Dead Motherboard / Sale of Goods Act

[ronkenny]

I have a 16 month old VGN-FZ31M. I was using it for internet use on mains power and with the battery in. No other applications running when the laptop power suddenly died, it was as if there had been a power cut. Unfortunately I've not been able to restart it. I have a spare battery pack which I fitted but this did not help. I took it to a local computer repairer for advice/diagnosis who said that it was a motherboard failure (19 volts was reaching the motherboard) and, taking into account the age of the laptop, I should claim a repair under the Sale of Goods Act.
I took it back to local branch of Comet two weeks ago where it was briefly checked by the Manager who agreed that it was dead (difficult not to). I also left a letter claiming a repair or replacement under the SOGA and he said that he would contact me within 24 hours. Unsurprisingly, I have yet to hear back from Comet so, today, I've sent another SOGA letter to the Comet head office.
Has anyone had any success or otherwise using this approach? Any advice would be gratefully received.

[rich912]

Hi ronkenny and welcome.

I have no direct experience of this but you may find this BBC News article of interest:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8253915.stm

You are taking the correct path by pursuing your case with the retailer.

Good luck and let us know how things progress – I for one will be very interested to know...

[ronkenny]

Thanks for the reassurance, Rich. I will update the thread with any progress, or otherwise.

[ronkenny]

To Rich912 and anyone else interested. I eventually had some success using the Sale of Goods Act. I was asked to return the laptop to the local branch for a more detailed examination, which I did. They promised to get back to me asap once the repair dept had checked it over. I didn't hear anything from them for over a month so asked what was going on. They confirmed that the motherboard had failed and that the manager would ring me the following day to let me know what Comet would do about it. Nothing heard from them again for weeks, so I contacted their head office customer services again by email and received an almost immediate reply. They said that the laptop was beyond economic repair and offered me an 80% refund of the original cost, which I have accepted. Job done, eventually. It pays not to give up.