The Nvidia Defect Forum

Andrew,

I'm both surprised and disappointed by your response, and angered that it has taken you over four weeks since receiving the laptop to produce it; Comet were in possession of the report even before I booked the machine in, and you could / should have contacted Acer at that point, and saved dragging this out.

Could you please clarify the following points:

- you appear to be asserting that Nvidia fitted different components to Acer machines from those they fitted to other brands; could you please confirm how the spec of the component in my machine differs from those failing in other machines?

- you appear to be asserting that because I was unlucky enough to have a graphics card fail after two years, that I should bear the cost of replacement; while the high incidence of failures may make it easier to diagnose the problem, it doesn't take away from the fact that I was sold a pup which did not last anything like as long as an expensive laptop should last; could you please confirm what you think is an acceptable lifespan for a graphics card in a laptop?

- your note implies I should source a replacement component for you to fit - this is different to the offer made by your service centre, who were hoping to charge me £204 for one (I still have the voicemail recording); could you please explain why you have changed your position on this?

- your attached letter implies I should pursue Acer or Nvidia if I wish to take this up through the courts; as I understand the Sale of Goods Act, my contract is with you, and not with the manufacturer; could you please confirm whether or not you are denying your responsibilities under the SGA?

I look forward to hearing from you shortly,
Graeme Robertson

... could you possibly confirm if the moneyclaim link is for English Courts? Do I need to do something different in Scotland? Or is it based on where they are based, rather than where I am based?

Dear Mr Robertson

Thank you for your reply.

The components supplied by nVidia do differ between manufacturers, as their internal makeup will need to factor in the mechanical differences in motherboard design and overall specification of the models they are intended for use in. We have discussed this matter with Acer directly who have confirmed that none of their models have been known to suffer the same defect as noted in Hewlett Packard, Dell, Sony and Apple models with the nVidia graphics chip. Regrettably, we are unable to verify the exact internal variations as the information is held by Acer and nVidia alone. Should you wish to contact them to clarify the matter, you are welcome to do so.

We are unable to specify what an acceptable lifespan is for a graphics card, as guarantees are supplied by the manufacturer. In addition, the Sale of Goods Act does not require goods to remain of merchantable quality or be fit for purpose until the end of their accepted working life and does not hold the retailer responsible for faults that develop after purchase, as the Act is not the equivalent of a guarantee. As previously advised, the retailer is only responsible for faults present from purchase. It is our opinion, having inspected the laptop, that the fault was not present at the time of sale.

In regards to our referrals to nVidia or Acer, we would not wish to diminish our responsibilities under the Sale of Goods Act and are not expecting you to follow this course of enquiry. This suggestion was only offered in good faith, since we are aware that many issues have been resolved in-house by nVidia and the relevant computing manufacturers. Our stance is the same in that we can fit the part if they choose to supply it. Our offer has not changed either, only expanded to include this, and we can still fit the part by ordering it ourselves at a cost of £204 to yourself.

Taking the above into consideration and having reviewed the entire matter, while I am of course very sorry that you disagree with the information in our responses, I am satisfied that it is correct and am therefore unable to assist you any further on this matter.

I trust this clarifies our position.

Kind Regards
Andrew Kingston
Comet Customer Services