David Gibson
Junior Member
Hi, i purchased a ''brand new'' computer from an Ebay shop in early 2007 for my daughter. Very soon afterwards she decided on a different career path and went off to university.We therefore had to buy her a laptop. The computer is Dell and it has had very little use. Recently it went wrong and a screen appeared asking us to insert the repair/restore disc into drive A. We did not receive discs with this computer and when it was delivered i contacted the seller to enquire why. We were told that all the necessary software for repair/restore and drivers was already downloaded to the computer and therefore we did not need discs. I could not access this software as the computer was frozen to the page requesting a disc.It would not start in the safe mode and i could not return it to a previously good state.
I contacted the seller and asked if he could supply me the necessary Dell Windows XP home discs, he was rather abrupt with his return email, saying i did not pay for discs within the price. They did not seem very helpful at all and were always on the defensive.
I decided to contact Dell and purchase some discs directly from them and enquire about possibly renewing/extending the elapsed warranty. The Dell website asked me to enter the computers Tag number , to my horror when i did it showed that it was refurbished. I was very upset and annoyed because i am off work due to an industrial injury and my wife works 9pm to 3.30am and we struggle to make ends meet. She saved up £574.99 for this computer and only bought it as it was ''new''.
Ebay told us to report them directly to the Police and Paypal said they would back us. I contacted the seller,they denied it saying it was new. The Ebay advert was no longer accessible but i had the Paypal description stating ''New Dell ....'' The seller asked me for proof, i rechecked the Dell warranty page to find the word ''Refurbished had mysteriously vanished! I contacted Dell but could not get an answer why it had been changed.
I stated the 'Sale of Goods Act' to the seller and finally he agreed to send a courier to pick up my computer,sort it out and reload all software as necessary, supply a Windows disc and give me 6 months labour only warranty. I was pleased with this as my youngest daughter had just started college and needs a computer for homework.
I packaged it up as best as i possibly could and surrounded the sides and top of the unit with air bags for further protection.(they are like very large bubble wrap) A week later it was returned but the driver was obviously in a rush and i was out. My wife knows nothing at all about computers so would not of been able to check its function. I did not get a chance to test it until the following evening. When i unpacked it i found the air bags mostly flat and a dent in the casing about 3-4 cms. round. The dent did not really bother me as the unit was not new now , but when i connected it up all i got was loud Bios bleeps indicating a hardware fault. I contacted the seller/repairer and was told to remove and refit the memory cards, this was done but there was still the same fault apparent. The seller said it was in perfect working order when it left them, and i said i believed them but thought it may have been damaged in transit. I contacted Parcelforce and they told me only the sender could make a claim for goods damaged in transit, they suggested i asked the seller/sender to put in the claim as necessary. To make things easier i went to my local post office, got the required claim form and sent it to them with the delivery details from the packaging and a polite covering letter with my request for them to make a claim for me. I sent this paperwork recorded delivery to the 'from' address on the packaging.
They have emailed me and absolutely refused point blank to put forward a claim for me, they have said i that had probably dropped it and damaged it myself !?! They have also said if i send anything else to this address they will ask the Police to charge me with harassment !!!??? I have only sent this one thing to the address shown as the senders address on my delivery ! so what is all that about ?
They did this repair, in their words as a '' goodwill gesture '' I wonder what i have done to make them withdraw all their goodwill ?
I really can not afford legal representation, please help with some advise on what i should do now.
Kind regards, David.
I contacted the seller and asked if he could supply me the necessary Dell Windows XP home discs, he was rather abrupt with his return email, saying i did not pay for discs within the price. They did not seem very helpful at all and were always on the defensive.
I decided to contact Dell and purchase some discs directly from them and enquire about possibly renewing/extending the elapsed warranty. The Dell website asked me to enter the computers Tag number , to my horror when i did it showed that it was refurbished. I was very upset and annoyed because i am off work due to an industrial injury and my wife works 9pm to 3.30am and we struggle to make ends meet. She saved up £574.99 for this computer and only bought it as it was ''new''.
Ebay told us to report them directly to the Police and Paypal said they would back us. I contacted the seller,they denied it saying it was new. The Ebay advert was no longer accessible but i had the Paypal description stating ''New Dell ....'' The seller asked me for proof, i rechecked the Dell warranty page to find the word ''Refurbished had mysteriously vanished! I contacted Dell but could not get an answer why it had been changed.
I stated the 'Sale of Goods Act' to the seller and finally he agreed to send a courier to pick up my computer,sort it out and reload all software as necessary, supply a Windows disc and give me 6 months labour only warranty. I was pleased with this as my youngest daughter had just started college and needs a computer for homework.
I packaged it up as best as i possibly could and surrounded the sides and top of the unit with air bags for further protection.(they are like very large bubble wrap) A week later it was returned but the driver was obviously in a rush and i was out. My wife knows nothing at all about computers so would not of been able to check its function. I did not get a chance to test it until the following evening. When i unpacked it i found the air bags mostly flat and a dent in the casing about 3-4 cms. round. The dent did not really bother me as the unit was not new now , but when i connected it up all i got was loud Bios bleeps indicating a hardware fault. I contacted the seller/repairer and was told to remove and refit the memory cards, this was done but there was still the same fault apparent. The seller said it was in perfect working order when it left them, and i said i believed them but thought it may have been damaged in transit. I contacted Parcelforce and they told me only the sender could make a claim for goods damaged in transit, they suggested i asked the seller/sender to put in the claim as necessary. To make things easier i went to my local post office, got the required claim form and sent it to them with the delivery details from the packaging and a polite covering letter with my request for them to make a claim for me. I sent this paperwork recorded delivery to the 'from' address on the packaging.
They have emailed me and absolutely refused point blank to put forward a claim for me, they have said i that had probably dropped it and damaged it myself !?! They have also said if i send anything else to this address they will ask the Police to charge me with harassment !!!??? I have only sent this one thing to the address shown as the senders address on my delivery ! so what is all that about ?
They did this repair, in their words as a '' goodwill gesture '' I wonder what i have done to make them withdraw all their goodwill ?
I really can not afford legal representation, please help with some advise on what i should do now.
Kind regards, David.
