Experience teaches us that no matter how glossy the advert, how many bells and whistles a product comes with, the true value of any appliance, television or computer shines through in the after sales service. All of us hope we never have to go back to a retailer or manufacturer to report a fault but when a problem does occur, especially within the warranty period we expect the retailer where we bought the product from, or the manufacturer to promptly repair or replace the defective item in a timely manner and with as little fuss and inconvenience as possible.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case and experience has taught me in particular that time and again when a product develops a fault during the warranty period, the manufacturer appears to abscond from all legal responsibility and try to pass the blame onto you, the consumer.
In March of 2009 I bought what was considered at the time a very high spec Acer desktop computer and despite technology advancing in leaps and bounds over the past ten months, that PC is still ranked very high with regard to specification, but alas its all worth nothing now the system has developed a fault. About two weeks ago and completely out of the blue the machine started to make what sounded like a loud grinding noise, I immediately switched the machine off and back on again but the noise continued, and I then switched off the machine at the plug and removed the side panel to investigate further – I could smell burning coming from the processor area of the motherboard and telephoned Acer to report the fault straight away. Acer, quite naturally assured me the PC would be repaired under the terms of the warranty and sent me an email shortly after to explain what I needed to do to return the unit to their repair centre.
During that telephone conversation I asked Acer if I could return the unit without the enclosed hard drives, as I had a lot of important data on these drives that I had not backed up and Acer advised me to remove the drives and back up the data using a hard drive caddy, and then replace the drives back inside the machine before sending the unit to their repair centre. I followed Acer’s advise with some considerable financial outlay as I had to buy a hard drive caddy and an external USB terabyte hard drive, as I had neither at the time. When I removed the hard drives from inside the machine, I also unclipped the fan to the processor and the processor came away from the motherboard with no effort, even though the processor clip was still in the ‘closed’ position and after investigating the processor closely, I noticed what appeared to be about 3 or 4 pins on the processor were bent slightly – this quite clearly was where the fault had occurred.
I packed the unit up in bubble wrap and put the processor inside a padded envelope along with a note outlining the fault in more detail and then packed the PC into a sturdy box with plenty of protective filling. A quick telephone call to Acer’s courier and the machine was collected the following day to head back to the manufacturer for repair. Ordinarily what would have been a minor irritation at losing my desktop computer for a week or two has now turned into a serious headache and threats of legal action.
The PC was returned to Acer last Friday, 22nd January 2010 and I waited patiently for an email or phone call to tell me when the machine would be returned. Yesterday on 28th January I received an email from Acer with an attached form for me to sign and return authorising Acer to repair the computer as a chargeable item and agreeing to pay £181 before the machine would be returned. I was furious to say the least and immediately called Acer to find out why I was being asked to pay for a repair which was quite clearly still within the warranty, Acer’s response – and I’m not making this up: the computer had been working without any problems for ten months and therefore the fault with the machine could not be inherent with the way the computer was manufactured. If it wasn’t so serious, an excuse like that might be quite funny and I explained to Acer that just because a product works when you buy it, doesn’t mean it isn’t capable of developing a fault during or after the warranty period. But Acer have chosen in their wisdom to abscond from all legal responsibility and pass the blame onto the consumer while I on the other hand have chosen in my wisdom to challenge them and accept responsibility under the terms of warranty. Acer explained that I had two options, I could either pay for the repair or request the machine be returned unrepaired, and I explained to Acer that I would not accept either option until I had sought professional legal advice first.
My first port of call was to contact Trading Standards and after a lengthy telephone conversation regarding the background leading up to this point, Trading Standards advised me my case was strong and to write a letter to Tesco (where I originally bought the machine from) and also to write to Acer reminding each of their legal responsibility under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the manufacturers warranty which was provided with the product when purchased. I have followed the advice of Trading Standards and letters have been sent by recorded delivery. It is worth noting at the time of writing this blog, I have no complaint with Tesco – Trading Standards have advised me to now bring Tesco into the loop because of the response received from Acer, and I am hopeful that Tesco will take a more considered view instead of absconding from their legal responsibility as Acer quite clearly seem to be doing. In my experience, Tesco’s rival ASDA have always exchanged a faulty electrical item without any fuss during the warranty period and we will see now if Tesco have a similar policy – I will keep my blog updated to the response I receive from Tesco, and for that matter Acer in due course.
My advise to anyone considering buying a new desktop or laptop computer is to steer clear of Acer, no matter how nice the machine looks and how good the specification appears – if it develops a fault during the warranty period you will be annoyed that you didn’t follow my advise when Acer try to charge you to fix the computer when they have a legal obligation to do so. I am now stuck with a second hand five year old machine until I can resolve this issue with Acer, what should have been a minor irritation at losing my PC for a few weeks looks in all certainty as though it will proceed through a legal avenue, unless Acer or Tesco recognise their responsibility or a solicitor advises me that Trading Standards were incorrect in their assumption that I have a strong case and suggests that I avoid a long legal battle – I’m not at that point yet but I will keep my blog updated as this story develops.
