Graphics Videocardshop: Absolute Mess

I agree, I'm not an expert in consumer law this is just the way it was explained to me (although I know it isn't accurate and wouldn't hold up this way in court)
But (in my understanding) it's equivalent to you get a phone on contract, if it breaks they have a responsibility to sort it out. You buy something, your loaned the money by the card company so the object belongs to them. It gets messy if they're charging you monthly for something that's faulty. so they have an obligation to step in and see that things get put right.

 

just had a quick look and its joint responsibility it seems between the supplier and credit card company.

however your first point of call is the supplier.

learning something new i like it

 

I ended up taking my credit card company to the Ombudsman (where they caved in instantly). This was in pursuit for a pro-rata refund for an expensive laptop that failed completely after 15 months.

The company I bought from was Laptops Direct - a company I'll never buy from again if they're the last supplier on Earth. They were rude. They lied. They never responded to letters or emails. They even told me "Consumer Direct are crap and we never listen to what they say" (Yes, that is the online arm of Trading Standards... Way to go).

Eventually, given a choice between taking Laptops Direct to court vs going to the credit card company, I decided on the latter. Clearly, if it went as far as the Ombudsman, that didn't go all that well. They paid up in the end though, and sent a very fulsome letter of apology.

I just felt that if I'd pursued Laptops Direct, I'd have to pay court fees and then, when I won, I believed they'd still ignore it and I'd be farting around with bailiffs and more expense. They clearly weren't going to cave in to anything ever. Pursuing the credit card company did turn out to be nearly as long-winded though, with the bonus that the Ombudsman doesn't cost you to go to.

 

The OP is being too kind here.
Claiming through your credit card for a full refund is not enough to cover the costs.
First thing is complete an application for a Small Claims Court action to recover the full cost of the card, the return shipping costs and the engineering report plus the inconvenience of telephoning, emailing etc.
Start here
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_rights/legal_system/small_claims.htm

 

It's a weird system and it's rather intimidating sending a letter to your credit card company threatening them with legal action! From the business's point of view the threat of legal action from Visa or Mastercard is a lot scarier than legal action from an individual.

 

What can I say I'm a nice guy

And trust me it's on the agenda if it comes to it. I just want to see an end to it really

 

Surely if it's out of warranty you've not got a leg to stand on? (assuming a 1 year warranty on the laptop) A number of electronics goods I've owned have failed completely not long after the warranty ended and I never went to get my money back. I had a Sharpe monitor that died a week after a 1 year warranty ended and I bought a new one. My laptop died after two years and I had to replace the motherboard out of my own pocket. In my mind electronics goods are only made to last through their warranty period, if I get any more use out of them I count myself lucky.

Maybe I'm missing out on some money.

Where do they get that 6 years is a reasonable life expectancy? A graphics card is out of date after 6 months, and most PCs are replaced every 4.5 years. Why not 5 or 10 years? It must also vary on the item sold. A carton of milk isn't expected to be fit for purpose for 6 years and you would hope that a wardrobe or a car would last longer than 6 years.

I must be confused and reading this wrong, it's a bit late.

 

Yes a graphics card is out of date after 6 months, that doesn't mean it should just keel over and die though. Also, as far as my understanding goes, it doesn't apply to anything which can be classed as 'consumable goods' (food stuffs, ink cartridges etc.).

Been reading this for the last 10 minutes and I'm thoroughly impressed by your determination. I'm the same and will not let any bad service slide. I just don't understand why some companies are like this. Do they not realise that all it does is hurt their own sales?
This one is a prime example of this. Think of how many sales they could have been getting from bit-tech users if this was a post to express how awesome and smooth the situation had been. I can see it now....

All it would have taken is for them to be apologetic and grant the, what i think is a perfectly reasonable (SOGA or not), request for a partial use refund and possibly a small compensation of free next day delivery on next order or something. It probably wouldn't get used but the gesture itself puts the whole thing in a good light and wouldn't have resulted in the battering their reputation is now getting.

 

You need to read up on the consumer rights acts & what-not; thanks to some handy european directives most electrical goods are expected to last atleast 5-6 years ( fair life expectancy ), so you can pursue a replacement or partial refund if they fail within that time frame, totally regardless of the warranty period ( which is usually 1-2 years ). Any company which tries to hide behind a 12 month warranty period is sadly mistaken if they think they can avoid a fair partial refund or replacement with an equivalent new model...

Quoting directives at them doesnt seem to have worked though, they really seem to think they are doign you a favour with a £75 refund- less than half the value and it's only 3 months old; if you say on average a gfx card does last 3 years, or 2 years even, then a refund of 85-90% is due ( since 2-3 years is a fair life expectancy in this case ).

