laptop

abff wrote: »

.......
I bought a new (fairly inexpensive) laptop.............

alpahaeagle

Removing the cmos battery on motherboard to reset the password, has long been discontinued as this allowed thief's to remove the password on stolen pc/laptops.
The password is stored on a read only chip, that does not get reset by removing the battery.
Unless you know someone who has a backboard password, the only real place that will be able to reset the password is the manufacturer.

clint_silver

Not strictly true, there are other ways to reset the BIOS password depending on make/model alluded to earlier by soldering pins on the main board and or sending jolts down 2 pins as mentioned earlier once you know the right connectors. Methods are completely not recommended, Ive done it on a laptop with exact same symptoms as mentioned here. It was my own, I would not do it again, even on one of my own with pain involved with reconfiguring and potential for completely wiping it. It is not just not easy, its downright poxy to do.

Id have to be siding just about with consumer here, while its not common, its not really rare that a laptop would come into a repair shop and a service guy would look at it and not know it was BIOS and what the implications were. ie, someone set the password and either they resolve or its going back to manufacturer for repair. But that said, its possible it was a bug, Id go with above advice, try and split the bill with the shop and hope for best.

kkontour

Surely the laptop should be given back if requested by the OP, no charge. It was not the OP who sent it to the manufacturer, and no contract was agreed to have any work done on the laptop, including shipping charges.
I would say that the manufacturer should have told the retailer that there may be a charge if was not a warranty issue, and the retailer let the OP know this and sign for such before continuning.
Therefore I would say the OP should get his laptop back as it was, no charge, and let the retailer and manufacturer argue about who pays for the shipping.

ssmith6287

I used to work in a big retailer selling computers. When wed take stock back to be repaired, the customer would have to sign a form that would say that the manufacturer doesnt cover software, physical damage or misuse. Dont know if this is the same across all retailers. It would also say that if the problem isnt covered under warranty the customer would be liable for technicians costs and courier costs

abff

Thanks. That sounds reasonable enough, but they didn't follow that process in this particular case. Anyway, they have agreed to return the computer to me and my son thinks he knows what password he used, so hopefully that will resolve the issue.

Shiraz 4.99

Google the machine & CMOS jumpers, it will be 2 solder points on the motherboard, normally close to the battery or RAM modules.
You hold a flat head screwdriver across these points while booting the BIOS & it will flush the password in the memory.
It's simple once you know what you're at.

abff

Thanks everyone. I got the laptop back without being charged. Unfortunately, the password my son thought he'd used is not correct. He's going to try other combinations and then I think we'll probably bring it in to that PC shop rather than risk electrocuting ourselves or totally frying the motherboard.

wingnut

Guess different companies approach this differently. I had to do this for a friend with a Dell and they were able to supply a master unlock password over the phone foc.