The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi,

I just want to say that I'm so glad I discovered this site - looks like I may finally be able to get some money back for my defective laptop! On to the details...

I bought a Samsung Q70 from Laptops Direct on 4th August 2007 for £834.53 paid on debit card. I have the order invoice email and my bank statement to prove this.

In January 2010 (I'm unsure of the exact date), my laptop failed to POST. I tried a CMOS reset but this did not help. Many attempts later, I still couldn't get the laptop to post. Around 15th January (15th was the date I got charged, could have been a few days earlier), I took the laptop to PC World (I know they're terrible but I was at uni and didn't know any other PC shops nearby). They charged me £229 (!) to fix the laptop. Their policy is they won't fix the laptop if it was cost more than a certain amount (not sure how much) to repair but they will then refund the £229. On the 29th January, I received a refund as they were unable to fix the problem (or it would cost them too much...). I have bank statements showing the charge and refund but no invoice to prove this.

I decided to shove the laptop in a drawer and buy a new one as I didn't think there was anything I could do about it. The new laptop was purchased from laptops direct also on 14th February 2010 paid for via paypal. I have proof of this from my emailed invoice and paypal statement.

I recently decided to clear out some of my old belongings and found my old Samsung Q70. Annoyed that I spent so much and only got 2.5 years use out of it, I decided to try repairing it. I did a fair bit of googling and discovered the defective nvidia gpu issue. I decided to try dismantling my laptop, cleaning it out and reapplying thermal paste to the cpu, mch and gpu in the hope that my laptop was just overheating and nothing more. Alas, this did not fix the issue. A bit more googling led me to this brilliant forum. Thus, I contacted laptops direct today via their emessage system requesting a refund or new laptop and am currently waiting for a reply.

I noticed in another thread that the amount of money someone is likely to receive is based off how long they have had the laptop for. It is now 45 months since I purchased the laptop however the laptop developed the fault after just 29 months. I am wondering whether I have any case for getting a refund based on only 29 months of use rather than 45 months as this would make a fair difference to the amount of money I would receive? As mentioned above, my proof isn't exactly concrete, just bank statements showing I paid for and received a refund for something at PC World and I purchased a new laptop from laptops direct.

Any help regarding this would be much appreciated!

Hello Polo and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

Unfortunately because you didn't report the defect straight away to Laptops Direct then they can only take the date of failure as the first date that your report the fault to them.

Whilst I appreciate that this means that any refund is seriously reduced due to the passage of time, at least you won't end up with just an expensive doorstop.

I would be very difficult for you to argue or even prove that the laptop failed after 29 months. The £229 that you spent and was refunded at PC World could have been for anything and so is not proof that your laptop had failed at that time.

Therefore based on the 45 months that you have owned the laptop and the amount you paid, the minimum amount that they should be offering you is £312.95.

Whilst I appreciate that this is maybe not what you wanted to hear I guess it is better than nothing.

You should now contact Laptops Direct and should tell them that your laptop has failed due to an inherent defect with the Nvidia GPU.

They may tell you that your laptop is out of warranty and that there is nothing that they can do. You should tell them that the warranty status is irrelevant as you have six years from the date of purchase in which to bring an action against a retailer when the goods in question are inherently defective.

They may then tell you to contact Samsung. You should tell them that you purchased from Laptops Direct and not from Samsung so it is entirely Laptop Directs responsibility to resolve the situation.

They will then probably tell you to provide an engineers report in order to prove your claim. If they do please let me know as we can help you with that.

There is a step by step guide on this forum that will help you reach a positive resolution and that is here:- post13.html#p13

If you follow my advice in that guide then you will be successful.

I hope the above helps.

If you have any questions or if you need any advice then 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.

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your reply.

I wasn't expecting to be able to prove that it failed after 29 months so I will be happy to get £312 for the laptop. I nearly threw it out before I found this website so it's definitely better than the £0 I would otherwise have got!

I contacted laptops direct last night after reading your step by step guide and they have replied today saying it's not in warranty etc. I will now reply to them stating what you have said.

Thanks again!

Just wanted to wish you luck, I've been struggling to get a result from LD for over 5 months now (you can track my progress here samsung-x65-potential-gfx-failure-outside-warranty-t1077.html). They did eventually offer the relevant refund for the laptop but have flat out refused to refund the cost of the warranty so I have just filed a Small Claim against them. Don't allow them to fob you off, believe me they will, persevere and you will be successful.

Good Luck

Laptops direct got back to me last month asking me to provide an engineer's report so I shall be sorting that out this week.

Hi Paul,

I've just applied for an engineer's report through lapcure however it didn't ask for an address to pick up from. Will it use the address in my profile because that isn't the one I require my laptop to be picked up from. Please reply asap.

Cheers,

Polo

Hello Polo,

I received your email and arranged collection from that address.

I have emailed you with a label plus further instructions.

Any questions please let me know.

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 for the quick response.

Paul confirmed today that my laptop has the defect. I'll be contacting laptopsdirect as soon as I have my laptop back with the engineer's report.

Have to say that I'm delighted with the service Paul provided. It was very quick and he kept me informed as to what was happening at every stage in the process.

Hello Polo,

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated.

Courier has now been booked to return your laptop.

You should receive it back on Friday.

Good luck with the next stage.

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.