Help Needed

i used to work at PHILIPS (netherlands electronic company) some years ago , where it was common knowledge, that in warranty or repair cases, over 90 percent of the costs were caused by the diagnosis, and only 10 percent by the actual repair. (i.e. an engineer needs two hours to find out the problem, but once he knows the cause he only needs 15 minutes to repair it).

so our service department was always in trouble, when a customer asked for a cost estimation before actually consenting to the repair. in order not to loose money (when a customer at last decided not to repair the thing because of too high costs) Philips begann to charge the making of the cost estimation. of course this could not be too high.

this resulted in a kind of bargain with those customers in the know. Lets say the repair of a TV-Set was estimated to cost 200 Euro. the cost estimation was charged with 30 Euro (however only if one would not agree to repair, otherwise you only had to pay the total of 200 Euro) So if a customer offered to pay, say, only 100 Euro in total, it was for Philips economically wise to agree!

i do not know if those bargains still take place but as the principles did not change it may well work also with companys like Toshiba (or their rexpective repair centers)
 
Thanks Wassermusik. Always useful to know. The repair, probably involves, a damp cloth and some washing up liquid, which will take the engineer about 30 seconds!

I am still intigued how they knew it was definitely coffee. Was it the smell, the colour, the taste - they cannot say it has been analysed by a laboratory surely? B)
 
With regard to receipt:

The law states that if goods are faulty you are entitled to reject and claim a refund within a reasonable time of purchase (to give you time to inspect).

However, the trader is entitled to ask for proof of purchase.

This could be a receipt, or your credit card/bank statement.

The serial number alone is not enough; this does not prove you purchased it. I'm not suggesting for one minute you did - but you could have stolen it :P - and it also doesn't prove when it was bought.

So, I'm afraid they were legally in the right, simmo.

Many stores now offer to replace out of goodwill, but games shops are often more twitchy because of the copyright issue. Any goodwill is purely their choice and good customer service. They don't legally have to do this.
 
My (layperson's) view is that an admission that "some wine was spilt on it" would be enough for the manufacturers to be considered right.

Also, if any court were to find out PDJ's unfortunate history of flatmates and interlopers.....well!

Though I am a great believer in natural justice, I feel that a £50 excess on the insurane claim, while painful, may well be better than the aggravation and hassle to be endured in fighting them in a case that doesn't appear to be totally cut and dried.

I do believe that the company is obliged to send PDJ a copy of the detailed engineer's report before any further action is considered.
 
By the sounds of it the problem was it was dried after being wet :lol:

Sorry purr but I have to disagree with you . Although a vendor might well have an arguable case in putting you to proof that you purchased the item a court could well accept your evidence that this shop etc was where you did so . Second in a large retailer modern stock control ought to be able to show whether any such goods have been stolen.

In my personal experience whenever I have been able to show something was faulty I have never been asked for the receipt.

Hence , the advertisements that tell you that if you wish to exchange something you do need to show proof of purchase but that this does not affect your statutory rights.
 
I am with Brian here. The insurance company have picked it up to repair it and a cheque is on the way to them.
 
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