The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi all - new to this

Just wondered if anyone had any advice. My laptop packed up last week (18 months out of warranty) - IT guys at work advised me this was due to the dreaded NVidia graphics card, and then found this website for me.

So:

Visited PC World on Sunday - took lap top with me - they didn't look (or ask to look) at the lap top, but gave me their head office number for customer service.
Spoke to them Sunday afternoon - gave details (as advised on forums here, thank you!) - they said someone would call back in 7-8 days (!).
However, Monday (today) afternoon I get a call - they are offering me £130 as "full and final settlement". For a lap top that "cost" £250 this would appear to be quite a good offer, especially as I haven't been asked for any proof at this stage. My problem however is that I bought the lap top, as many do, with a contract mobile broadband offer with 3 Mobile - so all in all I have forked out @ £900. I know for a fact that the £35/month that I was paying to 3, split into the cost of the broadband and the cost of the laptop (as had issues when the contract ended, but that's another story!).

Having mentioned this to PC World Cust Services, their "argument" appears to be that this contract is irrelevant - even though they have admitted that they had an agreement with 3 to supply this lap top anyway.

I have refused their initial offer, saying that offering @10% of what I have paid out is not acceptable. He agreed to discuss with his manager and I am awaiting another phone call.

Has anyone else managed to negotiate a "deal" to include and acknowledge that the true cost of the lap top includes a proportion of the monthly contract payments? Or does anyone think it is worth fighting further, or should I just accept ? (am not inclined to at this stage...)

Grateful for any help / advice - but am intrigued that it all appears to have been very easy so far........

Thanks
Meg

Hello Meg and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

The £230 that they have offered only reflects the price of the laptop and not the internet contract.

I do have an issue with this though as like yourself, most people enter into these contracts purely because they receive a laptop with mobile internet at an affordable monthly cost.

If one were to try and breakdown the cost of the laptop vs the cost of the internet then one would assume that the cost of the laptop would be more.

If you purchased in July 2008 and it failed in January 2011 then I calculate you have made 30 payments of £35 making a total paid of £1050.

If PC World are claiming that the cost of the laptop is only £250 then that means that the internet cost you £800 for 30 months usage or £26.67 per month. What was the data allowance on the broadband as that figure, if correct, is scandalously high.

If you were to enter into a contract and part of that contract involved the supply of a laptop and then later it transpires that the laptop is inherently defective, then purely making an allowance against the cost of the laptop is insufficient. Their offer only reflects their valuation of the laptop at the time of the sale but does not make an allowance for damages to cover your losses.

I think a fairer refund would be £400 - £450 though I don't think that they would necessarily agree with me.

What is the exact P/N of your laptop? This can be found on the white barcode label on the underside of the laptop. It would be good to search for what that model of laptop was selling for in 2008.

Whilst PC World have made an initial offer it won't be their last.

Please let me know the above and I will advise further.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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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

- they have only offered £130 (think you had typo above) - which as you say is just for the lap top. I paid the £35/month for 24 months - of which £21/month was the "lap top" element of it (know this due to them over charging me at the end of the contract, 3 Mobile gave me the split). So I have done quick calcs and if you take the mobile costs out, then the cost to me for the lap top was £628. It will be interesting to hear what they come back with - although they keep on saying that the 3 contract was with 3, I physically couldn't have walked out of PC World with the lap top under my arm by only paying the £250, which I will stand by.

The P/N is KQ081EA#ABU - if you can find out what it was worth at the time that would be really helpful - thanks!

Will keep you updated anyway......

thanks
Meg

Hello Meg,

I did a quick check on the HP Support Website for your model of laptop and found this:- http://tinyurl.com/4ehaje2

This is the BIOS update page for your laptop. On the 8th April 2008 HP released a BIOS update, the purpose of which, according to HP, was:-



This means that as early as 8th April 2008 HP must have been aware for the potential for your laptop to overheat, otherwise why release a BIOS update that switches the fans on continuously to the detriment of the battery?

I note that this release came BEFORE you purchased the laptop. This means that HP and their resellers allowed the continued sale of this model when there was a potential for its premature failure.

That is a good bit of evidence for you as it virtually proves that the laptop was indeed inherently defective at the time of sale.

Sorry about my initial mistake on the refund amount that they had offered, their offer is therefore way too low and should be rejected.

When 3 mobile gave you the split between the cost of the internet and the cost of the laptop did they out this in writing?

I have have a look at prices for around the time you purchased and the price was around the £628 that you have quoted so that is not hard to prove.

Don't let them fob you off with the pitifully low offer that they have offered. Stand your ground be persistent and you will succeed.

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

BIOS info really useful (not sure I understand it but don't need to!), thank you - think it adds to the overall abysmal situation.

Re the split from 3 - not in writing as such - but as they overcharged me on my bill they then refunded the difference - so it is provable in a round about way.

