The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi,

First of all I would just like to say how useful this forum has been so far in getting me to where I am with my problem. I purchased an HP DV6190EU from Comet in November 2007 as a present from my wife. It has been nothing but problems and had its first motherboard replacement after eight months was back with them again within three months and had another motherboard replaced a year later. It has now failed again so it is time to take action.

I read all the information within this forum and contacted Comet about the problem. They gave me the old fob off saying it's out of warranty etc etc and wasn't their problem. They were aware of the sale of goods act when I spoke to the head office but said there was nothing they could do. I decided to use the template letter and document history surrounding this laptop and sent it corded delivery to them. I've been trying to get an update on it the last few days and finally had a call back today saying that after consultation with HP and the fact that it is out of their warranty including the extended warranty HP offered when they admitted there was a fault with it, the only thing they could offer was to take the laptop back and repair it at my cost! She said n their opinion it wasn't an inherent fault as it took eight months to fail in the first instance! I explained that it takes time for the fault to appear but she wasn't really interested.

I explained to the agent that it is a known issue and that her company was well aware of the problems having had reports against other laptops and that my next course of action would be Small Claims Court.

As yet I have not had an engineer's report on my laptop as it is the third time this has gone wrong I know what the problem is that I don't know if this would be required in the court documentation? I do have all of the HP documentation which explains what was done during each repair and also e-mail from them offering the extended warranty due to the issue with the graphics chip which I think should put me in good stead in the courts.

As this laptop seemed such a good buy at the time I recommended it to some friends as well as my mother. They bought theirs from Comet and my mothers has had a new motherboard once and my friends have had some new one twice so this also proves the quality of the product. Before I bought my wife's laptop I had purchased a DV 2126 whilst I was working in Malaysia and two weeks after hers failed, mine also failed. Typical!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Richard.

Hi Richard,

In my personal opinion I would get an engineers report, If you were to go to court with Comet at the moment you have no proof that your laptop in inherently faulty. I had my engineer’s report done by Paul and it explains everything in detail about the defect, how the machine was tested and why repair aren’t the best option.

Send a letter with the report saying you've suffered a "consequential loss" of getting the report and mention "time is of the essence", both are legal terms. Say you are giving them 14 days to respond and you will go to small claims after that.

I've had the same problems with Comet trying to fob me off and put the responsibility onto someone else. It seems as if Comet take there time in responding in the hope you'll give up and buy a laptop else where. Also by making you jump through all the hoops you’re more likely to give up. Ultimately there’s no way you can loose if you follow the right procedures.

Out of interest who have you been dealing with so far with Comet.

Cheers
Dom

Thanks for the advice Dom. I have been dealing with Lydia in Investigations so far. She picked up the case when I sent the letter to them specifying all of the problems.

Richard.

Hello Richard and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear of the problems you have been experiencing with your laptop.

In my opinion Comet are fully aware of the problems with these defective laptops - they should be as they have refunded a large number of customers who had purchased them.

Two replacement motherboards is an absolute scandal - especially considering that it has failed yet again.

I would say that a refund is now your only way forward.

If you have already sent them the letter before action then your only course of action now is to secure an engineers report.

You will need this in court to prove conclusively that your laptop is inherently defective.

You can try to win your case without it, but best be prepared.

The cost of the report can be recouped from the retailer.

Once you have the report you should send a copy to Comet with an accompanying letter stating that this is the evidence you will rely on in your small claims action against them.

Give them fourteen days to respond and at the end of the letter include the line "in this matter time is of the essence"

If you would like to proceed with the report then please let me know.

I really do think that you are being treated scandalously - especially after the number of times your laptop has failed.

Their comment of:-



really does show how little they know of the problem.

The time to manifestation of the defect can be anything up to 15 months - how many of the laptops they have refunded on failed within 8 months? Not as many as those that failed after 8 months I'll bet!

Any queries please let me know.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Update.

Comet have been giving me the run around ever since I sent my engineers report to them. It is supposedly with a "manager" who is reviewing the case and everytime I call I am told they will ring me back that day. This has been going on for nearly two weeks with no call backs so today I have filed my claim online. Hopefully this should get some response! Thanks Paul for all of your help so far.

No problems, I hope you have added an amount for your time researching this problem.

The standard is around 10 hours at £7 per hour.

It is a shame that it has come to this, but, if this is what it takes then so be it.

Good luck.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Thanks Paul. I didn't submit that many hours as your how to file a claim guide mentioned five hours. The claim has now been processed so hopefully they will do something in the next fourteen days.

Good luck with that.

I cannot believe that Comet frustrate customers so much that they have to take legal action - and then Comet invariably don't turn up at court.

Shameful behaviour if you ask me.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

_________________
=======================================================
Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
FAQ's
Why you should not accept a repair
Links to evidence
What is the Nvidia Defect?
Step by step help to getting a refund
Do you need an engineers report?
=======================================================

If you like what you see on this forum and would like to help then please post links to this forum in other forums or blogs. The more people we can help the better.


Please note that I am not legally qualified and I only offer my own personal advice. You are advised to seek professional legal advice for formal clarification of advice I give.

Update:

Comet have just called and informed me that after "consulting" with HP again they will offer a repair free of charge. I asked if I get a written guarantee and was told I would but no further details. Funny this should happen now the court sent the papers on Monday! I said that seeing as I had paid for the report and also the court costs I would be out of pocket if I accepted this offer. She went to consult her manager and they will not offer these costs back to me. Do I have to accept this offer and if I proceed to court would I still win? If I accept the offer what sort of guarntee should I demand?

Thanks for any advice.

Richard.

Update II:

Aparently the repair is being offered by HP and not Comet! I have just been told that Comet are acting as mediator between me and HP even though my contract is with Comet. Interesting )

I asked for full details of the guarantee seeing as HP have already repaired it twice with a new motherboard and also asked for not defective parts to be used.

Richard.