Question about return experience on Officeworks

Lgillchar on 20/06/2014 - 22:56
Last edited 20/06/2014 - 23:00

Hi all,
I bought a HP touchsmart laptop in Officeworks QV back on Feb as a bday gift for my friend oversea. She received it and used it for 2 weeks then the HDD failed to operate. Brought the laptop to HP center there and they told my friend that they could not order new hard drive and asked my friend to send the laptop back here to get it replaced. Since then te laptop just sitting there, we literally used it for only about 10 times

This is so ridiculous for me - just dodgy HP warranty as Im pretty sure there is international warranty for HP. And this is what made me feel a bit upset and want to return the laptop completely

But anyway, Im going to bring it back here and want to ask if I can return it to Officework to get refund or exchange to another brand? I still have everything in the original box and original receipt.

I asked the Officeworks Preston - Bell str and they said no, i can only repair it. I told the guy the online policy and he kept saying there should be in 14 days and if policy like that then people gonna return things after years. I tried to told him it doesnt matter as it's the company policy but he kept denying that.

So what should I do? Do you have any experience on returning things to Officeworks and any suggestion office that make the process easier for me?

Appreciated any advice on this

Computing

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Comments

  • scrimshaw on 21/06/2014 - 00:08
    +5

    I told the guy the online policy and he kept saying there should be in 14 days and if policy like that then people gonna return things after years.

    Grammar check please.

    Here are your rights:
    http://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/…

    • If the problem with a product or service is minor, you must accept a free repair if the business offers you one.

    The problem with the laptop seems to be minor.

    • If the business fails to give you a free repair within a reasonable time or cannot fix your problem, you can:

      get it done elsewhere and pass on the costs to the business
      ask for a replacement
      ask for a refund
      recover compensation for the drop in value below the price paid.

    And here is Officeworks policy on Technology items (covering laptops and computers)

    • If the product you are returning is faulty and is covered by a manufacturer's warranty then we may need to send your product or refer you to the manufacturer or repair agent for repair.

    And here's what you can do

    Demand that officework process the RA claim from HP and get them to do the legwork for you. Explained that you have contacted HP and their response was to take it back to the shop from where you bought it from. If they say no, you say you have the rights as a consumer to demand a refund if the business (Officeworks in this case) cannot help you repair the laptop within a reasonable amount of time.

  • Cheeper on 21/06/2014 - 08:58

    Postage costs vs buying new hdd?

  • ChrisLevo on 21/06/2014 - 09:08
    +1

    Your contract is with Officeworks, not HP.

    Take it back to OW, and demand that they attend to it.

    That is your right.

  • p1 ama on 21/06/2014 - 10:01

    The problem is minor, so you really have to accept a repair, which Officeworks have told you they will do, there's no grey area here. They're doing the right thing.

    • MasterScythe on 12/07/2014 - 19:50
      +1

      Its funny isnt it?

      A key piece of a computer has failed, rendering the device entirely useless, but just because its easily replaceable, we're happy to consider it minor.

      I dont call the ECU in my car dying being minor, as the motor wont run.
      I find it funny that the HDD dying is minor, as the laptop wont store data!

      Dead touchpad or keyboard, or faulty pixels i'd call minor, as all the main functions can continue. But a HDD… ehh… tough call.
      When a customer of mine returns with a faulty HDD, I get ACER to treat it as severe; not minor. Different Strokes for different folks i guess.

      • jv on 15/07/2014 - 22:18
        -4

        we're happy to consider it minor.

        it takes less than 5 mins to replace, so it's minor.

        • MasterScythe on 16/07/2014 - 11:18
          +1

          By that logic, the surgery to not lose my eyesight takes less than 15 minutes, does that make total vision loss a minor thing?

          The fix difficulty shouldnt be taken into account when assessing the severity of a fault.

          For example, a 'kicked out' fiber link can take down an entire government building.
          It takes less than 3 seconds to fix.
          Does that make a 4000 employee outage a minor thing?

          Besides, a HDD only takes 5 minutes to replace assuming your laptop is still fitted with a HDD door, and not a full 'remove the bottom plate'.

          I send all hardware faults that stop me reaching the OS back as a Major; never once had a company disagree.

          This falls easily into:
          "has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying the item if they had known about it"

          You'll notice the other reasons don't say 'OR'.
          The fault "Your HDD will die shortly after purchase and require service" would stop me buying the product.

