Any return-right for online purchase by a non-Swiss consumer?

Complaints Corner
1
I've bought a new laptop by DELL in Switerland.

Unfortunately it was dead on arrival, and DELL declines any return right.

I've found an SRF article that EU citizen actually do have 2 weeks return right, when they buy in a Swiss online shop, but DELL claims if the delivery is to Switzerland then tough luck.

Any experience with that?

2
If it was DOA then I find it hard to believe a company like Dell, who ship thousands of laptops, refuse a right to return. DOA's happen.

There must be more detail to the story... was the packaging damaged? Did you buy it from the Swiss Dell site, or another country?

3
Agree.

This is not a matter of you changing your mind, apparently. The thing was dead. The "right to return" is mainly about returning things you just don't want anymore to even though nothing's wrong with them.

However, why would EU citizens have a right to return but not the Swiss, if both live in CH?

Switzerland indeed has no law that would regulate general rights to return. But as said, that's not the issue in my opinion. You received a laptop that apparently does not work. What Dell does with that is up to them and their customer orientation (or lack thereof).

4
Yacek,

There may be a difference between EU and CH AGB. Here are the CH AGB:

http://www.dell.com/learn/ch/de/chco...orp&cs=chcorp1

I'm not sure on what it is that you want to do with the laptop: Do you want to return the DOA one and have Dell fix or replace it, or do you want to send it back and forget the whole thing? I have trouble believing that Dell wouldn't be willing to do the former at no cost to you, I can imagine that they might try to avoid the latter, although that wouldn't be a particularly smart strategy imho.

Have you tried contacting Dell via their support chat? I have trouble imagining that a company that has managed to tick so many boxes for such a long time, even here in Switzerland, would actually contemplate "You purchased a new broken laptop from us, and that is just the way it goes sometimes."

If it was damaged during shipping have you notified the shipper, or Dell of that (usually you need to supply photos of the damaged packaging or some evidence that the damage occurred during shipping)?

5
Bought from Swiss DELL site. DELL insists on the repair route.

The issue is that the laptop freezes completely (hard reboot needed) from time to time.

That even happened with the pre-installed Windows software, before any Windows updates etc. I would like to avoid a back-and-forth with a service if I could. I've already lost a good couple of hours researching it on the net, downloading and installing their drivers, windows updates etc.

There is no physical damage.

6
It's amazing how you basically told us a load of rubbish in the first post. The laptop is not DOA, it turns on and is working but has a fault, and that Dell are willing to repair in line with their T&C's.

You have no right to a return and refund. Dell usually even collect it from your free of charge.

7
well alright then, so it IS working and they ARE willing to repair it.

Not sure what else you want.

So to answer your question: no, you have no right to return it just because you can't be bothered with the back-and-forth you may (or may not) face.

8
Could be a hardware fault. Try contacting them and suggesting a deal: If you send it back and they return it to you and it still does the hangs, then they take it back and refund you.

I realise it is a bother, and it has cost you some time, but give Dell a chance to rectify the issue, at their cost (which is what their AGB seems to offer). You would be surprised at how often "broken" machines aren't actually broken. Give the support chat a try, if you are lucky they have a support center somewhere near you and you can take it by and demonstrate, or explain what is happening.

9
As it is often the case the terms citizen and residents are often intermingled. Just look here on EF when someone complains about the Swiss doing ..., which often means Swiss residents and not Swiss citizens. Correct is EU-Einwohner/EU-Resident not EU-Bürger/EU-Citizen.

10
Indeed.

I had such a problem with my first Natel, DOA.

Normally, I would have had to do the back and forth stuff, but Migros did me a good-will and swapped it, as I had bought it only a couple hours earlier.

Tom

11
Might want to do a disk check: https://windowsinstructed.com/run-chkdsk-windows/

Otherwise DELL will probably just do the check for you and swap out the hard drive if necessary.

12
According to your link Dell can decide to offer free postage for the return of your PC "Auf Verlangen von Dell ist das beanstandete Produkt portofrei an Dell zurückzusenden." and then Dell decide whether to repair or replace.

13
Do you have any third-party equipment attached to the computer? When I've had similar problems, especially with a brand-new machine, they have almost always come down to a problem with a peripheral device rather than the machine itself. Could be a USB key, cordless mouse, printer, anything...

14
Yes, which is pretty standard procedure. I'm not quite sure what it is that Yacek wants from the situation.

15
Consumer Rights FAQ

https://www.konsum.admin.ch/bfk/en/h...telle/faq.html

16
Thanks everybody for all your comments.

I think you're a bit too harsh about my DOA. To me freezing a few hours a day with a factory installed s/w is not really acceptable.

I had not peripheral attached.

Today Windows downloaded yet another fix and it is stable so far, but no idea if it is relates.

The problem is: what if it freezes just sometimes, on some days. How would I prove then that the problem happens to Dell service if it doesn't do it at their premises? Well, I could record a video about it :-)

When it freezes, the display keeps its last state (e.g. frozen youtube video), and that's it. No logs. The built-in test absolved successfully. I really hope it either stops freezing or just does it regularly enough. Otherwise I'll be screwed big time.

I've bought a good specced one as a gift to my wife for nearly 2k (1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, i7 something). I've never bought such an expensive new toy before and I feel like a sucker now.

I'm myself a hw/sw eng and I know how hard it is sometimes to diagnose hw or sw.

17
So you can only unfreeze it by taking the battery out?

I assume you checked out all the Event Viewer logs and also tried running in Safe Mode.

18
Battery is non-removable. I have to hard reset it (long press-and-hold of its power button).

The event viewer shows only a startup without shutdown - looks like kernel sees has no chance to store anything.

I'll try it out in safe mode, thanks for the hint. Now it is running a long Windows memory test, because it froze again.

19
If you are a HW/SW engineer then you know that DOA means 'Dead On Arrival', and nothing else.

If you are a HW/SW engineer then you also know that all hardware is subject to failure and that problems can and will happen with electrical components or software drivers.

When exactly does it freeze? Does it give any error message? Do the event logs really say nothing?

20
There is no obvious trigger for the freeze, unfortunately; it will stay like that indefinitely, and needs a reboot to recover. And there is no entry in the windows logs around the time of the failure; happens about 2-4 times a day; memory tests and Dell built-in tests passed.

I once reached the DELL support and got instruction to run their built-in test. Results sent yesterday and no reply yet.

Tried to call them today on a Swiss number, but nobody replied after 30min of waiting.