broken laptop - 18 month old

[Whoozit]

Try taking it to an Apple Store. I had a three year old ipad mini. The touch stopped working along one side. They exchanged it on the spot even though technically out of warranty, as they said it was likely to be a manufacturing issue.

[Bikerjon]

Glasgowrob said:

megaphone said:

Have you actually taken it to an Apple store?

yip, who reffered me back to the company i purchased it from.

It still surprises me the differing outcomes this can have. For many people a trip to the Apple store is all it takes and the matter is dealt with swiftly and everyones happy. For others they get nowhere other than a hefty quote for the repair.

[LDN]

I just bought a Dell XPS direct from Dell; then realised I could get the exact same
Model from John Lewis; who give a two year guarantee as standard. So I bought it again from JL and returned the Dell ordered one.

Always looks on JL!

[Undercover Agent]

As an ex-computer-retailer, This consumer right thing about 7 years etc is an absolute insult to all retailers - I had (luckily) only 1 incident where an awkward customer started to get all arsey after her 2 year old laptop started playing up, started sending long-winded cut 'n' paste consumer rights emails to me etc etc.

The problem is that most computer retailers are literally just box-shifting. They have zero control over the products from any manufacturer, even if they have a proven manufacturing fault, these will only come to light months later.

When we contact the Manufacturer, they want nothing to do with it, same when we contact the distributor, we get stuck in the middle with a costly issue that is 100% no fault of our own.
The law (is it even a real law?) needs to be changed to make this the responsibility of the MANUFACTURER, not the retailer.

[mmm-five]

Undercover Agent said:

The law (is it even a real law?) needs to be changed to make this the responsibility of the MANUFACTURER, not the retailer.

I do agree somewhat though, and would happily have it that the retailer was responsible for hardware (or manufacturer installed software) issues in the first year, and then back to manufacturer for any further year.

But the consumer didn't buy it from the manufacturer (or distributor, or reseller, or whatever other 3rd party a retailer bought it from), so how would they go about enforcing their individual rights against a huge multi-national, based in China.

Much easier to go to the local PC shop and moan about it there.

[Undercover Agent]

mmm-five said:

Undercover Agent said:

The law (is it even a real law?) needs to be changed to make this the responsibility of the MANUFACTURER, not the retailer.

I do agree somewhat though, and would happily have it that the retailer was responsible for hardware (or manufacturer installed software) issues in the first year, and then back to manufacturer for any further year.

But the consumer didn't buy it from the manufacturer (or distributor, or reseller, or whatever other 3rd party a retailer bought it from), so how would they go about enforcing their individual rights against a huge multi-national, based in China.

Much easier to go to the local PC shop and moan about it there.

That's the thing, I'd happily(ish) deal with the returns/RMA process on behalf of the customer, but at the end of the day it HAS to be the manufacturer that is the one out of pocket, not the innocent retailer who literally moved a sealed box from goods-in to dispatch.

This is one reason I left the business.

[Kermit power]

Undercover Agent said:

mmm-five said:

Undercover Agent said:

The law (is it even a real law?) needs to be changed to make this the responsibility of the MANUFACTURER, not the retailer.

I do agree somewhat though, and would happily have it that the retailer was responsible for hardware (or manufacturer installed software) issues in the first year, and then back to manufacturer for any further year.

But the consumer didn't buy it from the manufacturer (or distributor, or reseller, or whatever other 3rd party a retailer bought it from), so how would they go about enforcing their individual rights against a huge multi-national, based in China.

Much easier to go to the local PC shop and moan about it there.

That's the thing, I'd happily(ish) deal with the returns/RMA process on behalf of the customer, but at the end of the day it HAS to be the manufacturer that is the one out of pocket, not the innocent retailer who literally moved a sealed box from goods-in to dispatch.

This is one reason I left the business.

Wouldn't that be the sort of thing that would be written into your reseller agreements with the suppliers?

Failing that, surely at least you'd have some sort of insurance cover for faulty goods returns and factor the cost of the premiums into your selling price?

[Frankthered]

Bikerjon said:

Glasgowrob said:

megaphone said:

Have you actually taken it to an Apple store?

yip, who reffered me back to the company i purchased it from.

It still surprises me the differing outcomes this can have. For many people a trip to the Apple store is all it takes and the matter is dealt with swiftly and everyones happy. For others they get nowhere other than a hefty quote for the repair.

