Extended warranty refund for Acer laptop hasn't arrived

I bought an Acer Aspire laptop in May 2009. Shortly before the one-year manufacturer's warranty expired, I bought an extended warranty directly from Acer.

Because I was having problems with the screen, I sent the unit for repair in April this year. Acer contacted me and told me it couldn't get hold of the necessary spare part. I was told I could exchange the laptop at Comet.

I subsequently exchanged the Acer Aspire laptop for a Sony Vaio laptop at Comet. As such, the extended warranty never became relevant to me so I assumed Acer would issue a refund.

However, I have contacted the company twice and the response is negative.

Markus Wohlgenannt

There was a lot of concern in the past that extended warranties were overpriced and missold, which led the Office of Fair Trading to launch an investigation in 2002.

In 2005 this led to a change in the rules, which gave stronger and quite specific protection to consumers. If the warranty costs over £20 (including Vat), the customer has a minimum of 30 days in which to make up their mind before they buy.

For warranties that last over a year, if the buyer signs up to it immediately, they are given a 45-day cooling off period during which they can cancel an extended warranty. During this time, and providing no claim has been made, the consumer must get a full refund.

If a claim has been made, providing the warranty is for more than a year, people can cancel it and get a pro rata refund, even after 45 days.

If the extended warranty costs over £20 (including Vat), the supplier must notify these rights in writing to the buyer no more than 24 days after they bought the electrical goods.

It would seem, therefore, that Mr Wohlgenannt should be able to claim for a pro-rata refund for the £65 three-year warranty.

There may be an exclusion clause which exempts Acer because he replaced the original laptop with another manufacturer's PC. From what we have read, however, we don't believe that this should make a difference. But in the event of a dispute it would be up to the courts to rule on.

Mr Wohlgenannt then said he hadn't activated the extended warranty when he sent the laptop back for repair. He may therefore be able to argue that he should receive a full refund as he did not use the warranty to make a claim.

We contacted Acer about this problem and the company agreed that it sounded as if he was entitled to a refund. Mr Wohlgenannt is now discussing this with the company.

Your rights under the extended warranty law

Retailers and manufacturers selling extended warranties have to give consumers information about their statutory rights, cancellation rights and warranty details. Consumers should be given a written reminder of these rights from the seller.

Retailers cannot push consumers into buying warranties exclusively at the point of sale, as the same deal must be available for 30 days after a sale.

Discounts tied to the purchase of the extended warranty should also be available for 30 days.

A retailer must also make the consumer aware there could be alternative insurance and of their cancellation rights.

Case update

Since this case was initially reported, we have been in touch with Acer again.

It seems wires got crossed and the staff Mr Wohlgenannt spoke to were unaware of either the law or the fact Acer was quite prepared to make a full refund. It has now been sorted out and Mr Wohlgenannt has been given his money back.