HI I bought a Cold Cathode Kit from Pc world, a while back, and it has been working fine up unitl now. However, the inverter recently died- taking with it my 120Gb and 20Gb HDDs and my CDROM. I am planning on visiting PC World tomorrow to see what they have to say. So what i am wondering is, Do i have any feet to stand on if it comes to me arguing for new components to replace my borked ones?? Many Thanks Yatesy
If its more than 28 days ago, PCWorld cannot replace the the good, you have to contact the manufacturer for a replacement as there is a 1 year warrenty (by law). Even if it was within 28 days, it is not PCWorld's fault because they did not manufacture the good. So if you go to PCWorld and complain, frankly there is nothing they can do about it. How did the HDDs die along with the cold cathode?
The actual cathodes still work, the inverter just burnt out. I think that there must have been a power surge or something, which accompanied the dying inverter, which killed the hard drives. Yatesy
@ Lazy- I cannot actually remember @ Ou- I plan on taking the inverter back to the shop To be honest, i am not expected them to be very accomodating, but i thought i would ask on here, to see what you guys thought, and to see if you knew any loop holes?? Yatesy
It could be the PSU, but basically invertor should not have blown up unless there was a power surge. So, if the inverter just blew up, it is faulty and not working according to what the good was designed for, the manufacturer not replacing the cathode would be against the law. And it may be possible that because of this (the invertor causing another damage), the manufacturer will have to cover the cost of damages. I have to say that I've heard a lot of horror stories about cold cathodes.
Cheers 'Willy' It has to be said that i think i am 'off' cathodes. The extra blue - yeah i know- is not worth the risk...
Having worked there before they will probably try and fob you off straight away (managers dont like the word "refund"), they wont care it killed your hardware Go straight to the techs, dont bother with floor staff, they rarely know anything about computers even though half of them sell them. Just say it died on you and you would like a refund/replacement as you are elligable under law. If you have to go tmrw go bout 30 mins before closing as all PCW stores are very busy at weekends, monday night is probably the best, 7 onwards.
Unless you can prove that the cathode was innately faulty and its fault led to your hard drives going "pop", then they'll probably tell you to take a running jump (but in managerese: "I'm sorry sir, our policies don't allow that".
HI Thanks for your advice everyone I went tonight and they gave me my money back for the cathode no problem. I then said that the cathode had damaged my hard drive and cdrom, and he quickly said "I can give you a 10% discount voucher" No moaning from me prompted this. So overall, i have to say that this time i am impressed. Cheers Yatesy
Hmmm, it probably happens all the time so they give you a 10%, which in fact increases sales because people feel they need to use the voucher, so buy something they wouldn't have bough before!
I guess your right Willy BUt to be honest it is more the principles that count- they were willing to back down. I will probably never use the voucher anyway! Yatesy
That's really quite nice of them. Frankly, the liability of things, at least over here in the states, tends to be limited to the product at hand...so if your system blows up from a hard drive suddenly acting funny, for example, seagate is only responsible for the hard drive. It's called a "Limited Liability" warranty. Often, the retailers end up taking a bullet for the products, because the way you boycott a product is to not buy it (and therefore you don't buy from the retailer). They're also a lot easier to yell at than the company...so they tend to do what they can to make you happy so you keep going there. You got a good manager at the store, and I hope you tell them as such. They'd have been within their right to tell you to pound salt! Glad it all worked out well for you, though!
mrwillywonka, its upto the retailer who sold the goods not the maker to sort ANY warranty issue. Most people just cut the retailer out and deal with the maker though, as it saves time and they dont realise who should deal with it. Most retailers dont advertise this fact as they dont want the hassle. and manufacturers dont mind, as they either deal with one person or another.
AFAIK, the retailer only has responsibility for the first 28 days, after that it is down to the manufacturer.
