Curry's dispute and miselling of 'insurance'. Hive mind needed

[Ashmonster]

I'm hoping that the magic that is the mumsnet hive mind can help me, please. Even though it's long (sorry), I've tried to keep it as brief as possible. No deliberate drip feeding, but apologies if that happens.

My dd (19) wanted a new singing all dancing laptop/tablet. Although she's at Uni, she has additional needs and this was bought to help her take notes easier during lectures. My dh and I were with her when she bought it. Her needs mean that she needs support when doing things, especially something like this. She'd saved all summer from her first ever job to buy this.

When she decided she was going to buy it, the salesman asked 'Do you want insurance?'. I said no, but she said 'yes and explained that as she's at uni it might get stolen or broken'. The salesman said 'If it breaks, we will fix it'. He quite clearly knew what she wanted and why she wanted it.

Unfortunately, the tablet got dropped, accidentally. She took it to Currys to be fixed only to find what she'd been sold as 'insurance' was actually a 3 year extended warranty and accidental damage isn't covered. They want £550 to repair the tablet. We can't get it fixed elsewhere as the tech is so new, no one else has the parts.

Currys have admitted to the misselling of insurance, but are refusing the repair the laptop. If you admit to the misselling and are going to make a refund of the fee, then logic says you should repair the laptop right?

Anyway, I have been given the run around by Currys complaints, which has been awful. I've basically been called a liar, told their notes don't reflect what i'm saying. I now am in the position where I want to take it further.

I'm dealing with it, as one of my dd's problems is that she can't talk on the phone.

Does anyone have the email of the CEO, Alex Baldock? I want this to go as high as possible as the way we've been treated is disgusting.
Any other ideas of what I can do?
Thanks for reading this diatribe. If this is the shortened version, you can imagine how hard this has been.

He was right though. 'If it breaks we will fix it'. The insurance you had would have covered an instance in which it stops working through no fault of your own.

He didn't say 'if you break it we will fix it'. Totally different concept. Totally different type of insurance. The latter is accidental damage which is almost always an add on or separate insurance.

Sorry don't know what to do about Currys, but will you not be covered on your home contents insurance? We have £1000 cover each on items in case they get damaged away from home.

But it's not always worth claiming on your home insurance due to the rise in premium next year.

I usually take out travel insurance with device cover so I protect my home insurance. I had to claim due to a burglary last year and my premium is 400% higher this year.

I would say go to the Financial Ombudsman but they were totally useless over my complaint against AXA for misselling of health insurance, even with the necessary call records to prove it.

If you want to pursue this and haven't already done so write down your recollection of these events. If the calls were made on a mobile take a screenshot of the call log showing the calls and how long they were. Note down relevant dates and so on. If you have a bill that itemises it save that. You're best bet is probably to make a Subject Access request to Currys, including your name and your daughter's name as the subjects they need to search for. I'm not across rhe process in the UK, there's some information here https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/your-right-to-get-copies-of-your-data/
I know where I live there are basic SARs, which would show the details a company holds on you and a type that is much more detailed where an organisation has to provide all the information (unless it meets specific exclusions) they hold on you including internal communications in relation to your issue and communications with you like details of phone conversations. If UK has the equivalent it's this detailed type of SAR that you'd need. Here they have longer to respond for the more detailed type of SAR.

(Obviously only for claims while we're away, not at home).

On a different note @Ashmonster if your daughter has additional needs has she applied for Disabled Student Allowance? My dd qualified with ASD and she received a brand new lap top for which we had to contribute £200

Curry's doesn't sell cutting edge technology.

Who told you that?

If your DD is in uni-provided accommodation, the rent might include some contents insurance. (It does in a few places but not in others.) Also worth checking out!

There are a few things about your posts that are bothering me.

First you say that Curry’s are somehow selling tech that is so new to the market fixing it is not remotely possible, but also that they will fix it for £550. These things cannot both be true.

Second you seem to have an understanding that these policies are junk and yet you still allowed your daughter to be missold whilst you were there. I agree that Curry’s have a responsibility but it seems that your daughter has some needs and so as her advocate you should have pushed harder on this point.

the concept of ‘if it breaks’ does not automatically translate to ‘if you break it’ as other posters have noted.

Is there some chance that the fact that it’s insured meant that your daughter was less careful overall? It’s true that insurance allows us to take more risks but most young people won’t understand the absolute ballache of actually dealing with insurers. If there is a way out of it they will find it.

Also - what on earth has she done to it to destroy it so fully so quickly. Yes electronics are delicate but I’ve dropped laptops before to no consequence. And my phone gets dropped weekly and is 4+ years old. (Yeah, I know, I’m clumsy).

lastly, almost 20 years ago I bought a shiny new laptop from Curry’s. It developed an in-warranty fault and became a brick after a few months. Curry’s were beyond useless, it went away for months and couldn’t be fixed. I have not shopped with them since.

