Currys refunds reader after Acer’s failed laptop repairs

One of our staple pieces of advice is to always approach the retailer before the manufacturer when you have a problem. Stewart Moore will vouch for that. He has finally got a refund of £799 from Currys PC World for a faulty Acer Aspire laptop (see Issue 607), but it took a lot longer than it should have.

When the laptop developed a fault, Stewart sent it to Acer under warranty. It added an SSD to fix the problem, but when it returned the laptop the case was warped. Acer promised another repair, but stopped replying to his emails. He then asked Currys for help.

At this point, Currys could have rejected his complaint, saying it can’t be held responsible for damage (the warping) caused by another company. However, it decided to repair the laptop by replacing the case, and by doing so assumed responsibility. This became relevant when the laptop, once returned to Stewart, started shutting down unexpectedly. This fault could be blamed only on Currys, not Acer.

Currys should then have refunded Stewart, having failed in its one attempt to repair the laptop. Instead it attempted another repair. But finally, after we intervened, Currys has refunded Stewart, apologising for what it calls a communications mix-up.

Incidentally, Stewart would’ve had a case against Acer because any repair – whether or not under warranty – has to be carried out with reasonable skill and care. But it would’ve been better still had he approached Currys in the first place.