The Nvidia Defect Forum

Hi,
I've been reading various posts on the forum for the past few weeks, and would be grateful if anyone can offer their opinion on my case.
I purchased a Sony Vaio AR11S laptop in July 2006 from Dabs for about £2000 (!) and along with this a Sony Vaio extended warranty to cover the laptop in total for 3 years (I can't remember how much extra this was though off hand).
Just over a month ago, my laptop suffered the "green screen of death" video corruption in BIOS and during OS boot.
I then sent the laptop away to be repaired, but they advised me that they would not repair it as it was suffering from the Nvidia defect issue and provided me with an engineers report to confirm this.
I have since written to dabs (twice), providing a copy of the engineers report and requesting a comparable replacement laptop (Blu-Ray Writer, HD Screen etc).
Having received a reply today, they have offered me a partial refund of £568.
Whilst I realise the laptop is 4 years old, I do have to consider the amount I spent on the laptop (plus extended warranty) and that if I purchase a new comparable replacement it's going to set me back approx. £1000 (Acer laptop with Blu-Ray Writer) or £1500 for a Sony (with Blu-Ray BD-RE).
Any opinions (whether this offer is good or bad) are gratefully received...

Thanks,
Paul.

Hello Paul and welcome to our forum.

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

There are a couple of issues here. The first is the amount that they should have to refund you for the purchase price of the laptop and the other is the cost of the extended warranty that you purchase as that too should be refunded.

Whilst any refund that you would receive for the laptop would be reduced according to usage, the cost of the warranty should be refunded in full as they cannot sell you a warranty on an inherently defective laptop.

If you were to proceed to court then the court would use a formula to calculate how much you should receive and this would work out at circa £400.

So their offer of £568 does seem reasonable as long as this is for the laptop alone. You then need to add on to that the cost of the engineers report and the cost of the warranty.

As a matter of interest, how much did you pay for the warranty?

Best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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Hi Paul,

I don't have the price of the VAIO Plus Warranty Extension that I purchased to hand, but looking on the Dabs website they have the same warranty (PCGE-VPW2) priced at £129.44.

So if I take your estimate of £400 + £129.44 (warranty refund) + £79.95 (cost of engineers report & burning a DVD of data from laptop), this comes to £609.39.

This makes Dabs offer of £568 (their final offer, with no mention of an additional refund for the extended warranty) £41 adrift from the total of £609, plus the say £20 (rough guess) it's going to cost me to return the laptop.

Thanks for your help,
Paul.

Hello Paul,

I would deal with the laptop and the warranty as two separate items. The amount they have quoted you as a refund is for your laptop and your laptop alone. Don't let them try and say it is also for the warranty that you purchased.

I would tell them that you accept their offer for the laptop of £568 but now you want to discuss the extended warranty that you purchased. If they refuse to refund this then tell them that whilst you will accept their offer of a refund on the laptop you will sue them for the £129 for the warranty as they cannot charge you for a warranty on an inherently defective product.

Regarding the cost of returning the laptop, this is down to Dabs and they CANNOT charge you to return this to them. If they want it back then they have to pay to get it and they should know that.

Stand strong Paul and don't let them fob you off. You have clear rights in law and the law is on your side.

Tell them what you want, tell them that you are aware of the numbers of cases being brought to court and the number of successful claims and that it is in their best interests to settle sooner rather than later when court costs have been incurred.

If you have any questions or if you need any advice then please let me know,

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
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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 your advice Paul.

I have now written back to Dabs accepting the £568 as a refund for my laptop, but addressing the warranty as a separate issue.

In addition to the £568, I have asked for a full refund of the extended warranty and the cost of the engineers report.

Hopefully they'll agree to this, otherwise I'll be issuing a small claims procedure.

Thanks,
Paul.

Hello Paul,



Well done Paul, the last thing that you want is to be out of pocket at the end of this. Whilst I can accept than any refund should be reduced slightly according to usage, I cannot accept that a customer should have to stand the cost of the warranty when the product the warranty is covering is doomed to fail prematurely.

