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Retailer Refuses Hardware Repair Due To Linux
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."
For those of us on the new side of the pond, it will be interesting to see how UK consumer protection laws compare with US consumer protection laws (such as they are). In the US, the consumer would have several options, including consulting the Better Business Bureau and also with the various state Attorneys General offices. Good luck!
It shouldn't matter what operating system is installed. Many (most?) of the large retailers will tell you to expect your hard disk to be reformatted with a "Recovery Disk" when you send your computer in to be repaired. I doubt if they would even try to boot off a virgin customer disk do to liability and privacy issues. This is a case of warranties gone wrong and managers not having common sense to resolve issues outside (the warranty) box. My advice: take it up the chain of command, or threaten to sue them. That seems to get the ball rolling in my professional and personal experience.
Possible scenario: the sleep function didn't work under Linux, so he just left the lid closed with the laptop running. The excess heat, over the course of many (5) months, weakened the plastic case, causing it to crack. So actually, Linux is to blame.
I am completely serious. This is totally plausible.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
In the US, there is a common law that states any product must be fit for it's intended purpose and thus carries an implied warranty. I bought a computer from Fry's, 1 month store and 1 year manufacturer's warranty. It failed after 17 months. I asked them to fix it or replace it or give me my money back. They refused so I filed a claim in small claims court for all the costs involved. They called 30 minutes after the summons arrived and paid all costs. Fit for it's intended purpose means the product should last as long as any other like product - for computers that should be about 5 years.
More than likely the note the manager read was intended to keep the cheaply paid minions from working on Linux related hardware problems. No letting the underlings break a .config file worse than it already is (and thus incurring the customer's wrath). Rather than hire more expensive techs with Linux+Windows knowledge, keep them in Windows only. The "fine print" was worded with common sense in mind, so it didn't seem necessary to stipulate that hardware issues with non-driver/OS causes would be ok.
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
Although you're absolutely right in this case, it's worth noting that Sad Macs could (and often were) caused by faulty software -- this was probably much more common that hardware Sad Mac errors. Not applications of course, but broken system software or a corrupt directory. You could also cause the Sad Mac by pressing the interrupt switch immediately after turning on the machine. A friend was banned from the computer lab after doing this to every Mac present. Later Macs played a lovely little dirge when the Sad Mac came up, which alone made it worthwhile every now and then. Even later there was screeching with shattering glass sound, but it wasn't nearly as nice as those musical tones. A very broken Mac sometimes couldn't quite make the sound correctly and it would come out with some nasty static (that was a bad sign).
You could also accomplish all sorts of other mischief with the interrupt switch, but on very early Macs, even if you didn't know anything to type in the prompt, you could sometimes generate some amazing results by simply typing lots and lots of gibberish. I've seen the displays start flickering in weird ways and had static coming out of the speakers on a couple occasions.
Ahh, Good times.
So I can only assume you are being completely serious in ignorance.
Being in the UK there is bound to be a consumer affairs department to which the complaint can be forwarded, for remedial action, I know of the ones for South Australia and for Australia. These government departments are very useful as they will handle any prosecution, so not only will your laptop likely be repaired, but other people in similar situation could also get legal rectification and very likely the retailer could get stuck with penalties well in excess of the cost of repairs.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Well you wouldn't know if it has been closed for over a year now would you?
Personally I see this as a purely hardware issue. I'm still trying to work out exactly why the laptop was turned on in the first place or how they even found out Gentoo had gotten on there.
Me failed English...
FreeBSD over Linux. If my comments seem odd, this may explain...
Why not claim that the HD contains sensitive data, and remove it from the laptop before sending in? This way they can't turn it on to discover strange OS's. They'd have to be lunatic to claim they can't repair the hinge without the hard drive.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Their carbon fiber reinforced plastic cases are tough as hell, active protection system and motherboard roll cage seems to keep them ticking long after most cheep plastic machines kicking arround today would be in peices imo
This lenovo blog article should interest you ThinkPads are Ruggedized Machines :o)
IANAL, and IANB(ritish), but what I'm wondering is if the legal situation in the UK encourages businesses to exploit such loopholes in order to avoid their responsibilities like it does in the US.
Obviously, in some situations, they have every right to argue that they won't fix your problem if you've changed operating systems. But in this country, businesses are encouraged to push such limitations as far as they can because if they are proven wrong, there are very few negative consequences.
If YOU hire a lawyer, and YOU take them to court, and YOU take dozens of hours of your own time to sue them in small claims court, you will probably win. BUT, their lawyers will make it very hard because they know that, even though they have a poor case, they will get paid, even if they lose. Whereas your lawyer has to worry that he won't make a dime if you lose (either you hired one of those lawyers who advertise that "we don't get paid, unless you get paid," or they are worried that you just won't pay them, and you don't have enough money to be worth suing.
If you do win, the defendant will have to do the repair they should have done, and they will PROBABLY have to pay your legal fees, but good luck getting money for all of your wasted time (or for that matter, as a reward for the monetary risk you took in order to sue them).
They are hoping that you would rather take the hit for a few hundred dollars, than deal with all that shit.
Now look at it from their point of view. There is no precedent that they have to conform to, so they can argue ignorance (in reference to the aforementioned car analogy, I'm sure that the whole after market car stereo thing has been used as an excuse to not repair things unrelated, but someone eventually beat them in court, setting a precedent, so they don't use that argument anymore). They know that most of their customers don't have the resources to fight them. They know that if they they lose in court, they will basically just be forced to do what they should have done in the first place.
It's like walking into a store knowing that if you steal something, you probably won't be caught, but if you are, the worst the cops will do is make you pay for the merchandise you took.