The Laptop Hut

[paultnl]

Taking on board all of the comments made, I think Laptop Huts inability to answer direct questions with honest clarity does favour the OP on the balance of probabilities.

 

Say what you like , but the Company still has not answered his questions have they ?

And like i say they wouldnt even be discussing it now if it wasnt for the fact he brought it up in the forum !!! and thats not what i call a top Company sad i know ...

So according to you then the OP has made it all up and spilt his coffee on it ? So you and the Laptop Hut are saying he is a liar ? and knew he did ?

Oh no, let me put this in the order I'm thinking, not the way you are twisting:

1) I am nothing to do with Laptop Hut, I merely put a post initially which was made in error, because I was only in receipt of a few of the facts of this case, so I then rectified this with some follow ups, again, based on what I've read.

2) I fail to see what specific questions are being asked, except 'Did your engineer spill something on my laptop and I'm being blamed now?'...which is kinda a dodgy question to have suddenly appeared really, and has nothing to back it up at all.

3) We only have the OP's word that nothing was spilt on this laptop whilst it was in his or someone else possession, and this is measured against the word of a company who have absolutely nothing to gain from spilling or not spilling...they simply fix the damn things

4) The spillage, as I see from the photo, and added to my many years experience is not something which happened yesterday, or the day before for that matter.... this looks like a spill a while back, and it was not dealt with when it should have been... or maybe laptop hut sneaked in during the night a while ago and spilled something onto it for badness?

5) Who is calling the OP a liar? I merely suggested that his trying to blame Laptop Hut for the spillage on his machine was not entirely based on any facts, and looks merely like someone who is not really thinking logically.

6) YOU KEEP MISSING THE POINT !!! Laptop hut could have done whatever they wanted with this laptop, and put it through john Lewis's for a warranty repair, so there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER for them to try anything underhand and spill stuff, etc.... what in the name of gawd could they gain from this?

So, before you get back down off that high horse, Big fellah..... please be sure that you have some facts to back up your accusations.... and not merely what you read from one side of a story on a public forum

Again I'd ask.... what specific questions can you see which were not answered? I'll bet I could answer every one from what has already been said

 

[Big Pete]

6) YOU KEEP MISSING THE POINT !!! Laptop hut could have done whatever they wanted with this laptop, and put it through john Lewis's for a warranty repair, so there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER for them to try anything underhand and spill stuff, etc.... what in the name of gawd could they gain from this?

Why didnt they trust the guy and fix it then ?

Maybe they get a bonus for laptops they can avoid doing ? Or like you say they would repair everything regardless

Who knows ? What i hate to see is Large Companies squashing the small fella and this poor innocent OP all he asked was for better pictures and they just blanked him in normal Big Corporation fashion . and that is so so wrong

All he wants his is questions answered . :|

 

[Dawg]

Why didnt they trust the guy and fix it then ?

It has nothing to do with trust. It was outside the terms of the warranty. Simple.

Maybe they get a bonus for laptops they can avoid doing ? Or like you say they would repair everything regardless

Oh perleeze...

Who knows ? What i hate to see is Large Companies squashing the small fella and this poor innocent OP all he asked was for better pictures and they just blanked him in normal Big Corporation fashion . and that is so so wrong

What I hate to see is a small company being crucified on a forum for no real reason other than the OP refuses to accept reality, and to move on*. He wasn't blanked in any fashion, they sent him photographs FFS. (Ooh er, forgot. The photos didn't show serial numbers, or the mobo, or have an affidavit including the judge's inside trouser measurement, etched in blood on parchment.)

All he wants his is questions answered . :|

Well as Comspec offered above; which questions remain unanswered? He will point out the answers. Perhaps then we can move on, or are we going to play "oooh it's a nasty big company conspiracy" on a business forum?

* although he does seem to have moved on, and you seem to be stirring the pot and following your own agenda.

 

[Big Pete]

* although he does seem to have moved on,

You are right he seems to have left it ,. so will i now . but i still think something is well iffy with this story , as even the Laptop Hut are keeping a low profile :|

 

[skyhi2]

What i am saying,if it was just an ordinary,straight forward,repair job,by some faceless/nameless repair company,he would only get two choices.

Have it repaired at his expense ( because they found a mysterious stain that no one is owning up to ).

Or,not.

There would be no discussion about it,just a simple choice.

