The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hey guys, found this forum after a bit of researching what was up with my laptop!
It's always run hot, but in the last month or so, started getting really hot and shutting off - just after the warranty expired, of course
This changed in the last few days to it randomly freezing up mid-use, not responding to anything, and me having to hold the power button down. Being a bit clueless about this kind of thing, and having my computer-savvy brother not around to take a look at it, I continued using it - once or twice it booted up with just a black screen, rebooting fixed it, until around Thursday it booted up with a load of distorted lines over the black, and continued doing this a few times. I left it off, tried it again later, and it worked fine for a couple of days. Saturday it froze up mid-use again, and would start up with the distortion, but no matter how many times I tried it, no luck booting it up. This time I actually googled the issue on another computer, worried I'd broken the monitor somehow, and found a bit of info about it. The power draining method didn't do a thing, didn't work when I got my OH to connect it up to another monitor, and eventually the fn+F6 (Quicklock) got it working for a few minutes - so that confirmed that it wasn't a broken monitor at least! It froze up again and after trying fn+F6 a couple of times again, no luck, so it's been left alone and I've been googling as much as possible!
After finding this forum, I'm convinced this is the issue and am now hoping to get myself a replacement that works!
I bought the laptop from Tesco Direct in October 2008. Unfortunately there was an issue with ordering it online so I had to purchase it over the phone, so there's no order history on the Tesco account - so I'm going to try to hunt down the original receipt, but I'm not the most organised of people so have managed to locate a post on another forum I use stating the date I'd ordered it (yay to forums that don't autoprune threads that far back ) so I'm hoping to pop to my bank and get a statement for that month (online banking won't go that far back) as my prove of purchase.
I searched on here for Tesco and only seen a few threads (and two seem to be ongoing, the other wasn't this defect, so not much help to me unfortunately) - are there any more experiences on tackling Tesco on this issue?
Fingers crossed it's not too much of a hassle to get sorted, hopefully with a bit more scouring of this forum I can arm myself with all the knowledge and correct blurb to throw at Tesco to get a result!

Hello Krlyr and welcome to our forums.

We have had a lot of success against Tesco's - its just that sometime members don't come back to record their success.

When you paid was it by debit or credit card?

That would make a difference insofar as if it was a crdit card then you have further protection.

You should treat Tesco's like any other retailer when dealing with this matter - they all have to abide by the Sale Of Goods Act.

If you can remember the exact date of purchase you can request that they search their records for the sale. It would be disingenuous of them to not offer to do this and to refuse on the grounds that you couldn't prove purchase.

If you can find that statement though then that would be even better.

You should contact Tesco and tell them that your laptop has failed due to an inherent fault and that you want either a refund or a replacement laptop.

They may tell you that you are out of warranty, if they do say that then you should tell them that under the Sale Of Goods Act you have SIX YEARS to take action against a retailer.

They will probably tell you that you need an engineers report. If they do, then please let me know as that is a service we provide.

Tesco, in my opinion, are one of the better retailers in the way that they are handling this problem.

They will still want you to prove the inherent defectiveness of your laptop, but once you have they seem to pay up pretty quickly.

If you have any questions or queries then please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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=======================================================

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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.

It was on debit card unfortunately, I now always try to put large purchases on credit card for the extra protection but at the time the laptop was more than my credit card limit.
Am I better off phoning Tesco Direct, or could I go into the local Tesco Home store to speak to someone in person? Not sure if the latter will say it's nothing to do with them as I ordered over the phone and had it delivered to my house rather than in-store.
Are refunds more likely than replacements, do you know? If they replace it, will it be with the same model or something of the same value? I took a while to choose a laptop that suited me and other than this fault, the dv9700 has been perfect for what I need it for, so ideally I'd like the same thing without the faulty bit of course!

Hello Krlyr

You would be better off phoning Tesco Direct rather than going into a store as they will probably tell you the same.

Tesco seem to refund more times than they replace - not sure why this is but at least it is a resolution.