Good luck and best wishes

Paul
The Admin Team

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Calculate the minimum refund that you would be entitled to.
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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,

I have now received a reply to my letter from Dabs.

It is not the most grammatically correct letter that I have ever received (exact quotes from the letter below), but it does address the issues I raised regarding the engineers report for my laptop and the extended warranty that I purchased.

Engineers Report
"I have had a look in to this and brought your requests up with our legal team. I have now been advised that we do not need to offer you a refund for the fault report as we never requested you got this. So the costs will have to be covered by you."

Whilst this is correct, I sent my laptop away to be repaired in good faith (presuming it had developed a fault) and only became aware of the Nvidia defect because of this. So basically I have been left out of pocket because I was daft enough to send it away to be repaired - this doesn't seem right to me. Wouldn't Dabs have requested an engineers report if I hadn't got one anyway, in order to confirm that the Nvidia defect was the issue?

Extended Warranty
"Also I brought up the additional warranty that was purchased and I have been advised that the extended warranty contract exists between the manufacturer and the customer. As Dabs is not a party to that contract, Dabs is not contractually liable for any breach of that contract or any refunds. If you wish to seek a refund, then they need to contact the manufacturer. If you look at the extended warranty contract they will see that their contract is with the manufacturer."

According to Dabs, I now need to knock on Sony's door regarding the Extended Warranty. Do they not have any level of responsibility as they sold me the Extended Warranty?


However, Dabs do go on to ask if I wish to proceed with the return.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's opinions on the above.

Thanks,
Paul.

Hello Paul,

Don't you just love these guys! - not!



This is not strictly true.

After six months of ownership there becomes what is known as the reverse burden of proof which means that the onus is on you, the customer, to prove that your laptop is inherently defective.

If it transpires that your laptop is indeed inherently defective then the cost of obtaining such a report is a consequential loss and so the retailer has to pay for this either willingly or, as has been the case so many times before, through the Small Claims Courts.



Did the company actually repair your laptop or did they provide you with a report. If they provided a report did the report state that the laptop is inherently defective?

I do not think that you were daft for sending it away to be repaired. At that point your laptop was out of warranty and you were none the wiser as to the true reason for the failure of your laptop.

Dabs cannot escape their responsibilities no matter what their legal team may say.



Yes they would have had to ask you to provide a report to prove the inherent defectiveness of your laptop. If the report pointed to an inherent defect then Dabs would be responsible for the cost of the report. If they didn't ask you to provide a report then they failed in their obligations to you.



Who did you pay for the extended warranty?

If it was Dabs then it is Dabs who is responsible. It is irrelevant who they then passed that money on to.

Do you have a copy of the terms and conditions of the extended warranty?

Was it listed on your original till receipt?

Please let me know 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.

Hi Paul,

The repair company refused to repair my laptop, as they said that if they did there was every likelyhood of it failing again in the future. They did provide me with a report stating that "on inspection this sytem is showing signs of the Nvidia GPU inherent design flaw".

I purchased the extended warranty from Dabs when I bought the laptop. I do have a customer dispatch notice (which lists my purchase of the laptop and warranty - but doesn't show the price I paid), but don't seem to have the original receipt. I've just logged into my Dabs account to check the amount I paid for the warranty, but their website only displays orders placed up to 36 months ago.

The warranty extension comes with a contract number and 2 pages of Terms and Conditions, which I scan if it helps?

Thanks again for your help,
Paul.

Hello Paul,

How did you pay for the laptop and warranty?

If it were by debit or credit card then the transaction on your statement will suffice.

If you paid by credit card then the card company are as liable as the retailer and you would be able to seek recourse from them.

It is not imperative that you find the receipt, as long as you can prove the purchase that is all that is important.

If you can scan the terms and conditions of the warranty I will take a look to see if there are any exclusions. I am sure that a judge would concur with me that you cannot charge for a warranty on a product that is 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
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.