If the OP wanted to take it further,by whatever method he chose,he would still have a busted lappy,end of.

Skyhi2.

BTW,what comspec suggests ( 4 ) had nothing whatsoever to do with the breakdown of the lappy anyway,purely a spillage from a long time ago that had no effect on it when it ( allegedly ) happened.

 

[Laptop Hut Mike]

Dear all,

I too intend to draw an end to this madness as we're not really getting anywhere. This will be my last post on this thread, but I hope to become a useful member of the forum in other areas.

1. To the gentleman from Comspec, thank you for throwing a bucket of common sense over proceedings in a way that I was struggling to do.

2. To those that supported us, my personal thanks as this is my first time using forums, and it has been a bumpy ride.

3. To Mr Wheeler, Big Pete and the others that remain unconvinced. I can't say I'm happy, but again one thread of negativity in over 3 years is still very good in my eyes. And of course, all our customers own computers as you know.

I suppose in summary, I will leave you with this:

Name one other company of our size whose Director would take time out to answer this thread and I could name a thousand who would not have bothered. These are not the actions of a man or a company who is out to con anybody.

Kindest Regards

Mike Broom
Laptop Hut Ltd

 

Thanks Mike for sticking with it here, and I hope you actually get a bit from the forum, now you are here.

Hehe, a rough introduction, but things can only get better as they say.

You have done your company the power of good with your patience and frankness in this thread, and apart from one or two (who will never be happy, we all know the type), you have proven yourselves to be very honest and forthcoming in your attitude, and I hope it actually increases your business as a result. I think that anyone reading this thread will only take positives about your company because of the manner and efforts you have put in.

As I said before, I never really heard that much about Laptop Hut before this, not really being a direct competitor locally, but I would certainly only have respect for your ways of working now.

Good luck, and I hope we see you around.

Mark

 

[Robert Wheeler]

Hello,

Unfortunately I was unable to keep up with this threads for a few days. Ironically this was due to me falling ill, and without a without a wireless enabled laptop around I was not able read or respond.

I've got to say, I am pretty suprised with some of the responses. In my last post I asked a lot of straightforward yes or no questions, of which none got answered. I find it really suprising that people in the repair business did not press Mike on the fundamental issue that the third party report actually says in black and white that The Laptop Hut did not even manage to reassemble the laptop after they had finished working with it.

With this in mind I am actually quite offended that some have questioned my honesty. I don't think I have actually said much that is new about my position from the very first post in this thread. My original post stated the situation from our point of view and asked how this present situation could have arisen.

What particularly bothers me is where one or two posters have suggested that I have been insinuating things about the The Laptop Hut, such as that they have been acting in "bad faith". Actually I did not do that, I stated exactly what the facts were and asked The Laptop Hut on this forum if they felt they had acted in good faith. There has been no attempt to bad mouth The Laptop Hut here, I have just stated fact after fact about our dealings with them.

So this is why I am particularly affronted that there has been considerable ill-wind blowing in my direction. I do not understand how some of you can think that Mike has given straight answers to my questions, he quite clearly has not. But if you are happy to deal with companies that:

1) Do not keep up dialog with customers
2) Do not seem to pay any regard to third party reports that identify fundamental issues with their quality of work
3) Refuse to answer straight questions
4) Refuse to show any inclination towards satisfying customers that are unhappy (correct me if I'm wrong, but what Mike has said here amounted to "those who like us, good for them. Those who don't, they can lump it").
5) Make odd claims about their services on their website which they state are "fact" yet upon repeated questioning provide nothing to support these "facts".
6) Have a terrible front-end that is full of placeholders
7) Fail to acknowledge a customer's statutory rights.

...then good luck to you.

I would also like to reiterate one of my fundamental problems with this whole matter. When we told John Lewis we were unhappy with reports of liquid being found in the machine, the first thing we were met with was incredulity. When we questioned the reputation of The Laptop Hut, we were told that John Lewis valued their own reputation very highly and there is no way they would refer a machine to a contractor who was of anything but of the highest standard.

Now as I see it, there is a problem here. Reputation is very useful in business. Is it a good marketing and PR asset. It brings your brand goodwill and value. But it does not mean that your business becomes immune to making mistakes. From my point of view John Lewis has stood behind their "reputation" and said what amounts to "no, you are just the customer and we are John Lewis with the John Lewis reputation so who are you to suggest something has gone wrong?" I do not actually think this protectionist approach is very good for reputation. As a customer, I expect things to go wrong sometimes. And sometimes I even like it when they go wrong and a good solution is provided by the company. Things like that can cement my relationship with the company.