If they do offer to replace then it could only ever be on a like-for-like basis as otherwise you would end up with a laptop without the features that you had originally purchased the laptop for.

Don't let them fob you off with the "out of warranty" nonsense.

If you need 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.

Thanks for the advice.
The IT technician at work has kindly offered to backup all my data from the laptop, but I wondered whether it would be sensible to see if he can wipe it off after I've got what I need, or will this affect my claim? I assume Tesco will just dispose of the laptop once I've got my replacement/refund and I'd rather know that my stuff has been wiped off at least once (I know it's not foolproof but better than nothing). There's nothing majorly personal on there but I don't like the thought of all my files being in the hands of complete strangers, if you know what I mean.

Hello,

Sure, go ahead and wipe off your personal information - it cannot affect your claim in any way.

To be honest though, most people have been left with their laptop at the end of the claim.

That is to say, they either got their money back or got a replacement laptop and still got to keep the faulty laptop.

If that happens to you, stick it on ebay as failed due to the Nvidia defect and they go for good money.

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.

Laptop wiped and bank statement finally dug up - though it turns out the laptop was paid for on a relative's credit card - at the time, they were working for Tesco (not Tesco Direct) so using their staff Clubcard got me a discount on the laptop. Will either the staff discount or the fact it wasn't on my card affect my claim? I can't remember who's name it was ordered in as I can't find a receipt. Will I need the relative to write a letter allowing me to persue a refund on their behalf (and if so, is there a template for this?)?

Hello,

Only the person who originally purchased the laptop will be able to pursue this.

You can get that person to tell Tesco that all communication etc should be done through you.

Once you have done this then Tesco should deal with you directly.

Sorry, but I do not have a template letter for this at the moment but will draft one up this evening and post it into the downloads section.

Hope this is ok for you.

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.

Just got off the phone, they're sending a form for claiming outside of the warranty. Apparently give the age and price of the laptop, it's likely that if I include any documentation (something from HP if possible, but even print outs from the internet, as long as it's to do with the same model laptop) saying this is a known issue, they'll repair it for free. He advised me not to get a report done as they may not accept the claim, and won't refund me the cost of it. Is this right or legally am I entitled to have the cost of the report paid back to me? Also, if an independant report says it's faulty, they're legally obliged to fix or replace it anyway, right?
It's progress - they've not flat out said no they won't pay, but he did sound a bit like he wasn't quite giving the right advice - telling me to take it up with HP initially, though I said that if it's a faulty laptop it's their responsibility as retailer to replace/repair/refund me, not HP's, and he did give all the above info after that.

Hello,

Would you be prepared to accept a repair to your laptop?

We actually advise against this due to the unavailability of reliable parts.

If the retailer does insist on a repair then you should ask that they give you a written guarantee, on their headed notepaper, that states the following:-

"The laptop being used to repair your laptop is from a completely new batch and is 100% free from the Nvidia defect. Should it transpire at some point in the future that the replacement board is also inherently defective then I will be given a refund or replacement laptop"

If they are prepared to give you that then you have nothing to loose.

They have asked you to get something from HP that shows your model of laptop is defective. Well, if your model isn't on HP's "list" then they will not give you such a document.

You can gather other evidence on your laptop but will Tesco's accept that?

They cannot tell you not to get an independent report, the "reverse burden of proof" means that it is up to you to prove that your laptop is inherently defective by whatever means possible.

I would call them again and ask them specifically what type of information would they accept as being confirmation that a problem exists in your laptop?

I would also ask them why they are not considering your laptop as a single case? Why do you have to prove your laptop is faulty on the basis that other peoples laptops are faulty?

I would ask them how long the guarantee will be on the replacement mainboard.

I would also ask them about the written guarantee.

Once you have these facts you can decide how to proceed.

It seems very strange to me that you have to prove your laptop is inherently defective by showing other peoples laptops have failed. Very strange.

Please let me know how you get on and i will advise further.

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.