Do I have to put up with repeated repairs from HP?

QI bought an HP Envyy laptop from Currys for £699.9999.99 on 29 December 2015. It worked well until September 2016 when the screen became faulty. It’s beenn sent back twice to HP for repair, but the laptop’s still not working properly. Do I have to put up with a third repair? Harry James

AAbsolutely not. Harryy didn’t even need to put up with a second repair. But he’s done what many people do, which is to use the manufacturer’s warranty, instead of his legal rights with the retailer under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA). Using the CRA, introduced in 2015, customers can demand a refund after just one failed repair.

However after we contacted Currys about Harry’s case, the retailer phoned him to say that because the laptop was still under warranty he should send it back to HP for a fourth repair. Only then, said the Currys’ employee who phoned him, would the retailer consider a refund or replacement. It appears that Currys’ staff need to be reminded about how the CRA works.

We phoned Currys again to explain that it should refund Harry, or send a replacement. But Currys could say that it hasn’t actually had the chance to repair the laptop because Harry went straight to HP. Technically this is correct, but it’s not much help to Harry because Currys would probably send the laptop to HP, which has repeatedly failed to fix the problem.

Alternatively, Currys may decide to offer Harry a partial refund because he’s owned the laptop for a year. However, we think that three repairs during this period indicate that he hasn’t had good use out of the laptop. We would expect Currys to see sense and refund him in full.