Now whatever you think of the honest position I have taken with this matter, you have to concede that it appears that in this whole procedure of dealing with this laptop, there was nothing in place to flag up when something had gone wrong after the laptop left our possession. That is quite clear, as even when the third party report came in which mentioned the machine was incorrectly reassembled by The Laptop Hut, John Lewis's customer service team actually had no next steps in place to act upon that. It was only because I was badgering them that they suggested that they might pass the information on to someone else in the business, and even when I had a follow up call with a more senior member of staff that did not seem particularly aware of the contents of the report or be overly concerned about acting upon it, or taking it into consideration in our case.

So if you want to talk in real terms, while it is open to debate whether or not The Laptop Hut or John Lewis could trap an exception where a brown liquid was spilled inside a machine, we can say with great certainty that both parties failed to act upon an exception where a laptop was incorrectly reassembled.

In the last week I have had a lengthy conversation with John Lewis, and I have highlighted to them places where I feel they have got it wrong in their part in this matter. In regards to the performance of their own customer service front end they have agreed with me and gone some way to apologising. I can briefly go through some of the points where I think they have let themselves down. For example, one of the earliest suggestions that their Customer Services team made was that if we were unhappy with the findings of The Laptop Hut, we should take it up directly with them. I made it clear that John Lewis should be dealing with their own contractors. We have already seen how good The Laptop are at responding to emails or answering straight questions. Either way, deferring the issue or trying to move the point of contact out of the business is not in my opinion attempting to address the issue effectively, or showing the customer that your are taking ownership of their concerns.

When the machine was returned from The Laptop Hut to John Lewis and we said that we were not prepared to accept the machine in that state, the first response we got was "well then go to Trading Standards". I was pretty staggered by this and have since made it clear to John Lewis that I felt from this point it has been challenging to accept that they were taking our concerns seriously. It was only after some cajoling on my part as to whether that was genuinely the next step, that the member of the Customer Service team agreed to have a third party look at it. And thank goodness they did, because if we had taken possession then by their own subsequent admission, John Lewis probably would have accused us of reassembling the machine incorrectly.

However, even when the machine was referred for this third party report, the request was not made in a very impartial manner. I managed to get a copy of the request along with the report, and it was written in a manner which again suggested that John Lewis were not acting in good faith. And when the report did come back and we pointed out the part about the machine not being correctly reassembled, the member of the Customer Service team that was serving us just said "Oh I can't deal with this one" walked away and just left us standing at the desk.

So this concept of John Lewis having an untouchable reputation, and somehow having standards that mean they never make mistakes is clearly wrong. What is more, John Lewis's reputation does not mean that everybody they work with has supremely high standards, or that they do not mistakes either.

Mike, I would really like you to answer the questions in my previous post. Can you do it please? You are just dodging them and using politician's tactics to avoid them. As a customer on your contract these are some of my key concerns and I would like them addressed. Please answer the questions please.

Robert Wheeler

 

[Dawg]

Are you sure the lappy didn't get liquid in when you threw it out of the pram?

 

[saxondale]

Are you sure the lappy didn't get liquid in when you threw it out of the pram?

I love customers like Mr Wheeler.

 

[applemaidcleaning]

I would take the CUSTOMERS word for it, after all he did place his case here and looking for advice from us pro's and not direct to The Laptop Hut.

It seems to me that it might not be the fault of Latop Hut, but being stored / transferd buy John Lewis if i have read it right..

And by saying ending this madness seems like the CUSTOMER is mad????

 

[Robert Wheeler]

I love customers like Mr Wheeler.

Have I missed something? What characteristics are you talking about here? I have asked the guy a lot of point blank questions and he has not answered them. I really can not see where my conduct could be deemed to fall down. Can you explain please?

 

[Robert Wheeler]

I would take the CUSTOMERS word for it, after all he did place his case here and looking for advice from us pro's and not direct to The Laptop Hut.

It seems to me that it might not be the fault of Latop Hut, but being stored / transferd buy John Lewis if i have read it right..

And by saying ending this madness seems like the CUSTOMER is mad????

I appreciate you making the above observation rather than me, as it did strike me that way as well. I just do not understand the support shown for The Laptop Hut here by some, when the Company is not addressing the questions I am putting to them, and then they are sticking sideways comments like this into their responses. From what Mike has said on their behalf, it seems that they hold customer concerns in very low esteem, especially if they come to regard debate of such concerns as "madness".

EDIT:

Just thought I would add that I am still bewildered that the third party report which describes how The Laptop Hut had failed to reassemble the machine correctly could in anyway be written off under the banner of "madness". I find this very concerning.

 

[saxondale]

Have I missed something? What characteristics are you talking about here? I have asked the guy a lot of point blank questions and he has not answered them. I really can not see where my conduct could be deemed to fall down. Can you explain please?

I`m guessing you`ve been in business about 6 months?

 

[applemaidcleaning]

I appreciate you making the above observation rather than me, as it did strike me that way as well. I just do not understand the support shown for The Laptop Hut here by some, when the Company is not addressing the questions I am putting to them, and then they are sticking sideways comments like this into their responses. From what Mike has said on their behalf, it seems that they hold customer concerns in very low esteem, especially if they come to regard debate of such concerns as "madness".

EDIT:

Just thought I would add that I am still bewildered that the third party report which describes how The Laptop Hut had failed to reassemble the machine correctly could in anyway be written off under the banner of "madness". I find this very concerning.

Not a problem,

So John Lewis is the customer of The Laptop Hut?

So if you was the direct customer of Laptop Hut would you be treated different? a lot of companies do not realise that everyone is everyone's customer direct or in-direct! Potential or via 3rd / 4th party

 

[applemaidcleaning]

I appreciate you making the above observation rather than me, as it did strike me that way as well. I just do not understand the support shown for The Laptop Hut here by some, when the Company is not addressing the questions I am putting to them, and then they are sticking sideways comments like this into their responses. From what Mike has said on their behalf, it seems that they hold customer concerns in very low esteem, especially if they come to regard debate of such concerns as "madness".

EDIT:

Just thought I would add that I am still bewildered that the third party report which describes how The Laptop Hut had failed to reassemble the machine correctly could in anyway be written off under the banner of "madness". I find this very concerning.

Also my reply was not supporting them but a middle man had your product before you did (John Lewis) where the liquid may have come from.

If i have got the right end of the stick

 

[Robert Wheeler]

I`m guessing you`ve been in business about 6 months?

You have not answered my question. Please answer it.

To answer you question, my business has just completed its third year, the first year where we have just about broken even.

For you information, prior to this I had been employed in a variety of challenging customer service rolls including hearing appeals for parking ticket fines, managing a dot com delivery operation, and supporting a Tesco Non-Food returns desk. In the latter role I would frequently deal with customers with a range of appliances and white goods who would be having problems that could be attributed to any number of reasons. So I have plenty of experience of dealing with challenging situations and I am fully aware that there are plenty of chancers and mickey takers out there.

However, I also pride myself on the fact that I alway deal with things impartially and on a case by case basis and always acknowledged that it is best to avoid pigeonholing certain situations. If someone has a problem or issue you have to remain impartial and methodically go through all the elements to reach a conclusion on how the issue is going to be best addressed. Otherwise you end up having a desk full of customer services representative who moan about the same customers coming back again and again and a whole bunch of customers who are unhappy because they are being tarred with the same brush as the chancers.

There are some companies when you can go and stand by their customer service desk and just see a long line of people arguing with the staff and you can guarantee that a fair percentage of those people will not be satisfied. They will soon be calling up the switchboard, clogging up the internal communications of the business and providing an ongoing bottleneck for the operation of the business. You see the customer services staff with sour faces facing a barrage of negativity, and often giving it out in return.

One of the key issues is the matter of uncertainty. With a lot of customer service issues there is an element of uncertainty and this is where the arguments center. What concerns me in our case is that actually, we have gone some way to addressing the uncertainty by insisting upon a second opinion on the work carried out on the machine, and the written report that describes how the machine was incorrectly reassembled.

Furthermore, we have already established that the DVD drive that failed did so due to reasons unrelated to the mystery liquid spillage. This suggests that the item was not fit for use at the time of sale. We provided John Lewis with an opportunity to repair the item, but even when taking the liquid spillage out of the equation, the machine was reported to not have been handled to a good standard. As far as I am aware this may present further options under the Sales of Goods Act.

 

[Robert Wheeler]

Also my reply was not supporting them but a middle man had your product before you did (John Lewis) where the liquid may have come from.

If i have got the right end of the stick

Yes, you are exactly on the same page as me.

There are any number of hypothetical situations that could have led this matter to arise at any point in the process. What bothers me is that John Lewis and The Laptop Hut seem to have some kind of reciprocal endorsement that makes them think that they are immune to any criticism or procedure of review.

Neither seem to want to entertain the possibility that there may be grounds for concern within their own routines and procedures, they appear entrenched in a culture of blaming the customer.

 

[Big Pete]

Yes, you are exactly on the same page as me.

There are any number of hypothetical situations that could have led this matter to arise at any point in the process. What bothers me is that John Lewis and The Laptop Hut seem to have some kind of reciprocal endorsement that makes them think that they are immune to any criticism or procedure of review.

Neither seem to want to entertain the possibility that there may be grounds for concern within their own routines and procedures, they appear entrenched in a culture of blaming the customer.

I stood up for you Robert took a lot of flak doing so as well ...but i argued your points whilst you was ill

 

[saxondale]

You have not answered my question. Please answer it.

To answer you question, my business has just completed its third year, the first year where we have just about broken even.

For you information, prior to this I had been employed in a variety of challenging customer service rolls including hearing appeals for parking ticket fines, managing a dot com delivery operation, and supporting a Tesco Non-Food returns desk. In the latter role I would frequently deal with customers with a range of appliances and white goods who would be having problems that could be attributed to any number of reasons. So I have plenty of experience of dealing with challenging situations and I am fully aware that there are plenty of chancers and mickey takers out there.

However, I also pride myself on the fact that I alway deal with things impartially and on a case by case basis and always acknowledged that it is best to avoid pigeonholing certain situations. If someone has a problem or issue you have to remain impartial and methodically go through all the elements to reach a conclusion on how the issue is going to be best addressed. Otherwise you end up having a desk full of customer services representative who moan about the same customers coming back again and again and a whole bunch of customers who are unhappy because they are being tarred with the same brush as the chancers.

There are some companies when you can go and stand by their customer service desk and just see a long line of people arguing with the staff and you can guarantee that a fair percentage of those people will not be satisfied. They will soon be calling up the switchboard, clogging up the internal communications of the business and providing an ongoing bottleneck for the operation of the business. You see the customer services staff with sour faces facing a barrage of negativity, and often giving it out in return.

One of the key issues is the matter of uncertainty. With a lot of customer service issues there is an element of uncertainty and this is where the arguments center. What concerns me in our case is that actually, we have gone some way to addressing the uncertainty by insisting upon a second opinion on the work carried out on the machine, and the written report that describes how the machine was incorrectly reassembled.

Furthermore, we have already established that the DVD drive that failed did so due to reasons unrelated to the mystery liquid spillage. This suggests that the item was not fit for use at the time of sale. We provided John Lewis with an opportunity to repair the item, but even when taking the liquid spillage out of the equation, the machine was reported to not have been handled to a good standard. As far as I am aware this may present further options under the Sales of Goods Act.

Everything you need to answer your question to me is there in black and white.

Your just too much of a consumer to realise it.

Your websites poor too - cheers

 

[tradedemon]

I've been following this thread from the start and was hoping some amicable solution would have been concluded upon by the end. I normally try to just follow and not comment on these types of threads as there really is a lot of information that cannot be verified as spectators.

However I will mention the following points (which are all my own opinion so take it or leave it).

1.) Firstly I think this was a straight forward matter of a customer becoming unsatisfied or fustrated with a particular situation and then venting in a public place. People are generally well natured and won't vent unless they genuinely feel strongly about something. On top of this despite him probably being upset about the situation he did it in a very professional and well tempered way. So I can only commend him for that.

2.) Secondly when I saw the above thread developing and saw that Mike from the laptop hut actually bothered to reply, I thought great, this company deserves some respect for coming onto the forum and getting involved. Mike has gotten his hands dirty and it's a great chance for him to pick up a) some good PR on behalf of his company and b) satisfy his customer.

I genuinely thought he was going to ask Rob to send the laptop back for them look at again and fix. They're obviously a large well established business so how much would it cost to take the laptop back and actually fix it. End of saga right!

