HP took the unit for repair and replaced the battery and Trackpad, and it came back as good as new.. Or so I thought, a few months ago I noticed the Ethernet Port would die after the unit had been on for a while, and the charging light would do the same. The battery started failing again too. As I don’t really use the Ethernet Port or have it running on Battery I kinda shrugged it all off, but then when I powered it up on Sunday, it had got worse. The Trackpad has stopped working, when you power it up the BIOS says ‘No Mouse Detected’, also it seems to be overheating more than ever before now. To be honest, I was pretty pissed off. I don’t use the laptop very much, and it’s failed so spectacularly after 2 and a bit years, it’s really not good enough. It’s not the most expensive of machines, but for it to go so wrong after such a short space of time is not acceptable.
With this in mind I got in touch with HP and raised a Fault Ticket with them, after I quoted the Sale of Goods act at them, it was reffered to the Customer Service team. They came back to me pointing out I should be speaking to eBuyer directly as they were the seller and they are the manufacturer. Which is of course correct (although they were happy for me to go directly to them when the initial faults appeared!). So I’ve raised an ‘eNote’ with eBuyer, and I’ve been told I can complain to the UK MD of HP should I so wish (of course I will!). HP also sent me this passage with reference to the SoG Act, which I’ll happily use to beat eBuyer (and hopefully HP) with –
‘Where faulty goods are returned within the first six months of purchase, the consumer is entitled to a remedy unless it is clear that the defect did not exist at the time of purchase. In other words, during the first six months of purchase the consumer has the benefit of a presumption that the goods were not satisfactory when delivered. If the retailer does not agree, it is for him to prove that the goods were satisfactory at the time of sale. After the first six months and for up to six years, consumers are entitled to a remedy if they can show that the defect existed at the time of delivery. These rights are enforceable against the retailer, not the manufacturer. This is because an individual’s legal rights are against the person who sold them the goods, since they have a contract with the seller, rather than with the manufacturer who produced those goods. It is the responsibility of the seller that the goods he sells are of satisfactory quality.’
So we’ll see how it all pans out, ultimately, the quality of the Compaq 615 is terrible, and it’s clear that it can’t even cope with relatively low usage. This isn’t directly eBuyer’s fault, but they are the ones I have to fight with, but I’m keen to let HP/Compaq know my feelings toward their products!
what do you expect from a laptop that cost you £340? You buy cheap shit, expect cheap shit.
After 2 years, you can't possible expect HP/Compaq/eBuyer to replace this or fix it for free do you?
Most phones cost more than that, and the majority of people replace them after a year!
Kip, I’ll be watching this one closely, particularly as I bought a Compaq 615 from eBuyer myself circa January 2010 which is completely dead now (suspect the motherboard). Looks like I’ll be taking this up with eBuyer myself.