Consumeractive
We stand up for your legal rights
Has Currys sold me a second-hand laptop as new?
LEAD CASE
Q I’m concerned that Currys has sold me a second-hand laptop as new. I bought a Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1laptop from Currys (www.snipca.com/54091) at the end of December. When setting it up I discovered that it appears to have previously been set up, and Lenovo’s warranty was for only seven months instead of a year. Neither Lenovo nor Currys is helping me, so can you?
John Barker
A We’ll try, because there are several signs suggesting it’s a second-hand laptop that Currys sold as new by mistake. If so, John is entitled to a full refund.
First, if the laptop has been set up before, it has definitely been used in some capacity. It may not have been owned by another customer, but John could certainly argue it’s now second-hand.
John’s suspicions were further fuelled when he took the laptop back to Currys and an assistant noticed it had been set up to ‘Flip to boot’. This setting turns on the screen when you flip open the laptop (see www.snipca.com/54090). This isn’t set by default, suggesting it’s been activated by a previous owner.
But the biggest clue is the warranty. By law these begin on the day you receive the item. John says the warranty was registered in July, which would explain why five of the warranty’s 12 months had already passed. However, Lenovo won’t be to blame for this. The fault lies entirely with Currys, though Lenovo can help by investigating when this laptop was set up and by whom. This would give John some evidence to present to Currys.