I mean the laptop hut has so much to gain from this simple incident that it's a no brainer. We've dealt with difficult customers in the past (yes they do exist) but even when we're right and they're wrong we refund and or make things up to them. That's just the way it works and long term it's always better for your business.

c) Thirdly nobody actually said that Rob spilled the coffee/drink or whatever it was but the responses sure did imply it. In fact the same basic point was kind of re-iterated a couple of times and pointless questions were asked from both sides. How about believing the customer and just doing them a favour. If you're such a big, faultless company with an above average track record (environmentally friendly too) then show that in your responses. The impression I got was that either Mike didn't have the authority to overrule the final decision and end the matter or simply that he was a cheap skate who's company probably isn't doing as well as he says it is.

Honestly refusing to fix one guys laptop after having fixed thousands of other happy customers laptops doesn't make sense. It just gives the wrong image to future customers and clients. In this one incident he could have acted promptly, won over the customer and added a glowing shine to his companies rep. (And all this even if the customer was actually lieing and/or wrong).

Final Words
=========
After reading the above saga I personally would never want to deal with the LaptopHut as all of their replies just seemed like they were a) pointing fingers back at Rob or b) that they were hiding behind technicalities and special terms and conditions to their service. That to me is poor.

 

[Dawg]

I've been following this thread from the start and was hoping some amicable solution would have been concluded upon by the end. I normally try to just follow and not comment on these types of threads as there really is a lot of information that cannot be verified as spectators.


Final Words
=========
After reading the above saga I personally would never want to deal with the LaptopHut as all of their replies just seemed like they were a) pointing fingers back at Rob or b) that they were hiding behind technicalities and special terms and conditions to their service. That to me is poor.

Apart from post #8, where your mind seems fairly set anyway.

I'm a little shocked that a company like John Lewis/Laptop Hut would deal with you like that.

Can you also quote where a) fingers were pointed at the OP, and b) they were hiding behind technicalities? I'd be interested in any of Laptop Huts replies that fall into either category, let alone "all of their replies".

 

[cmcp]

I tip my hat to The Laptop Hut, everything Mike said is sensible, fair and polite.

 

[willitbe]

In a previous incarnation, I too had to go on a Forum full of "Baying Consumers" to answer a few simple Questions regarding a company I worked for. They were like a pack of wolves I tell ya!

I didn't need to go on there and fight our corner, I could have ignored it but felt enough was enough, like all sales that go wrong scenarios, there is another side to the story.

Moving on, I feel Mr.Wheeler has his consumer hat on too tight and it's causing him some concern, too many irrelevant points that are demanding answers seem to be getting in the way of a clear head.

The website issue?...The WEEE Recyling issue?...Not related to your problem whatsoever, let them go Mr. Wheeler.

Mr.Wheeler (Can I call you Robert?) I'm finding it extremely hard to believe that a brown liquid, namely Coffee/Tea/Hot Chocolate, hasn't passed your lips, moreso, whilst you are on the computer. These two things go hand in hand, much like smoking and alcohol do.

To suggest someone else has done it in Transit is Ludicrous, Barmy and downright madness. Time to move on, you met your match in Mr.Sweeping Brush from Laptop Hut and he has the cut of your Jib.

A victory for the company in my eyes. Mr.Broom put himself across superbly, a clear and concise response was required and was delivered with aplomb!.

Hurry and break Laptop, I want to send you to Mr.Brush!!

 

[Big Pete]

I've been following this thread from the start and was hoping some amicable solution would have been concluded upon by the end. I normally try to just follow and not comment on these types of threads as there really is a lot of information that cannot be verified as spectators.

However I will mention the following points (which are all my own opinion so take it or leave it).

1.) Firstly I think this was a straight forward matter of a customer becoming unsatisfied or fustrated with a particular situation and then venting in a public place. People are generally well natured and won't vent unless they genuinely feel strongly about something. On top of this despite him probably being upset about the situation he did it in a very professional and well tempered way. So I can only commend him for that.

2.) Secondly when I saw the above thread developing and saw that Mike from the laptop hut actually bothered to reply, I thought great, this company deserves some respect for coming onto the forum and getting involved. Mike has gotten his hands dirty and it's a great chance for him to pick up a) some good PR on behalf of his company and b) satisfy his customer.

I genuinely thought he was going to ask Rob to send the laptop back for them look at again and fix. They're obviously a large well established business so how much would it cost to take the laptop back and actually fix it. End of saga right!