Prices you have found are good news - again huge thanks - every little helps.

Interesting though that they called me yesterday but I was in a meeting, then I left a message asking them to call today but all has been rather quiet...however allowing me to amass thoughts and evidence, which is really useful.

Am v grateful for your help with this - can assure you I am standing firm!

Again will keep you updated......

cheers
Meg

This has been a rather stressful month....I will provide full detail once I get to a full conclusion with PC world....but in the meantime:

Their customer service is abysmal - and due to the lack of their communication, i ended up writing a 5 page letter of complaint which took them 5 days to respond to! It has cost me over £25+ in mobile calls (yet to be refunded..but might happen).

Latest communication is from about the 10th person i have spoken to - and to be fair he is trying to help. We now have agreed price for what the lap top cost me - BUT he is now questioning whether my graphics card is NVIDIA - when all supporting info i have is that this is the case....

Anyway - he has asked me to take to PC world tech guys - and then they will decide whether repair possible, or whether compensation necessary (which would be more in line with what i have asked for) - taking it to pc world this weekend - at NO charge to me (confirmed). and IF repair, then again no cost - but this defeats the point as have already told them i had to buy new lap top (and also had confirmed that vouchers would not be appropriate 2 weeks ago, yet still offered this!). they also asked whether i bought new laptop from pc world - funnily enough no i didn't!

Of the many issues i have had, i think it is important for others to remember:

1) keep going, even when they dont reply to calls or email complaints
2) they have offered me random amounts of "compensation" which have varied up and down depending on who i spoke to - this has been confirmed as " not appropriate" (in my complaint i told them they were applying a random policy which was unacceptable) - and the value offered went up and down, so again not consistent..
3) keep a note of all costs of calls, i have been offered "goodwill gesture" for these - yet all calls made due to their inefficiences and never calling back when promised.

I have googled all service specs for my laptop, and all say that the graphics card is INVIDIA - i dont have the detail of why they think otherwise - is there anyway i can find this out specifically? esp as i cant actually get my lap top to work!!

Overall this has been a painful process - and is still not at the end - I am not impressed, BUT i think they are finally listening to me......

Will let you know the outcome.......if we manage to get one!

On another note - bought new laptop from John Lewis who were fantastic!

the saga continues....

meg

Hello Meg,

Sorry to hear of all the stress that PC World are putting you through.

To say that they are consistently inconsistent is an understatement.

Their procrastination does nothing other than alienate their customers and it is wholly unprofessional.

If you can let me know the P/N from the white barcode label on the underside the laptop I will tell you the exact specs of your laptop.

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

think i posted p/n before, but is KQ081EA#ABU - they are a complete shambles to be honest - if i wasnt stroppy (or confident as others may see it) then i would have given up a long time ago.. i am now fighting not just for me, but for others who cant see their way through this situation - outrageous really. you wouldn't believe some of the conversations i have had.....!!!!

grateful for anything you can help with - i thought i had all my facts right, worried that now i don't...

cheers
meg

Hello Meg,

Ok, bad news I'm afraid.

When I originally checked your P/N I was looking for BIOS updates and not for system specifications so I didn't check your system specs.

Your laptop actually contains an Intel GPU rather that an Nvidia GPU and that can be verified here:- http://tinyurl.com/6dntgfu

This does not mean that your laptop is not inherently defective though.

It could be that the laptop has failed because of the BGA grid underneath the GPU.

The fact that HP released the BIOS update for your model of laptop still shows that HP must have been aware of the potential for your laptop to overheat otherwise why release a BIOS update that switches the fans on continuously?

The reason for the failure of the BGA grid could be due to the fact that manufacturers are having to become ROHS compliant (Reduction Of Harmful Substances" and in doing so have had to remove the lead from the lead based solder.

The truth is that the new solder cannot cope with the same conditions that its predecessor could and so the BGA grid breaks down in much the same way as the Nvidia defect.

Have you obtained an engineers report on your laptop yet?

Don't worry, this doesn't change anything because if the failure can be attributed to the BGA grid then this would still constitute as being an inherent defect.

I hope the above helps.

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.

OK next update - been to PC World, and they have confirmed that the graphics card is at fault and that the lap top is as dead as a duck!- they spoke to the team i have been dealing with at head office, and apparently my case manager will call me back next week. I know he isn't working this weekend so I don't have an issue with waiting for another 48 hours or so...... What I don't know is now whether they think it is worth mending or not. I haven't had an independant report, but with hindsight i maybe should have done this at the beginning - think would probably advise others to do this....

- and the girl i dealt with was actually very good and helpful, even when i was starting to get into mini rant mode! so they do employ some staff who are aware of customer service!

Thanks for the BIOS and BGA Grid info by the way, it made me sound as if i knew what i was talking about!!

Now to wait for Monday.......

thanks again
Meg