The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi,

So I found your forum and decided that I would follow your advice and take action against PC World.

My laptop has failed after only 2 years due to a defective nvida graphics card, (as confirmed by my local laptop repair shop). Althought I have only just discovered this forum so it is only now I have started to take action!

I sent the 1st letter (as templated on here) explaining the situatuon and recieved a phone call from a snotty women in the head office dept. She said that if I obtained an engineers report or let them have a look at it and it was proven to be a faulty graphics card then she would refund the depriciated value of the laptop which she said to be £285.

Now my questions are as follows:

How can I find out what I am truly owed? I paid £709 for it on the 1st December 2007. It failed around the 4th January 2010, So it worked for around 2 years?? £285 seems nothing compared with what I paid and at the time it was a top of the range laptop, I would only be able to get a notebook or something with that!

What are my rights under the sale of goods act?? The lady from head office seemed to think that it is a manufacturing fault, not inherintely defective as if it were then it would have gone wrong straight away. She said as it is a maufacturing fault I only have 2 years to claim on this. Please help?

I fully intend to get an engineers report by someone other than PC World. She offered to have her team look at it at her cost but said that if I payed for a independant one then they would not pay for it.

Please could you help with these issues and let me know of my rights.

Thanks in advance! (",)

Stu

Hello Stu and welcome to our forum.

Sorry to hear that your laptop has failed.

I did a quick check on the HP support forum to see if I could find any further information on your model of laptop and found this:- http://tinyurl.com/3dx6y7u

This is the BIOS update page for your model of laptop. On the 25th March 2008 HP released an update for your laptop. The purpose of the update, according to the HP site, was:-



This proves that as early as 25th April 2008 HP must have known of 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 the update was released within three months of you purchasing the laptop. Had you been notified of this then you could have legally rejected the laptop as you would still be within what is described as "a reasonable period of time".

I know you have stated that your laptop failed in January 2010, but when did you actually report the fault to the retailer as this is the date that will be taken as the date of failure.

Please let me know and I will properly calculate the refund that you would be entitled to.

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.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for looking into that for me. The laptop had been overheating from day 1 but as an unexperienced laptop user (this being my first one) I thought they all did this so i invested in a laptop tray with 3 extra fans within it too help keep the laptop cool. Obviously this kept the laptop going a bit longer but now it is completly useless.

I reported this case to PC World at the end of March this year. I was not aware anything could be done until my mum found this site. My girlfriend and I have not long had a baby too so we have been tied up. I only wish we could have found your site earlier!

They have quoted me £285? I paid £709, somehow it doesn't seem fair given it was a top of the range laptop at the time and if i hadn't invested in those fans it would have died alot sooner.

Also please can you help me on this issue......... PC World are saying that because I do not have the receipt that means I can't prove I brought it from there. I have explained that I have the credit card statement with the transaction on saying the date it was purchased, Pc World Plymouth and the amount. I told them I also have the original box which has their DSG Retail address on, surely this is enough? What are my rights? They say the credit card statement isn't proof as I could have brought anything from there?

kind regards,

Stu (",)

Hello Stu,

It saddens me to see the way that some retailers treat their customers.

The credit card statement is sufficient proof of purchase and all that PC World have to do is to enter either your post code or the serial number of the laptop and that should show that you did indeed purchase from them.

It is good news that you paid by credit card though as this means that if PC World refuse to help then you can pursue the credit card company as in situations such as this the credit card company are jointly and severally liable for the inherent defectiveness of your laptop.

There is no requirement for anyone to produce a receipt when making such a claim. The only requirement is being able to prove purchase and one would do this either by a debit or credit card statement.

The fact that you still have the box which has their name and delivery address adds credence to your claim that you purchased that laptop from them on the date that you state.

Did you contact PC World at any time during ownership to report problems with your laptop?

I note that your laptop failed in January 2010. When did you report the failure to PC World?

Unfortunately, it is usually the case that the date that the failure is reported is taken as the date that the laptop failed.

If you can let me know the exact date that you reported your laptop as having failed to PC World then I will calculate the minimum refund that you should be offered.

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 so the exact date i reported it to them was the 28th March 2011.

I would really appreciate it if your company could do an engineers report for me. I have registered with Lapcure. What should i put in the job description post?

Kind regards,

Stu

Hello Stu,

Well, it is unfortunate that you only just reported the fault to PC World as it will reduce the amount of refund that you are entitled to.

However, you could always argue that you did not know at the time that your laptop was inherently defective and so did not do anything about it at that time. However, after the passage of time you have since discovered that the laptop was doomed to fail prematurely and so began your claim.

The fact that HP released the BIOS update within three months of your ownership and failed to inform you means that you could be in a much stronger position than if there were no update.

If you book your laptop in for a report just put a little detail of the problems you experienced plus just mention that you would like a report.

I will then arrange a courier to collect the laptop.

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.

Hi PAul,

Thanks for the engineers report it is great, very informative and professional!

I will send it to them this week along with the 2nd template letter. I am hoping to get a decent refund now, fingers crossed all will go well! I will keep you posted!

Hi there

Very interesting

I noted that there is a template letter that I can send to P C World.

Where can I find this please?
I tried the BIOS update and the fans were on all the time but still the operation of my laptop was intermittent, it went through the cycling 5 second boot then progressed to nothing. The battery was red hot as well, but HP said my battery didn't qualify for replacement, the fact it got so hot the serial number label eventually fell off.

Regards keep up the good work

Hello Uptodatedad and welcome to our forum.

The template letter that you should send to PC World can be found here:- download/letter_before_action.doc

If you require any help or advice then 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.