Bah, send the ***** a solicitor's letter* informing them they are in breach of x, y & z directives and you will will be persuing court proceedings in 7 days if they dont offer a fair refund amount in that time ( £150 is less than what you're owed but say you are willing to accept this to avoid taking legal action ).

*I did one for my older sister once and it actually worked ( regarding overtime pay she was owed after leaving a business ), amazing what you can do with a well written letter which sticks to facts & quotes directives, just say you a solicitor acting on behalf of yourself but don't name the solicitors firm unless you use actually plan to use them ).

 

Not sure about UK law but here in Aus if you pay say $2000 for a laptop then you expect it to last longer than 12 months. If it fails after 18 months then you can still claim warranty on it as it didn't last as long as a $2000 laptop should last.

If that makes sense?

 

It goes by what you have purchased and the value. Its not set in stone but its based upon 'reasonable' life expectancy. You have pretty much summed it up in your post already. If you bought a cheap and cheerful DVD player for £10 from a supermarket and it failed after 12 months it has had a reasonable life for the value of the product. Where as you would expect a £1000+ high end blu-ray player to last a lot longer than 12 months.

 

So an update, After my email to the manager they came back with,

and then about 2 days later

So that's probably around £95. I'm going to email them back on monday and explain why I think £150 is fair and see if that budges them. If not then the letter will be sent...

 

Stick to your guns.
Half the purchase cost for 6 months use is totally inadequate. I would expect and demand a full refund up to 12 months.
Most major retailers would not hesitate to make a full refund in similar circumstances.

Edit
The company number on the website is 03982631
Registered address
PROPELLERHEAD SUPPORT SERVICES LTD
FOTOS SUITE D ASTOR HOUSE
282 LICHFIELD ROAD
SUTTON COLDFIELD
B74 2UG

The Preston address is a private house
Langdale, Flag Lane, Penwortham, Preston, PR1 9TP

They are also into Educational support
http://www.propellerhead.co.uk/PDF/approval.pdf

God knows who you are dealing with here but I doubt anything less than court action will work.

 

More
The terms and conditions on the website do not comply with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations

"Returning an Unwanted Item
You may return any unopened item within 7 days of receiving it, for a full refund, less any postage paid. We will refund your card once we have received and processed the item.

You are responsible for all shipping costs incurred in returning the item to us.
We will only refund delivery costs if the return is a result of our error.
We cannot refund or exchange an opened item unless it is faulty, or if the item was sent to you through our error."

Naughty.

You return an item under DSR and they must refund the cost of the goods + shipping to you within 30 days of notification.
They also cannot insist the goods are unopened or that you return within a specific period of time.

 

Many Thanks glendroach,
Their RMA address is VideoCardShop, Langdale, Flag Lane, Penwortham, PRESTON. UK. PR1 9TP
So I may send a letter to both addresses so the parent company knows what Videocardshop are up to. Drafting an email response now.

 

Make sure its signed for recorded delivery so as too avoid them denying they ever got the letters.

 

Will do, Got a draft email response to the manager, I'll post it here Monday when I send it. If that email doesn't get anywhere then I'll send the letter asking for a full refund and if not then it's off to court we go!

 

@j-jay4

EU regulations states (something like) things have to last a "reasonable amount of time". There's nothing about 1 year, as I understand it, even though 1 year has become a standard. Trading Standards/Consumer Direct told me that an expensive laptop should last several years, a £500 smartphone likewise. A £20 phone, maybe not. It makes it a grey area, so it's worth getting advice. Also many (most?) retailers aren't actually aware that their liability can extend up to 6 years (ref Trading Standards) which does make for a battle of course.

The credit card company were fully aware of it though. They didn't turn me down on the basis of no rights to a refund - they tried to convince me they'd rung Laptops Direct and spoken to them but they were a bunch of meanies who weren't going to do anything so since they (the credit card company) had tried to help, they'd fulfilled their obligations. All arrant nonsense at all, and I guess they were counting on most people just giving up. MBNA, in case you're wondering.

Refunds beyond 1 month have to take into account the amount of use (I think it's one month). With the laptop, Trading Standards told me to claim around £1100 to reflect 13 months use on a £1350 machine (figures are approximate cos it was all sorted out early last year and I can't remember).

But it is WELL worth remembering the bit that things have to last "a reasonable length of time". Incidentally, had an issue with a dead HD Recorder at John Lewis that was nearly 2 yrs old. They knew about it - they didn't argue with me at all and accepted it back at once for repair.

In the case of the graphics card... Well, I agree with what a reputable retailer probably *should* do. But *in law*? One year could arguably be reasonable for a graphics card...? A court win doesn't seem guaranteed if they're offering 50% after 6 month use.

 

My response to their last email. Letter will go next if response is not favourable.

 

Quite an interesting read.

Offering random refurb after refurb seems to be their only answer to the problems.