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HP laptop broke twice during the 4 months I've used it. I want to claim the "Sale of Goods act" here in the UK?

Last April I bought an HP laptop in the US. I did not use it (since I live in the UK) until I visited the house it was sent to in July. Within a month the laptop started shutting off whenever it felt like.No it was not overheating, it would shut down after being off for hours. I sent it in to HP here in the UK and they did nothing to fix it. So of course a month and a half later it shut down repeatedly again. It shut down during Bios, OS installs etc. I've had nothing but issues with the thing. The sound doesn't work right even. HP has a worldwide guarantee, but only 90 days to return for a refund. Obviously I hadn't even USED it before those 90 days. I want to know what I can do so I don't get ripped off even more. I want my money back or a laptop was functions like it should have to begin with...Any suggestions?

Public Comments

1. Is the battery charging? Is it shutting down from power problems? HP and Dell are notorious for being so cheap (and counting on their customers to be too stupid to realize what's going on isn't a fluke or inevitable) that instead of having the female plug attached to the case of the laptop they'll instead solder the plug to the mainboard. This means that it is inevitable that if you actually use your laptop as a laptop (take it with you, unplug and plug it in a few times per day of use) that the plug will either no longer grip the male connector tight enough to charge or the female connector will become partially desoldered from the mainboard (because the only thing holding it on is a plastic foot and solder) In both situations, the expense of putting the plug on the case rather than the motherboard would be around a quarter, but they are too cheap to bother paying for two screws to do the job and a three inch wire, and count on use being too stupid to realize this. So because they don't build a proper computer (PCs have the powersupply attached to the case not the motherboard, and they don't even need to withstand the stress of being plugged/unplugged all the time!), and instead decide to put the plug on the motherboard where it will come detached after about fifty-a few hundred uses, you loose out. How much do you loose for their failure to spend twenty five cents on two screws to hold the plug on the case and a wire to connect the plug to the power connection on the motherboard? Around $500-$1000 dollars. Generally at least %60-70 of the new cost of the computer. Its ridiculous, and I'll never buy a dell/hp again. As to your intentions, the UK probably doesn't have jurisdiction over this case since the transaction was in the US. You'd have to sue in the US under their law for the purchase. If you have a case regarding the faulty repair while you were in the UK, then you could bring that in the UK. The only other thing I could think off would be a suit in the UK not based off the sale, but based off the faulty manufacturing. Since the computer will be the same as they sell in the UK, that shouldn't be a defense, and if the statute/common law covers the defect in manufacturing , you may be able to sue in the jurisdiction where you suffered the injury (provided the court has jurisdiction over the defendant, which they would in this case since HP does plenty of buisness in the UK). I would look into these things. If its the power plug you'll have trouble charging your battery, turning the laptop on without a charged battery or keeping it on for any length of time on AC power. Additionally, manipulating the plug/wire from the convertor should affect the computer's percieved power source/charging. Good Luck! Sorry for the trouble, I've been there. Just be smart: don't buy from HP or dell in the future, and get laptops with connections attached to the case, not the mainboard!