I'm a little surprised too. We had the power supply fail on a 3 yo iMac back in 2015 - suspected power surge and was progressing with a claim on the home insurance. Had to take it into the Apple Store to get a quote for the work and he gave me the back news and then said, "Ooh, hang on. I see you bought it from the online (Apple) store, we might be able to fix this for free, let me check."

He shuffled into the back of the store and when he came back he mumbled something about the eu and online sales and that they could do it for free and I was very happy!!I

I do make a point of buying Apple products from their online store now!

I appreciate that's not much help OP, but it sounds like the threat of going legal on them might just do the trick, even if it's only on the grounds that it will cost them more (in time) to fight than it does to just settle with you.

[anonymous-user]

" it HAS to be the manufacturer that is the one out of pocket, not the innocent retailer who literally moved a sealed box from goods-in to dispatch. "

The innocent retailer who literally moved a sealed box from goods-in to dispatch and added a nice markup.

If the consumer has to go to the manufacturer when there's a problem, then they should be allowed to go direct to purchase at the wholesale price.

[budgie smuggler]

Bikerjon said:

It still surprises me the differing outcomes this can have. For many people a trip to the Apple store is all it takes and the matter is dealt with swiftly and everyones happy. For others they get nowhere other than a hefty quote for the repair.

Doesn't surprise me at all, apple are s.
We had a widely known GPU fault with a Macbook Pro and Apple basically told us in no uncertain terms to foxtrot oscar. While we were in there, somebody came in with a smashed iPhone screen and they fixed it FOC. I was absolutely fuming. I am certain they knew about the fault and a few months later they did start repairing them for free (once they started getting bad press over it).

My family had Macs going all the way back to the Classic with a Motorola 68K CPU, 4MB of RAM and Connectix Ram Doubler. But I never bought another after that treatment.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Monday 24th September 19:57

[Bikerjon]

budgie smuggler said:

We had a widely known GPU fault with a Macbook Pro and Apple basically told us in no uncertain terms to foxtrot oscar. While we were in there, somebody came in with a smashed iPhone screen and they fixed it FOC. I was absolutely fuming. I am certain they knew about the fault and a few months later they did start repairing them for free (once they started getting bad press over it).

Edited by budgie smuggler on Monday 24th September 19:57

Kind of my point. On a different day in a different store maybe, just maybe, you would have had a different outcome. I certainly know people who've had GPU faults well out of warranty and they've been fixed FOC. I also know people that haven't.

[Undercover Agent]

keirik said:

" it HAS to be the manufacturer that is the one out of pocket, not the innocent retailer who literally moved a sealed box from goods-in to dispatch. "

The innocent retailer who literally moved a sealed box from goods-in to dispatch and added a nice markup.

If the consumer has to go to the manufacturer when there's a problem, then they should be allowed to go direct to purchase at the wholesale price.

No, what I'm saying is at the end of the day it has to be the manufacturer that's out of pocket, not the retailer who is lucky to make 5% in a lot of cases.

The (independent) retailer currently has almost no way to get a refund from the manufacturer/distributor in most cases, its a case of being stuck in the middle with an angry customer on one end and being blanked by the manufacturer on the other.

I'm not saying that a consumer should go direct to the manufacturer (although in a lot of cases like Dyson the can and do) - Im saying that the liability needs to drain back through the system to the manufacturer, and not get stuck at the retailer who has basically nothing to do with the situation.

[anonymous-user]

Undercover Agent said:

No, what I'm saying is at the end of the day it has to be the manufacturer that's out of pocket, not the retailer who is lucky to make 5% in a lot of cases.

The (independent) retailer currently has almost no way to get a refund from the manufacturer/distributor in most cases, its a case of being stuck in the middle with an angry customer on one end and being blanked by the manufacturer on the other.

I'm not saying that a consumer should go direct to the manufacturer (although in a lot of cases like Dyson the can and do) - Im saying that the liability needs to drain back through the system to the manufacturer, and not get stuck at the retailer who has basically nothing to do with the situation.

I think it is right and proper that the retailer is not left out of pocket

Certainly Tesco isn't left out of pocket if someone returns such an item

But it is down to the retailer to ensure such eventualities are covered in their own agreement with their suppliers and is of no concern to the consumer

[jonamv8]

HP st laptop died 13 months old. Worth £650 ish , told me to do one basically