The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi,
Can anyone advise me please.
My HP computer stopped working last week. When I press the on button it lights up but then immediately goes off again. I have been able to rule out a fault with both the battery and the power cord. I took it into my local repair shop, as I have now owned it for just under three years and so its warranty has expired. The engineer took a look at it and told me about the about the problems with the Nvidia chipsets. He gave me a report stating -
"Inspection of the above laptop is consistent with many HP/Compaq machines which suffer with a manufacturing fault to the nVidia chipset mounted on the motherboard in this case we note that the machine fails to give any display or run its start up files"
I contacted "John Lewis Direct" and they have replied -
"Thank you for your email, I have discussed this with HP who advised there has been no recall or known manufacturing fault with this model. Any repair would need to be done at your discretion, unfortunately your John Lewis warranty has expired and I can not offer to assist in the cost"
When I checked the HP site, this model, the dv6552ea, is not on the list of models recognised to have "hardware issues".
I have trawled the net and cannot find anything relating to this model or graphics card. Is anyone aware of a problem with this model?
Thankyou.

Hello Suzy and welcome to our forum.

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

The DV6552EA has an Nvidia 7150M GPU and is one of the affected models.

You needn't worry about finding other similar cases of the defect in your model of laptop as all that is relevant is whether or not your laptop is.

The engineer who inspected your laptop has stated that the laptop has a manufacturing fault so that is good enough should you have to proceed to a small claims court.

There are so many models of laptop that are suffering from this problem and HP deny that a problem exists in any of them so their acceptance or otherwise of a defect in your laptop is irrelevant.

I would contact John Lewis again and tell that that you are aware of the scale of the problem through this forum and that you are also aware of the number of settlements that John Lewis have made as a result of these defective laptops.

I would further tell them that unless they resolve the situation then you will have no option but to file a small claims action against them. Again I would tell them that through this forum you are aware of large numbers of customers taking small claims action against the retailers and winning so you are more than confident of a success.

If they are wise then they will back down and offer a resolution. If not then you should send them a Letter Before Action along with a copy of the report and if they still fail to comply then you should pop on over to www.moneyclaim.gov.uk and file a small claims action against them.

If your laptop really is inherently defective then you cannot lose.

If you have any questions then please let me know.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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Thank you Paul, I have e-mailed a reply with contents as suggested to John Lewis.
I will let you know how I get on.
Regards

Success!!!

Having contacted John Lewis Customer Services who fobbed me off over and over again and contacting the head office who did not even return my call, though they promised they would, I lost momentum and gave up for a few months.
However, spurred on by the annoyance of the useless laptop taking up space in my spare room and by everyone on this sites perseverance, just before Christmas I came across the e-mail address of Andy Street Managing Director of JL, which some kind sole had posted. I copied all my emails to and from Customer Services along with 10 or so links to the Nvidia defect on the web and a mail detailing my disapointment in HP and JL.
Well I never thought it would get me anywhere, but a week and a half later JL has agreed it is a inherent defect and told me I could pick a new laptop to the value of the old one, I was more than pleased, and my shiny new laptop is due to arrive Monday, I even have the e-mail receipt to prove it!!

Thank you everyone and to Paul for this great website and all the advice therein, visits to which gave me the inspiration to carry on.

Hello Suzy.

Well done on your success

I am really please that you have managed to reach this positive resolution - a brilliant result.

Well done to Andy Street for stepping in and resolving the situation. It is a shame you had to resort to going to the top of the tree though, this should have been sorted at Customer Service level.
Brilliant news though Suzy, I hope your new laptop gives you years of faithful use.

Good luck and best wishes for the future

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 Suzy,

Congrats and well done for sticking with it. Is there any chance you could pm or email me the address you had for Andy Street? I have pretty well exactly the same problem as you had with an HP DV9000.

Cheers,

Cam

Hi, Cam,
Just in case you didn't get the mail I sent you, and for anyone else out there who needs it, the e-mail address is andy_street@johnlewis.co.uk.
Good luck!

Thanks Suzy,

Initially I was treated appallingly by John Lewis in Edinburgh. I phoned and actually visited the shop on a number of occasions, and was repeatedly told someone would be dealing with it by such and such date. Of course, nothing to happened, despite their very specific assurances. So at the end of my patience, I went in and showed them that I had Andy Street's email address as well as the MD of the Edinburgh store and said that I was going to email both of them to let them know how I was being treated and I had no interest in discussing the matter of the laptop with them any more, because I was now even angrier about how rude and dismissive the staff had been about responding to me than I was about the laptop. Surprise, surprise... suddenly things started to happen and my complaint finally seems to be being addressed.

I'm due to hear from someone tomorrow about what happens next. All this to save from incurring what appeared to be the unnecessary expense of an independent engineers report for a situation John Lewis as an organisation must now be aware of. Given I'd bought the laptop from John Lewis specifically for their reputation for customer service it was galling. At least the person I was dealing with latterly had the grace to agree with that.

I'll let everyone know how it goes but boy, they make it a lot harder than it needs to be.

Hello Camf,

Sorry to hear of the trauma you have experienced at the hands of John Lewis - pretty scandalous customer service if you ask me.



You can say that again!

I find it pretty scandalous that customers are being lied to by various retailers in order for the retailer to save themselves some money at the expense of their customers.

Persistence is the key; don't give up, don't let them fob you off, stand your ground and sue them if necessary.

Just in case anyone missed it, the email address the Managing Director of John Lewis, a Mr Andy Street, is andy_street@johnlewis.co.uk

I am looking forward to your next update.

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.