The Nvidia Defect Forum

in jan 2007 i bought a hv pavillion dv6132eu laptop. by november it had broken, after repeatedly loosing the wireless capablilty it resorted to the screen not coming on. Hp fixed it under warranty and it lasted a few months more. then went to comet under their extended warrant to be fixed (early 2008). i am missing a set of paperwork, but it went to comet a second time either late 2008 or very early this year. once again it is now with comet, with exactly the same problem.

on monday when i took it in again i also gave up and went and bought a new laptop. so i dont actually want this one fixed and returned by comet, i want a refund of my purcahse price minus a fair percentage for the use i ahve had out of it around all the fixes over the almost 3 years of its life.

i did tell the girl in comet i wanted it written off, and she gave me a number to call them myself, claimed that she couldnt find any repairs apart ofmr when they had it to fix the charger in september this year, and basically fobbed me off.

i figure before i attempt to call i need to know what im entitled to demand and what steps i should take now. should i wait for comet to return it before starting the process of pointing out it was not fit for purpose? and having now bought another one am i entitled to insist on cash rather than a replacement/vouchers for comet should i be successful in getting that far?

any advice, suggestions for where to start and what threads to read first would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Hello Catlover and welcome to our forum.

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

I find it incredible that customers are been forced into repairs when the parts being used to effect a repair are as inherently defective as the parts that are being replaced.

After three repairs you are more than entitled to a refund.

Have a look at this link if you want the inspiration to fight on against Comet:-

post623.html#p623

I would send Comet a "letter before action".

A template can be found here.

Edit the above with your details and send it via recorded delivery to Comets Head office.

This gives them fourteen days to respond in the positive.

If, by that time they have failed to reply then you should proceed to get an engineers report on your laptop.

Once you have that you should send a copy to the retailer and give them a further fourteen days to respond.

Again, send the above by recorded delivery and keep a copy of the receipt.

If, after fourteen days they have failed to respond in the positive then you should proceed to file a small claims online.

To be honest, to my knowledge not one retailer has proceeded to court on this issue so you should find that you will receive an offer before it gets that far.

We provide engineers reports and we state, quite categorically, that we do not recommend repairs due to the fact that nobody will give a 100% written guarantee that the board being used will be free from the defect.

You said in your post that your laptop was in for repair again. What is it in for repair for?

Start off with sending Comet the "letter before action" and we will see how that works.

If you need any help or advice then please let me know.

Please keep us updated as to how you get on.

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.

finally made my way back here....and im going to disappear again but wanted ot get letters sent of tomorrow so its not next year before i get started.

back in nov 2007 it started loosing its wireless facilities, claiming there were none in the computer. then one day restarted to make it find the wireless equipment and connect and it turned on with 3 beeps (1long and 2 short, there used tobe a vid on you tube showing it) and i could hear windows starting up but the monitor stayed black.
hp fixed it that time bby replacing the main board and replacing wlan.

aug 2008 exactly same, they repaired the pcb....i had it back overnight picked it up 07 sept and
on 08 sept 2008 took it back with exactly the same fault as they had just fixed, comet repaired it by replacing "mobo pcb"

(as an aside ...sept 2009 ac adaptor, whichj had been frayed for a while, stopped working comnpletely and as battery does not hold any charge anymore could not get power so they replaced the charger and for some reason repaired the montior connection)

then in november i had to factopry restore using my restore discs, and though i went to hp website and updated the bios, it only took a week for it to break completely. however i had thought that it was freezing up and refusing to do anything due to a virus or something that none of my security software could find. i was having to press the start button to shut it down completely, turning it on again and it would cycle 3 or 4 times through trying to start but not quite making it before actually turning on. hence the factory restore suing recovery discs....but that didnt solve the freezinf problem it just got worse. i decided it was too hot and went and bought a cooling tray thingy fomr pc world, which kept it going a few days more before it just refused to turn on at all. no beeps this time though, and i didnt notice a loss of wireless connection particularly. it claimed there was no connection available a few itmes, but not that it didnt have the facilities.

i now have that laptop back, they have once again replaced the motherboard, though he also noted he cleaned all the cooling fan (which when he called to ask for my password he said was full of cat hairs, so that wont have helped). i did tell them it was exactly the same fault as they and hp had fixedtwice before, but it wasnt on their computer system in the store (apparently) so she only noted that hp had fixed it once. i was going to call and demand they just write the darn thing of but then i ahd given ina nd bought a new laptop and found this forum and as can be seen by the time its taken me to get back here didnt manage to follow through.

i suspect ill be sending it off to you in january for a report (and am now going to figure out how to subscribe to thsi thread, will still be gone for the next 2 or 3 weeks though, unless i find a wireless spot with a plug access to come online on).

hows that for an essay? thanks, now going to print template letter so it can be sent tomorrow.

cat

So this is the THIRD time your laptop has developed a fault and rendering it unusable?

