Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

Email:consumerac [email protected]

Pleaseinclude your na me,phonenumber and addr ess.

Contactussowecaninvestigat eyourcase

15

Has acompany impressed youwithits

customer servic e? Please letusk now:

editor @computeractive.co.uk

CREDIT WHERE IT’SDUE

CASECLOSED

CASECLOSED

Howdid this

faulty scanner

enduponeBay?

Contact

ZenInternet

• Emailwww.zen.co.uk/contact-us


• Phone^01706902000

At one time oranother

we’veall hadaPC-

related problemthat

hastaken up lots of

ourprecioustime. On efrustrating

problemIhad waswhen my

laptop wouldn ’t connecttot he

int ernetthroughits Ethernet port.Itried

res etting my router anddisconnecting then

reconne cting it spower,but no thin gworked.

Thankfullymycurrent br oadband

provider,Zen Internet,patiently and

methodically solved theproblem,

identifying it ssourceasaloose

Ethernetconnection to t he la ptop.

ZensucceededwhereMicrosof t’s

chat support an dnumerous

YouTubevideoshad failed.

In my experience,Zenist he

only providerthathas suchapositive,

friend ly approach to is customers. I’ve

Zencalmly diagnosedmyloose Ethernet problem

original ownerofthe scanner,

who’dreturnedittoCurrys

because it wasfaulty. Surely

Currysdoesn’t sell faulty

goods to othe rsellers?

TimSmith

A

No,Currys

doesn’t sell goods

it knowstobefaulty.

No reputable retailer woulddoso.

Companie scan sell goods with minor

defects, such as sc ratches, that

don’taffect aproduct’s overall

performance,but they must be clear

about this be fore selling.

Q

Irecentlyboughtasecond-hand

EpsonflatbedscanneroneBay

for£1 66 ,butcouldn’tgetitto

workwithmyWindows 10 computer.

Epson’stechnicalhelpsaidthescanner

wasfaulty.WhilefollowingeBay’s

returnspolicy,Idiscoveredthatthe

seller’saddresswasinYorkshirebutthe

packagehadareturnstickertoaDorset

address. Thisturnedouttobelongtothe

Whatever th etruth

about thescann er,the

eBay seller is to blamefor not

checking that it worked.It

makesnodifferen ce that the

scanneriss econd-hand.

Goods must be fit for

purposeand as described,

thoughthey’re notexpected

to last as longasnew products.

Timhas nowreceivedafull refund,

so we don’t need to chasethe seller,

thoughwe have askedCurryshow the

scannerended up bein gsoldthrough

eBay.We’ll letyou know if we geta

reply.

Is Currysallowedtoforcearepair?

Q

IorderedanAsus

ZenBookfromCurrys’

websiteon 1 December,

anditarrivedon 7 December.

Thishasturnedouttobefaulty.

Sometimesthekeysdon’twork

andthescreengoesblack.Currys’

customerserviceinitiallyrefusedto

givemearefundorreplacement,sayingI

hadtohaveitrepaired.Aretheyright?

AnneSmith

A

No,they’re wrong. The

Consumer Righ ts Act(CRA)

givesyou 30days to return

inherently faulty goods,

andthisbeginsfrom

theday youreceive

them,not theday you

orde redthem. This

means Anne had

until6January

to te ll Currys

thelaptopwas faulty and

that shewantedarefund or replacement.

This30-dayreturnperiodisnot to be

confusedwiththe 28 days theConsumer

Contract Regulationsgive youtoreject

unwanted itemsboughtonline-whether

they’refaultyornot.

Many sales assistantsare not aware of

this 30-dayruleand mistakenly assume

they can forceyou to acceptarepair.

In fact,their window forrepairin ga

devi ce begins after th ose30days

have passed ,and continues untilsix

months after purchase.Annetells us the

assistantwas simply readinglines f roma

scri pt,soCurrys’ management needsto

improveits stafftraining.

We contactedCurrys, which

apologised forthe serviceAnne

hadreceivedand said it would

investigate. Twodayslater shereceiveda

replacement laptop.

Issue 623 •19January–1February 2022

triedall theothersand they don’tcome

anywherenearZen.Irecommendthe

companyast he best forproviding

technicaladvice.

RonBagwell

’

to

sayingI

iht?

inheren

andth

theda

them,

ordered

me

thelaptop

tht h td f d

r,r,

ee