        • Baysew on 17/07/2014 - 09:01

          And under 18 years old.

        • killergreely on 19/07/2014 - 09:49
          +2

          Minor and Major are not determined by how long the repair takes. They are based on how unusable they render the item. In this case, the ACCC would consider it major. (source, been down this exact road more than once)

        • Daabido on 31/07/2014 - 17:22

          @ MasterScythe - What a stupid analogy.

      • Nutrino on 22/07/2014 - 09:11
        -1

        Mate are you serious?, you new to computers?.

        • MasterScythe on 28/07/2014 - 13:42

          Not at all. Been in the business for 13 years.

          a failed HDD, to the end user, renders a device completely unusable. and most laptops dont include recovery media, normally a recovery partition. So a dead drive means no way to reinstall even if you DID buy a new drive.

          A device, sold to an end user, that has NO WAY of being used, by the end user, has a major fault.

          here's something for you to conider:

          I'll provide a laptop with no HDD.
          You need to pretend your an end user. You dont know what a HDD is, nor how to replace one.

          Your task: Surf the Internet, work on your business, send an email, hell, watch a movie. ANYTHING you might buy a laptop for.

          as the ACCC see's it, if these tasks are made difficult, but still possible, its a minor fault.

          Since all the above uses are impossible, its major.

          Yes, I'm dead serious 'mate'. If this wasn't agreed upon, all my suppliers would have argued in the past when giving me a wholesale refund for a 'major fault'.

          Have you honestly ever met anyone, who uses their computer for multi thousand dollar business a day, have the HDD fail, and go "oh well, its just a minor thing". No. They panic, and the machine is rendered useless to them.

  • gillchar on 21/06/2014 - 17:03

    Thank you all for your advices

    I would get it fixed and would avoid HP in the future then. Really got frustrated with their service though

    • [Deactivated] on 04/08/2014 - 09:34

      HP is terrible. Never buy HP.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/07/2014 - 22:37

    I put my laptop in for repair a few weeks ago at Officeworks. Today I got a call from Acer about a repair and that they did not have the parts. They did not know when they would be able to get the parts and are therefore sending it back to Officeworks for replacement…

    Does anyone know if this is normal? Acer said they will attach a letter regarding the issue on the returned product.

    I know the model no longer exists in the officeworks range. So, my question is what will happen? It isn't merely a minor fault though. It's a major fault, the screen doesn't work at all.

    So is the criteria still:
    If the business fails to give you a free repair within a reasonable time or cannot fix your problem, you can:

    get it done elsewhere and pass on the costs to the business
    ask for a replacement
    ask for a refund
    recover compensation for the drop in value below the price paid.

    • scrimshaw on 11/07/2014 - 23:13
      +2

      QUOTE

      If the problem is major or cannot be fixed, the consumer can choose to:

      reject the goods and obtain a full refund or replacement, or
keep the goods and seek compensation for the reduction in value of the goods.

      A purchased item has a major problem when it:

      has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying the item if they had known about it
is unsafe
is significantly different from the sample or description
doesn’t do what you said it would, or what the consumer asked for and can’t easily be fixed.

      This is basically copied pasted from the ACCC website. According to law the customer of a non-repairable product must be entitled to either a replacement or a refund. Officeworks has this in their Refund Policy

      You are entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and for compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure.

      So obviously, since the product cannot be repaired, they can only make it up to you by refunding or replacing.

      I would go to Officeworks with a prinout of the ACCC page and a printout of the Officeworks policy page. State your intentions clearly (but politely) and point out that you would like a refund as Acer couldn't fix it and that they've sent the laptop back to Officeworks. The ball is in their court.

      If they say No, then you may try contacting Acer directly:

      Approaching the manufacturer directly

      Consumers are entitled to approach manufacturers directly for a remedy. Consumers may take action against manufacturers to recover costs, which include an amount for reduction in the product’s value and in some cases compensation for damages or loss.

      • [Deactivated] on 12/07/2014 - 19:46

        Thanks!

  • [Deactivated] on 18/07/2014 - 15:46

    I just got a phone call to go to Officeworks to get a refund. I need to bring the power cable back to them before they can refund it.

    • scrimshaw on 18/07/2014 - 20:36

      Good to hear, there were no heated arguments I suppose?

      • [Deactivated] on 19/07/2014 - 17:40

        Everything went smoothly. They just told me to put my visa card into the machine. I pressed my pin number and it was refunded. On the receipt it has a negative amount.

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