The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi There

I bought my HP Pavillion dv6000 (service tag dv6360eu) from QVC in July 2007, and in December 2009 it failed with what I believe to be the Nvidea chip defect. I called Customer services 2 weeks ago to try and discuss the issue, and I was fobbed off with "out of warranty" stories, so I asked if the operator had heard of Martin Lewis and moneysavingexpert.com. She said that she had, so I quoted details about the sale of goods act from his website, but she still was taking "the company line".

I have just composed this letter to the Customer Services Manager, using a combination of your letter template and the one I downloaded from the BBC One Show page you reference. It goes like this:

Customer Services Manager
Department Q
QVC Customer Operations Centre
South Boundary Road
Knowsley Industrial Park
KNOWSLEY, LIVERPOOL
L70 2QA
14th February 2010

Dear Sir,

RE: Faulty goods and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 15th July 2007 I bought an HP Brightview Wireless Laptop computer from QVC for £636.58 which stopped working in December 2009 (completely black screen on start up POST with error beep code of one long beep followed by two short beeps).

I believe the problem is due to a faulty Nvidia Graphics Chip. I have spoken to a number of people who are very experienced with the problem affecting my laptop and have been informed that this problem is also an issue for thousands of laptops including those made by HP, Dell and Apple. The problem is well documented on the internet (try to google “Nvidia defect”).

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) states that when a consumer buys goods from a trader they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller.

This legislation also states that the seller, not the manufacturer, is legally obliged to sort out a problem if the goods do not meet these requirements.

The law also says I have six years from the date of purchase to claim damages for faulty goods.

It is my contention that a high quality computer should be expected to last for at least five years, and as mine has stopped working after only two and a half years it is not fit for purpose or of satisfactory quality and I wish to claim a refund of the full cost of the Laptop under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended. Under the legislation, a claim could be made for a replacement, repair or refund; however as the fault is with a major component of the computer a replacement could suffer from the same fault after a short while and a repair could not be guaranteed to last. This is why I am requesting a refund.

Please respond to my complaint within 7 days from receipt of this letter. If I do not receive a satisfactory resolution to this matter then I will obtain an independent engineers report (the cost of which will be added to my claim) and use this, together with the articles of information available on this well documented inherent fault and pursue the matter through the Small Claims Courts.


Yours faithfully,

What is next? I presume that if they don't send me a cheque the next step is to send it off to you for the engineers technical report.

Have you any knowledge of anyone else claiming from QVC?

Regards

Kevin

p.s.
any idea which Nvidea chip my computer uses?

KW

Hello Kevin and welcome to our forum.

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

The letter is well written and clearly sets out your points.

There is just one little bit I would change and that is as follows:-



I would change that to read:-



Just a small change but it makes a difference.

I have not had any experience of anyone else taking action against QVC, but that is not a problem and you should treat them like any other retailer.

You should send that letter to them via recorded delivery and make sure you keep a copy of the letter and postal receipt.

If they do not respond within seven days then you should proceed to obtain an engineers report.

Please let me know when you are at that stage and I will send you further information.

Regarding the Nvidia chip in your laptop, please let me know the P/N from the bar code label on the underside and I will let you know.

If you have any questions or queries then please do not hesitate to ask.

Persistence is the key to success. If you persist and don't give up then you will win if your laptop is indeed inherently defective.

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
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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.

My P/N is GH812EA#ABU
theres a big sticker on the front saying "Graphics by nVIDEA"! If only I'd known to avoid! To think it was used as a selling point!

KW

Hello Kevin,

The chip in your laptop is an Nvidia Geforce Go 7200.

Hope this helps.

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.

Result!
I've had a conversation with someone from "the chief executives' office", and he has told me to get an engineers report, and if my problem is confirmed as the Nvidia Defect then I will get a full refund to include the cost of the report.

So Paul! I need to get it packed up and sent to you over the next week.

Regards

Kevin

Hello Kevin,

Excellent news.

If only other retailers were as accommodating.

The cost of the engineers report is £65 which includes the collect and return carriage via DHL.

You can claim this cost back from the retailer when requesting your refund/replacement.

Turnaround time for these reports is 5 business days.

In order to proceed with the engineers report please do the following.

1) Please go to http://www.lapcure.co.uk/register.php

Complete the registration page and then verify your email address.

2) Once you have done that please then login to the site and click on the "Add a job" link.

Fill in details about your laptop and then once you are sure the details are correct please save the record.

Once you have done that the courier will be booked to collect the laptop the next business day.

We use DHL for the collect and return carriage.

Please ensure that laptop is securely boxed with sufficient packaging to withstand transit to ourselves.

Once you have booked your laptop in I will email you with the label to place on the box.

Payment is not due until the report is ready.

I will email you a PDF copy of the report and will include 3 copies of the report and invoice with your laptop.

If you have any questions or queries then please do not hesitate to contact 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.

I don't have a 2nd address line
just 1 line (house number and road)
then town
then postcode
registration form is throwing a wobbler and won't let me register without adding a 2nd address line...which I don't have!

Hello Kevin

Put N/A on the 2nd address line.

That will solve it.

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.

Paul

Another quick thought.... before i stumbled across what was actually going on, I initially thought I had power problems and bought a new replacement battery. Given that QVC have been receptive so far, do you think I'd be pussing my luck if I tried to claim for the cost of this too?

Kevin