Just FYI, your daughter could be eligible for disabled students allowance through student finance

www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa

I had this with currys a few years ago. Think I actually had some insurance with them rather than a warranty but they wouldn't even let me claim on that! I went to the ombudsman in the end and they replaced the ipad. I'd try that.i also never buy from Currys now due to that reason.

Oh yes, also just remembered that the sales person lied to me too!! He told me it had accidental cover but when I went to claim, it didn't.

Perhaps ask for this to be moved to legal, you should then get legal advice rather than what people think should be the case.

What's the tablet with no parts available? That'd be unusual. More standard with things like Apple Watches, but tablets tend to be well stocked.

Unfortunately refunding you has returned you to the position you were in before the miss-selling; and they weren't factually incorrect with "If it breaks, we fix it" unless they specifically said that they'd fix it if you broke it.

By all means, continue to complain and see what you can get them to do, perhaps they'll contribute to some of the repair, but legally they appear to have offered the required remedy.

Regardless of what the salesman told you, you knew you didn’t want to buy a warranty, tried to talk your dd out of it and yet somehow didn’t check any of the paperwork at any point before or after sale to see what you’d bought?

it’s your responsibility to check the terms and conditions and, as others have pointed out, the t&c are very clear on curry’s website that accidental damage isn’t covered. So why didn’t you have a quick glance either at the paperwork or online after when you could have then got a refund and arranged other insurance?

the salesman is not the only one at fault here

Also - what on earth has she done to it to destroy it so fully so quickly. Yes electronics are delicate but I’ve dropped laptops before to no consequence.

You've been lucky in that case. My son has a tablet/laptop for school and has broken the screen twice in six months. Fell out of a half-zipped bag on the first occasion, then someone trod on his bag as they can't take it into the school coffee bar.

The tablet laptops aren't as sturdy as a normal one.

Hi Op, there's a web forum which helps people with things like this- Consumer Action Group. You post details and they seem pretty clued up and can give advice on whether you have a case or not.

I have spent days researching this and have managed to speak to an expert within the insurance field (think working at CEO level).
As a pp has said, warranties are a form of insurance and as such fall under the same, plus a few additional misselling rules. The difference is that according to the Financial services website:

Many customers complain that they:

• weren’t aware of, or didn’t understand the conditions and exclusions in the policy
• were told at the point of sale that the policy would cover any eventuality – not the specific insured risks that were actually covered

Because extended warranties are usually sold in retail stores, there’s often a quick and simple sales process with no record of how the sale took place. The only evidence available is from the customer and their account of what happened at the time.... ... We might say that the policy was mis-sold if your documentation or sales conversation didn’t:

• make clear what was covered by the policy
• highlight any unusual limitations or exclusions which would reduce the cover
• make clear that the type of damage included could have been covered by another policy the customer has (like contents insurance)...

Extended warranty insurance policies are often based on the principle of indemnity. This means that you need to put your customer in the position they were in before the loss or damage. Depending on the wording of the policy, this can be done by:

• making the necessary repairs
• replacing the necessary items
• offering a credit note as settlement
• offering a cash settlement

I have been advised that this type of misselling is common in this industry, and due to lack of staff training.

I think that this covers everything I've been saying so I will definitely be taking it further.

Thank you to those of you who have told me that my dd bought a warranty and therefore we're culpable. Under the letter of the law, we bought what we believed to be an insurance policy, but to be honest it doesn't actually matter. The bottom line is that we weren't told what the policy covered. He was selling one thing, we thought we were buying something else. The onus is on Currys to ensure we understood exactly what we were buying. They did not.
With regard to reading the t&c's, please note the specific comment highlighted.

I have never asked for a new laptop. All we want, all we've ever asked for is for them to repair the laptop as per the insurance cover that we thought we'd purchased.

Please keep us updated.

I hope you get the laptop sorted

I never said it can't be fixed. It can. Either by Curry's or the original manufacturer. We have contacted a couple of independent computer repair people who have both told us the same thing: the tech is new and the parts are not available to buy yet.
We believed that Curry's insurance was expensive and she could get it cheaper elsewhere. We believed it was a genuine insurance though, not a warranty. We would have stopped her from buying a warranty as the laptop/tablet was under warranty anyway. At the end of the day, she's 19 and is finding her feet. Her money/her choice. Her reasoning was sound for why she wanted the insurance.

I can say without hesitation that mu dd wouldn't think like that. She's never broken any tech before. Part of her needs leads her to be very careful when moving.

How did it get destroyed so quickly is a discussion in itself. My dd was taking it out of her rucksack, which was on the floor. It fell out of its case and hit the floor, she was indoors. A very small drop caused a completely smashed screen, even though the case was closed. It's an ink screen.

Yes she does qualify for DSA and she has a standard laptop, which we bought her a year before. This is classed as her laptop by DSA.
We have checked her uni accommodation and their insurance doesn't cover this, even though she was in her room when it happened.