There's no way the retailer should be taking the unit for repair and now should be offering a full refund for the product due to multiple defects!?!?

Thank you for the idea of asking for a certain amount calculated through 'total paid - length of usage'. Of course the length of usage is a custom made figure but for my £1200 machine I'll be asking Comet for £1000 since the small claim will be £1300+ taking into account the engineer's report, compensation of hours wasted researching the problem, etc.

Good luck in this quest my friend, you will surely receive a positive outcome from this one if you stick to your guns!

Regards,
Gary

_________________
DON'T GET FOBBED OFF BY THE RETAILLER!!! YOU AS A CUSTOMER HAVE YOUR RIGHTS!!!
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PROGRESSING BATTLE AGAINST COMET PLC!

Hello Catlover,

Well, with that many failures you can safely say that the laptop is a lemon and that you have totally lost faith in it.

I would now insist on either a refund or repair.

No doubt the retailer will try and force you into having a repair - I would reject this 100% and state that they have already had 3 opportunities to remedy the situation all to no avail.

I would send them the template letter before action and if they fail to comply in the positive then you should secure an engineers report.

Once you have the report you should send them a copy and give them a final seven days to make amends.

If that fails then you should pop on over to www.moneyclaim.gov.uk and file a small claims action against them.

They will soon pay up then.

As always, if you need any help or advice then please let me know.

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.

thanks paul, will get letter sent today then so hopefully i will have a reply waiting when i get home.

gary, 4th time if you count the 2009 ones as two separate incidents, i did get it back as fixed that lasted for one afternoon lol. and i suspect it wont be long before it breaks again, as it beeped at me the other day. how long have you had your machine for? i have no idea of how much i should allow them to keep for the almost 3 years ive had it.

caem home today to a letter form comet basically saying stufu! that though they ahve replaced the motherboard twice it does not mean its an nvidea defect, that they merely carry out the repairs for the insurer who met their obligation by repairing it free of charge (though as i paid for an extended warranty it wasnt exactly free now was it) and should i be experiencing problems again i do not need to obtain an external report as they will repair it again under my policy (whixch incidentally i have just extended for another year). i am somewhat assuming its a standard go away letter but i still need to explore this forum proper properly.

did take it away with me, but didnt have internet accesss so it was only ever on for a few hours at a time without being actively used ...e-reader had to be charged lol and a couple hours work got done in office, it didnt actually even show signs of getting too hot while it was on though.

so what do you reccomend i do now? wait for it to break again or trya nd argue with comet some more or give up since i ahve a new and working dell computer and really dont want to switch back to the hp for my daily internet browsing until it breaks again (though i will if needs be).

would the engineers report verify a faulty nvidea even if the motherboard has just been replcaed and puter is currently working fine?

Hello,

Well, your laptop would have to have failed or at the very least be showing some of the manifestations of the Nvidia defect in order for me to state that the laptop was inherently defective.

If it is working fine now with no problems then you should keep your eye on it and if the defect does raise its head then proceed then.

It would be difficult for you to get a resolution if your laptop is working without problem (software problems aside)

If you have any questions or queries 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.

hello again.

This laptop has once again died, though im not sure i can blame it on nvidea this time. sadly it seems it was just a general hard drive failure of some sort, or so i have been told. (friend has been using it all this year and her bro in law has tried to recover her data from it and had an attempt at using the partitions on it to restore the dead part and declared it unrecoverable). i dont have it back yet so cant say a whole lot more than that it was cycling in a blue screen of death circle at start up a few times before resorting to not even doing that.

so i have options, i extended the extended warranty last year/earlier this year, got a letter somewhere about that from some insurance company or other, so i could send it to them (when my house is put back together and i can find stuff again).

you guys being the experts, would it be worth me sending it to you to have a look at and see if i can argue for the fault/completely not fit for purpose since it has had to be fixed so many times, or would that just be a waste of everyones time and energy and id be better of getting the extended warranty to fix it yet again?

thanks for any advice

Hello Catlover,

To be honest I would advise getting the warranty company to repair it again - why should you have to go to extra expense when you have already paid in advance?

The bad news is that hard drive failure can be one of the manifestations of the defect and I have seen a number of instances where the drives had failed due to the laptop overheating.

Unfortunately though a failed hard drive does not prove that the defect exists and the retailer could argue that the two are unconnected.

I would get the laptop repaired under warranty and then see how it goes. If you suffer yet another failure then I would take things further.

At this stage though I feel that you would end up out of pocket if you were to try to pursue it.

I hope you don't mind me saying this.

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.