Faulty laptop replacement - what do you think?

[thumpertwinkle]

Hi,
I posted a message on here last week about my faulty laptop and took the advice given.

I went back to Aldi (where it was bought from) and informed them about the fault and previous repairs but because it is over 12months old the warranty is no longer with them it is with the manufacturer 'Gericom'. Aldi said Gericom should have replaced it with a new one and I had to fill in a complaint form with them and they contacted Gericom on my behalf.

Yesterday Aldi contacted me to say that they had spoken to Gericom and they were going to replace my faulty unit with a NEW ONE and Gericom would contact me to arrange this.
Gericom have been in touch to arrange the replacement but I am very 'DUBIOUS' as they are collecting my faulty laptop, sending it to CCUK, the company who do repairs for them, who it has already been too 3 times and unsuccessfully been repaired, having the hard drive and battery removed and put into a 'NEW' laptop!

I did ask Gericom is it a new laptop they were giving me and they said it was.

IS THIS CORRECT?

Does anybody know if this is normal procedure for a laptop replacement?

Last year I got a replacement washing machine under warranty but they didn't take the drum out of the old one and put it into the new one!

Your thoughts would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
San

[47 65 65 6b]

Doesn't sound like normal procedure to me, and if its the third time its happened, then Gericom are not fufiling their obligation to you. I would suggest having a word with their customer service / complaints centre.

When making a complaint that you are not happy with the way they are dealing with your issue it is always advisable to do the following:

First off (And trust me this works) as soon as the call begins and they have finished talking (almost always asking you a question to start the call and gain control of the conversation) state calmly and politely that you are obliged to tell them you are recording the call and anything said now that you have informed them of that fact is admisable in a court of law. (You dont need to actually record the call, going to court is far to much hassle)

Make sure you have the name of every person who you talk to and the time you started talking to them next to the name, no need to be impolite, but it's not in the least bit rude to ask them to give you their name, and they are obliged by law to give you some way of identifying themselves (they dont "have" to give you their real name), if they are unhappy about doing this then you are quite within your rights to ask to speak to their immediate superior and request their name instead.

Explain the situation, and what you have been informed is going to be done about it, and then tell them why you are not happy about the way they are offering to resolve the problem. Explain that this is the third time this has happened and should it not be resolved in a satisfactory manner this time you will visit the C.A.B (Citizens Advice Buero) and you will also contact trading standards, should this not have the effect of making them back down and do what you want, tell them how you will be writing a letter of complaint to your local MP as well as contacting various radio stations, national newspapers, your local Ombudsman and the small claims court. When you make these threats its important to make them sound real. Don't say them smugly, don't get at all emotinal, simply say everything in a tone of voice that suggests you have better things to do, but if you really need to you will go down these routes (i.e tired with a touch of sincerity).

If you are still not getting exactly what you want, contact your local trading standards office and explain your predicament to them, they will likely resolve things for you. (It pays to have tried yourself first though, as trading standards agents tend to sympathise with you more then.)

(I used to work on the other end of the phone, dealing with the most escalated calls, usually from solisitors, local newspapers, Trading standards, CAB etc.. etc..)

Good luck
47

[thumpertwinkle]

I have received a reply today from an e-mail I sent asking what was happening and this is the reply:

Hi,

You will receive a machine exactly the same model and spec as your original.
Under Gericom's policy, your old hdd and battery will be exchanged in to the
new machine.

Regards

Seems a strange policy to me but if that is Gericoms policy is there anything I can do about it?

San

[47 65 65 6b]

That depends on whether they have replaced everything but the battery and HDD before? (Or did they just try and fix something) If this is the first time they have done that, then I would let it rest, but should any other problems occur and you need to go back to them, then I would strongly suggest contacting Trading Standards and explaining that although your manufacturers warrenty states that you get a new laptop minus your the hdd and battery which you keep from your old one, the problem still remains so they are not fulfilling their obligation to you. TBH they should have given you some form of compensation (probably not money, but it means very little to them to give you some kind of spare peripheral they have lying around the warehouse as a gesture of goodwill).

EDIT: Apologies for spelling (or lack of as the case may be)

47

[Agent]

They are swapping the HD over so that you can keep the data.
The battery is because it falls under a perishable item - the more you charge it, the more it'll wear. A lot of company’s do this with laptops.

[thumpertwinkle]

Thanks for your replies.

if other companies do this with the battery and hard drive then that's fine, i have no complaint, as long as my replacement IS new and works fine.

San