Warranty Question

Soldato
Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
7,627
Location
Under the Hill
Hi Guys and Gals, just after a bit of advice.

I have a laptop that is 17 months old and the fan has stopped working. As a result the base of the laptop gets scorching hot and obviously is not good for the cpu/ hard drive etc.. Now the warranty was for 1 year but the laptop is no longer fit for purpose, or at least won't be if I use it for much longer. What are my rights with regards to repair/ replacement?

Thanks for any advice.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
95,522
Location
I'm back baby!
Well if your warranty has expired I wouldn't have thought it'd be a warranty repair unless you grovelled and they decided to do it for you.

Might be that you send it to them and they fix it, charge you and send it back.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2003
Posts
2,785
Location
Uni - UCL | Home - Woking
I would point you to my thread earlier but it was closed for being crap :p

You do have rights under the Sale of Goods Act that says goods should be of satisfactory quality.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/Fact Sheets/page24700.html

That is a good resource if you want to have a quick read :)

Q3. Are all goods supposed to last six (or five) years?

No, that is the limit for bringing a court case in England and Wales (five years from the time of discovery in Scotland's case). An item only needs to last as long as it is reasonable to expect it to, taking into account all the factors. An oil filter would usually not last longer than a year but that would not mean it was unsatisfactory.

I personally would say the fan should last longer than that.

Q5. After the "reasonable time" has passed, what can I do?

You may seek damages, which would be the amount of money necessary to have the goods repaired or replaced. Frequently retailers will themselves offer repair or replacement. But, if you are a consumer (not making the purchase in the course of a business) you have the statutory right to seek a repair or replacement as an alternative to seeking damages.

Basically warrantees are not worth the paper they are written on, all imho of course.
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
4 Nov 2002
Posts
15,508
Location
West Berkshire
I believe that if you can prove it was faulty from the outset, then you may well be in a position to ask for a repair irrespective of warranty. Far easier said than done though in this case.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
8,327
Location
NJ/NY, USA
I think the odds are against you - they could just easilly say it was caused by neglect on behalf of the owner... i.e., not used in a clean area, so the fan has gotten clogged with dust etc.

Seeing as it's out of warranty, I'd open it up and have a look if its a fan that could easilly be replaced with a generic part.
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2003
Posts
12,449
Location
Chatteris
We buy Sony Vaio laptop's at work here in the UK.
We these days also buy the 3 year extended warranty - so each and every one is covered for 3 years.
At which point the company writes them off anyway.

Before we started buying the extended warranty we still bought Sony Vaio's with their 1 year warranty.
We bought a fair few.
Some laptop's failed within a week or so of the warranty running out (damn annoying that).
Others, even now some 3-4 years later are still going strong allbeit a little slow compared to what is available now.
I guess this is just a long way of saying that really you've got a warranty and once your warranty is up that is it - it's time to be charged for repairs.

Companies wouldn't sell extended warranty if they thought everyone with a laptop <5 years old would be able to get free support on their units.
Well they might...but you get the idea...I really wouldn't have thought you'd get very far.

If it's out of warranty open it up - you can buy fans of any size these days from the 20mm ones used in some laptop's right up to crazy sized ones.
For the cost of £5 - £10 for a fan and to borrow a soldering iron (or £10 to buy one of those) you may as well fix the fault yourself.
Most manufacturers will charge you £35 at least just to look at an out of warranty laptop.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
7,627
Location
Under the Hill
I know, I'm tempted to replace the fan myself, but don't want to do it if there is a chance that I can have it repaired at zero risk and for free. Yes I am aware of the so called hard luck after the warranty expires, however the thought of the retailer implying that I should have to repair a faulty piece of equipment after 1 1/2 years use does not sit well with me. Especially when it cost £1100. :(
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
50,384
Location
Plymouth
homerio said:
You do have rights under the Sale of Goods Act that says goods should be of satisfactory quality.

Of course, you would have to prove that the goods were inherantly faulty (as after the first 6 months the onus is on the consumer to prove the fault is down to an inherant manufacturing fault and not damage/fair wear and tear or the like) to be able to claim under the SOGA...
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Feb 2003
Posts
6,157
Dolph said:
Of course, you would have to prove that the goods were inherantly faulty (as after the first 6 months the onus is on the consumer to prove the fault is down to an inherant manufacturing fault and not damage/fair wear and tear or the like) to be able to claim under the SOGA...

surely if it has only undergone fair wear and tear, and the fault is caused as a result of normal use, then this would imply an inherent fault? :confused:
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
7,627
Location
Under the Hill
Exactly, in my opinion, a fan can get cloggged in a dusty atmosphere after 3-4 years use. However my living room is not an unclean environment and 17 months should be no problem. Even allowing for "fair wear and tear" I'm not sure that this should happen. If it does, then it appears to be a design fault more than anything else.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Feb 2003
Posts
6,157
SpeedFreak said:
Exactly, in my opinion, a fan can get cloggged in a dusty atmosphere after 3-4 years use. However my living room is not an unclean environment and 17 months should be no problem. Even allowing for "fair wear and tear" I'm not sure that this should happen. If it does, then it appears to be a design fault more than anything else.


especially for something like a fan - how are you meant to clean it if opening the case voids the warranty :rolleyes:
 
Associate
Joined
21 Jul 2005
Posts
163
Hope the OP doesnt mind me jumping on his thread but anyone here know how long the XFX warranty is on their graphics cards? My 6600GT I bought from OC (in Dec '04) has gone a little kapoot, the fan has stopped spinning so the core overheated (I presume).

I'm expecting an email off them soonish, also you cant find out on their website which is annoying. :(
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Aug 2003
Posts
3,001
adam17 said:
Hope the OP doesnt mind me jumping on his thread but anyone here know how long the XFX warranty is on their graphics cards? My 6600GT I bought from OC (in Dec '04) has gone a little kapoot, the fan has stopped spinning so the core overheated (I presume).

I'm expecting an email off them soonish, also you cant find out on their website which is annoying. :(

IIRC it's a lifetime warranty mate. (It is on my 7900)
 
Back
Top Bottom