I mean the laptop hut has so much to gain from this simple incident that it's a no brainer. We've dealt with difficult customers in the past (yes they do exist) but even when we're right and they're wrong we refund and or make things up to them. That's just the way it works and long term it's always better for your business.

c) Thirdly nobody actually said that Rob spilled the coffee/drink or whatever it was but the responses sure did imply it. In fact the same basic point was kind of re-iterated a couple of times and pointless questions were asked from both sides. How about believing the customer and just doing them a favour. If you're such a big, faultless company with an above average track record (environmentally friendly too) then show that in your responses. The impression I got was that either Mike didn't have the authority to overrule the final decision and end the matter or simply that he was a cheap skate who's company probably isn't doing as well as he says it is.

Honestly refusing to fix one guys laptop after having fixed thousands of other happy customers laptops doesn't make sense. It just gives the wrong image to future customers and clients. In this one incident he could have acted promptly, won over the customer and added a glowing shine to his companies rep. (And all this even if the customer was actually lieing and/or wrong).

Final Words
=========
After reading the above saga I personally would never want to deal with the LaptopHut as all of their replies just seemed like they were a) pointing fingers back at Rob or b) that they were hiding behind technicalities and special terms and conditions to their service. That to me is poor.

This Post has it all just about bang on the mark ..

 

[Robert Wheeler]

Hi guys,

After my last post to this thread we negotiated with John Lewis further without resolution. We subsequently decided to write a letter to John Lewis offering them a final chance to resolve the issue to our satisfaction prior to commencing legal proceeding to recover the value of the laptop and damages. At that point I decided that I would not comment on the thread or the use UK Business Forums in general until the issue was resolved and we had the laptop repaired and in our hands. However, despite a resolution having been subsequently agreed, we have not yet received the laptop. As some time has elapsed I am returning to participate in the board, and I would l would like to explain some key points regarding what has happened since my last post:

1) Prior to our final letter, John Lewis offered to cover first £100, then £150 of the cost of the repair as a "goodwill gesture". They maintained that they would accept no responsibility for any damage done to the laptop. We considered that accepting the balance of the cost would have been akin to accepting that we had caused the liquid damage to the laptop, and therefore out of principle we firmly rejected this goodwill offer. We explained that the only satisfactory conclusion would have us bearing none of the cost of repair.

2) We opened a discussion with Sony regarding the legitimacy of John Lewis's claims that 'The Laptop Hut' was an approved Sony Repair Center. Sony told us explicitly that 'The Laptop Hut' was not an approved Sony Repair Center, and that they would not recommend that they carry out repairs. Sony told us that 'The Laptop Hut' only had an account with them to buy spare parts. John Lewis maintained that 'The Laptop Hut' was an approved Sony Repair Center, even when presented with this information.

3) We wrote to John Lewis giving a final chance to resolve the issue before we intended to proceed to litigation. In this letter we made special reference to protections offered in recent legislation that concern traders using spurious claims of customer damage to avoid their statutory duties. Subsequently John Lewis offered to cover the full cost of repair by 'The Laptop Hut'.

4) We made the point once again that we had no confidence in the standards or reputation of 'The Laptop Hut' and that we would only accept repair by a reputable third party. John Lewis agreed to this, although they qualified it by saying it may take up to two weeks for the new company to handle the repair. I was not entirely happy with this as I felt the job should be prioritised, but we accepted.

5) The laptop was not ready within 2 weeks. After some chasing up, we were told that new repair company was awaiting parts to be delivered from the USA. After about 4 weeks, once we asked them explicitly, John Lewis agreed to give us a loan laptop for the remainder of the period in which we are without the original laptop.

At present the matter has still not be brought to a conclusion.

 

[Big Pete]

Thanks for the update ..

Shame on them i say ..

 

[sysops]

I'm so sorry I've missed this thread, I've been very busy the past couple of months.

Robert Wheeler - you sound like a complete nightmare. I've come across customers like you in the past. You broke your machine, but you will never accept this.

You're lucky it's JL you're dealing with, most other retailers would have told you where to shove your faulty laptop (hint - more brown residue).

 

[saxondale]

At present the matter has still not be brought to a conclusion.

or in other words no-ones bothered about your threats ..........read into that what you want.

 

[Big Pete]

or in other words no-ones bothered about your threats ..........read into that what you want.

