TL;DR

  • A sticker on your laptop is ‘damage’ and breaks your warranty
  • Well, according to eBuyer…
  • Reading their linkedIn page: ‘We pride ourselves on our customer service’
    • I would beg to differ
  • eBuyer has refused to honour the Consumer Rights Act 2015 claiming that a sticker on a laptop voids their obligations under the act.
  • They claim that a sticker invalidates the warranty, yet refuse to produce the warranty, let alone show where in the warranty it states that a sticker on a laptop is ‘damage’.

The real damage:

missing key

Timeline

  • 2021 June 2: purchased laptop from eBuyer
  • 2021 June 29: returned with a key broken off the keyboard
  • 2021 July 14: return was rejected. ‘I am afraid as the laptop has come back with stickers and red pen on it this voids the warranty which comes with the laptop’

What eBuyer thinks is damage:

laptop with stickers

Email correspondence 2021 July 14 with a ‘Customer Support Senior Advisor’

  • eBuyer: I am afraid as the laptop has come back with stickers and red pen on it this voids the warranty which comes with the laptop
  • Me: Can you supply me with the warranty that you mention
  • eBuyer: Unfortunately, we do not have copies of the warranty that I can send you I am afraid.
  • Me: How can I verify your claim of the warranty being invalidated if I cannot see the warranty ? Could you take a picture of it ?
  • eBuyer: As said previously we do not have a copy of the warranty I am afraid. As the laptop has been damaged by the customer this voids the warranty I am afraid.
  • Me: Can I ask a few questions for clarification:
  1. Do you count the stickers as damage ?
  2. Do you count the red pen mark as damage ?
  3. Is there a definition of damage that you use to decide whether an item is damaged ?
  4. Is there a definition of damaged that you are applying with regards to the consumer rights act? eg what definition does the act specify
  5. If you/eBuyer does not have a copy of the warranty, how do you know that the ‘damage’ invalidates the warranty ?
  • eBuyer: I cannot advise you of anything further.

Follow up

I followed up with:

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, you are under an implied obligation to supply goods that are of satisfactory quality and that are fit for purpose. Clearly, a laptop with a defective keyboard is not of satisfactory quality or fit for purpose. You are in breach of contract by failing to supply a product of satisfactory quality and I am entitled to a remedy. There is no basis for arguing that some stickers on the laptop's cover deprive me of my statutory right to reject a laptop with a defective keyboard.

I wish to refer you to the guidance on the CRA 2015 published by the Department for Business Innovations & Skills (BEIS) which states that in relation to the requirement of satisfactory quality, goods sold by a business must be:

  • Fit for all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied.
  • Free from minor defects.

To date, I have had no response…

Moving on

  • eBuyer has lost a customer
  • It is interesting to think about ‘what is damage’; a scratch on the screen, a sticker, a smudge.
  • I will update this post in due course…

What others say

I am obviously not alone in feeling mistreated by eBuyer: