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Retailer Refuses Hardware Repair Due To Linux

Posted by kdawson on from the bad-hinge-driver dept.

Tikka writes "Today I visited PC World (London, UK) because my 5-month-old laptop has developed a manufacturing fault: the hinge to the display has started to crack the plastic casing. Anyone in the know will know that this is due to the joint inside, and it means that in time the screen will separate from the keyboard. Repair was refused, because I have Gentoo Linux on my laptop, replacing the Windows Vista that was pre-installed. PC World said that installing Linux had voided my warranty and there is nothing they will do for me. I spoke to a manager, who said that he has been told to refuse any repairs if the operating system has been changed. I feel this has really gone against my statutory rights and I will do everything I can to fight it. I will review comments for your advice."

19 of 1,018 comments (clear)

  1. ahem.... are you sure? by yagu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you absolutely sure Linux did not cause that crack to form? Think about it, the laptop was rated obviously Vista® capable... did you see anything on the case to indicate Linux capable?

    I think the best thing to do would be to publish as broadly as you can the make and model of this laptop and its shortcomings, better to serve others to avoid this vendor.

    1. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by Kryptonian+Jor-El · · Score: 5, Funny

      YOU'RE LUCKY THATS ALL! I've heard Gentoo can cause the computer to explode! You should put Windows back on there before the motherboard melts

      --
      All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
    2. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by Psychor · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's not the manager's fault, he'd just heard that Linux users were all a bunch of crackers.

    3. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by daddymac · · Score: 5, Funny
      Must've forgotten to

      insmod dont_break_screen_hinge.ko

      Common newbie mistake.

      --
      If something I said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, I meant the other one.
    4. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by Trogre · · Score: 5, Funny

      I like those Certified For Windows® Vista® stickers. I peel them off and stick them to the sides of rubbish bins about the place.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    5. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by archen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Been doing that for so long that my trash is still certified for windows 98 :)

    6. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by smittyoneeach · · Score: 5, Funny

      Gentoo can only trigger explosions if you set -O6 or greater in your make options.
      This is because the resulting binaries run so fast that the CPU melts too rapidly for any gas to escape, and then, BAM: yo' junk goes down faster than a Britney Spears/Michael Jackson revival duet, replete with wardrobe malfunctions.
      OK, it's late, and even I didn't need that imagery.
      So spare yourself the imagery and keep them make options real out there, rokay?

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    7. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      As a lawyer I would suggest next time you kick the manager squarely in the nuts and reply "Software did it".

    8. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by Kris_J · · Score: 5, Funny

      Didn't you know that homosexuals were incapable of writing good drivers? All they do is sit around reading women's magazines and matching their belt to their shoes.

      All the best drivers are made by heterosexual cross-dressers. Post-op transsexuals are gods at compression utilities, while operating systems are best written by eunuchs.

    9. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by MajinBlayze · · Score: 5, Funny

      Those white boys shouldn't even be near computers

      --
      "Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time." Danny Vinyard -American History X
    10. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by nick_davison · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're making a fundamental mistake: Assuming anyone at PC World has the slightest clue what Slashdot is.

      It's kind of like writing to McDonald's customer service department and telling them they are getting a bad reputation amongst the Michelin Guide people: they'll wonder what on earth tires have to do with anything.

    11. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by gv250 · · Score: 5, Funny

      operating systems are best written by eunuchs
      There was a time, before Windows, before Linux, when I had to explain to my dad what I did for a living. "I'm a UNIX wizard", says I. "A eunuch's what?" says he.
    12. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by initialE · · Score: 5, Funny

      1) remove hard disk
      2) hit it repeatedly on the table until hard disk fails to boot
      3) return entire device to store

      --
      Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
    13. Re:ahem.... are you sure? by Rockin'+Az · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't know....kids today

      0) BACKUP YOUR DATA
      1) remove hard disk
      2) hit it repeatedly on the table until hard disk fails to boot
      3) return entire device to store

      Do you really want to be redownloading your favourite pr0n? Didn't think so. Remember always backup your data before smashing up your hard drive.

      --

      I come from a LAN down under

      Where the packets flow and routers chunder

  2. Well duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyones knows with Linux you've been bashing your laptops shell. Of course your hinge is messed up.

  3. The Linux installation definitely broke the laptop by kawabago · · Score: 5, Funny

    The laptop was designed to be unusable, that's why it had Vista installed. If you can't use it, it won't break. By installing an operating system that could make use of the hardware, you subjected the laptop to use it was not designed to take and voided the warranty. If you read the EULA closely you'll see that any computer with Vista installed is not actually intended to be used.

  4. This Calls For Thoroughly Childish Retaliation by flyneye · · Score: 5, Funny

    You could burn a bunch of live cds ,sneak in while the help is touching each others bottoms 'round back and reboot all their boxen to live cds .Shout "Fix that morons!" as you leave.
    Check back later to see if they really figured it out.
    (Remember kids,recycling old live distro disks is fun when the jokes on them.I like to recycle at *est *uy because they really go into convulsions)

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  5. Re:install windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I recently took a Tablet PC purchased at CompUSA in for service (screen problems). I, of course, removed the hard drive for privacy concerns and they said it is corporate policy to not perform repairs without a hard drive. I asked for clarification and was told it just needed to be "a hard drive," not necessarily the original. So, I returned home, found an old, dead laptop HDD and drove a nail through it for good measure. Brought it in, they sent it away, and I got it back with a brand new HDD :)

  6. Re:install windows by Shadow-isoHunt · · Score: 5, Funny

    I do consulting work for a small electronics shop in Salt Lake City, and we do waranty/service center repairs. There was a Tablet PC that came to us from CompUSA about 2 months ago. It fit this description - and bugged the living hell out of us as to what could have possibly gone wrong with the drive to cause that. There were *no* tooling marks otherwise on the area... do you know what it's like to find a harddrive that EXPLODES on a head crash, man?

    --
    www.isoHunt.com