Erm excuse me !!

he has every right to be miffed .. dont be so rude !! if you disagree just dont post or if you do dont be rude ..

 

[sysops]

he has every right to be miffed .. dont be so rude !! if you disagree just dont post or if you do dont be rude ..

No, he doesn't. He's behaving like a spoilt child.

I don't think you have any right to tell people not to post.

 

[saxondale]

Erm excuse me !!

he has every right to be miffed .. dont be so rude !! if you disagree just dont post or if you do dont be rude ..

its also rude not to read the whole thread ................ you might also want to read between the lines too.



" Sony told me this, Sony told me that "



yes of course they did Mr W.

 

[Big Pete]

I have read the thread and the guy has been treated like dirt ..

And they have proved that there Customer sevice is poor..

 

[sysops]

I have read the thread and the guy has been treated like dirt ..

And they have proved that there Customer sevice is poor..

No, he hasn't, he's been treated very patiently indeed. It's very clear he's at fault, and most retailers would not have wasted this much time on him.

 

[Robert Wheeler]

I really can't get my head around why some posters have shown so much aggression and incredulity towards me. Like I said, we have an reached an agreement with John Lewis, but the matter has not yet reached a conclusion as the actual repair is being held up while the third party waits for parts, according to John Lewis.

I will say again, we did not damage this laptop. I really do not understand on what the people that are throwing insults at me are basing their stance on. I mean, anybody can contact Sony and find out that the 'The Laptop Hut' are not an approved Sony Repair Center. Mike from 'The Laptop Hut' came to this thread and more or less avoided answering every salient question I or anybody else asked him. Why I should be the one held in contempt after all that I really do not know.

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

It seems that The Hut have been reasonable. Assuming that whoever posted the comment that the pictures indicate a spillage took place some time ago is correct (which I am not qualified to agree with or dispute) then its just one of those things. Unfortunate but far from the end of the world.

 

[sysops]

I really can't get my head around why some posters have shown so much aggression and incredulity towards me.

I can't speak for anyone else, but my opinion of you was formed through reading your rants, your incoherent, irrelevant, and very very long rants.

As soon as someone starts going off on a tangent, criticising a company on the grounds that you don't like the design of their website, or claims they make that are totally unrelated to the case in hand, they lose the argument as far as I'm concerned.

As I've said, I've come across quite a few people like you before.

 

The fact that you are now posting and stating 'this matter has not yet been resolved' when it is apparent that the Laptop Hut are not even involved anymore shows bad judgement tbh. This thread was put up to slag off the Laptop Hut (wrongly imho, and I have years repairing laptops to back this up btw), yet they are no longer involved.

If you leave a laptop in to be repaired, and cannot accept that there is damage, when they have even showed you pictures of the damage.... what exactly do you want them to do? Should they just agree that you couldn't possibly have damaged it, since you said so, and fix it at their expense? It's hardly their place to fix damage caused before a laptop gets their length...... or how did you establish this is actually their place to repair (at their expense).

I think The Laptop Hut behaved remarkably well in this case, because I would have sent your laptop back to you in the same condition I received it and told you to go elsewhere. I can assure you that is not because I provide a bad service, I have many many satisfied customers, it is merely because you are acting unreasonably expecting something to be fixed for nothing, just because you refuse to admit that there is damage to it, which there obviously is.

I'm staying out of this thread from now on, because it is likely to turn into a slanging match now just, but I am pretty sure who comes out of this looking bad tbh, and it ain't The Laptop Hut.

And don't refer me back to any of the 'points' you have made during the thread, because I read them all and have seen this thread from the start, and if it was aimed at me, there would be a court case to have it removed if thats what it took...... and maybe a 'Cease & Desist' for you personally.

Its customers like you that make the whole laptop repair business more hassle than its worth, and that is why so many small cowboy outfits get to spring up, but never last.

 

[Big Pete]

I can't speak for anyone else, but my opinion of you was formed through reading your rants, your incoherent, irrelevant, and very very long rants.

As soon as someone starts going off on a tangent, criticising a company on the grounds that you don't like the design of their website, or claims they make that are totally unrelated to the case in hand, they lose the argument as far as I'm concerned.

As I've said, I've come across quite a few people like you before.

A bit insulting and bang out of order !!

You definately do not speak for me thats for sure

He has not ranted all he wanted was some Fair justice .. is that asking to much in this crazy world we live in ..