Is John entitled to his money back for a broken computer?

“Am I entitled to a refund?” Those six words form at least part of one of the most common questions Pricewatch is asked by readers who have been let down.
More often than not the answer is no, but that does not mean people are not entitled to any comeback, and more often than not we have more rights than we think we do.
“I wonder if I could get your opinion on a laptop warranty please,” begins a mail from a reader by the name of John.
He bought an Apple Mac from a bricks-and-mortar shop at the end of September 2023 and paid €929 for it with the idea being his son would use it for his college studies.
At the start of September this year, 24 days shy of the first anniversary of the purchase, John dropped the laptop in for repair to the shop where he had bought it as it would not turn on.
“I did not state it was within warranty, however they had all that information electronically and should have known. I did not check the warranty myself as I was intensely busy at work,” he says.
“I was subsequently charged €70 for an assessment and informed that the laptop was not worth repairing,” he continues.
Now, his son needed some class of laptop – one that did turn on – so John went off and bought him a new machine from a different retailer.
“When I was clearing away paperwork recently I came across the invoice for the [Apple] laptop with the warranty period written on it,” he continues.
The discovery prompted him to mail the shop to highlight the fact that the computer was under warranty when he dropped it in for repair and as a result he wanted a “a full refund”.
In response the shop manager “offered a replacement machine and a refund of the €70 assessment fee. However, I stated I had no need of a replacement laptop and wanted a refund on the purchase price I paid”.
The shop wasn’t for turning and again John was told “there would be no refund of the purchase price” and again he was offered a refund of the €70 he had paid for the repair assessment as well as a replacement machine.
“I replied pointing out that the store manager told me that [the shop] should have checked the laptop’s warranty when I dropped it in for repair but in the reply to that they did not change their position, which is that I should have informed them that the laptop was still in warranty. Am I entitled to a refund?”
The answer is almost certainly not.
A retailer is not legally required to offer a refund of the full cost of the machine in circumstances such as this and while it might have been a good idea for John to mention when he had bought the computer when he was dropping it in – at the very least it might have saved him the assessment fee – his failure to do so makes no difference to his rights.
First up, the warranty. There are times when retailers use the word as the be all and end all and they can lean particularly heavily on it when the set warranty period has expired.
They have no right to do that because while warranties are useful they do not trump statutory consumer rights.
A warranty is an agreement between you and the manufacturer or retailer saying that they will repair or replace an item you bought if something goes wrong for a set period of time after you bought it.
Extended warranties are supposed to insure you against the cost of repairs for a period after the initial warranty period runs out, but – in our experience – they do not represent great value for money.
In too many cases, extended warranties are sold by retailers to maximise shop profits and are not for the benefit of the paying public who can be vulnerable to pushy sales tactics just after they have made a major purchase.
The reality is the premiums for many extended warranties mean that although you might be getting peace of mind, you are paying a horrendous price for it.
The warranty on something that costs €150 can be as much as €30, and if you buy a €200 vacuum cleaner you can expect to pay €50 for three years’ cover. A three-year warranty on a computer that cost €1,000 will be about €200, while a five-year warranty will set you back €300.
Not only that, but if a product is going to break down, that is most likely to happen in the first year after purchase, in which case you will be covered by the year-long warranty And even if a product of breaks down after a year, you should still be able to get redress from the retailer using your statutory rights.
And what are those rights?
Under Irish and EU law, a product must be of merchantable quality, be fit for purpose, be as described. If the product develops a manufacturing fault, a consumer is entitled to seek a repair, replacement or refund for up to six years after a product has been bought.
But by offering to replace the faulty laptop in John’s case, the retailer has fulfilled its obligations and John in not entitled to the refund he was looking for.