WTF? Pay £19.99 'so your monitor is ready to use...'

[Spinney]

Looking for a new monitor, and trying not to automatically use Amazon.
Laptops Direct have the same one for more or less the same price, but when I get to the checkout, they offer me this:

To me, this looks like them charging twenty quid to save you the (quite unlikely) faff of possibly having to return a monitor that may have cosmetic damage or doesn't work. They can't set it up without plugging it into your computer, so that bit is a lie. Are dead pixels in a brand new monitor really not covered? That's not manufacturer's warranty, surely, but the normal consumer protection of the thing being fit to use when you buy it.

And breathe....
*empties Laptop Direct's shopping basket and looks elsewhere*

 

[ianrauk]

Trying to squeeze every penny from the gullible or not able or just can't be bothered.

 

[mistyoptic]

With TVs there was a thing that a certain number of dead pixels was "acceptable" in manufacturing terms, unless they were grouped. Maybe the same for monitors.
"We check it first" is just having a laugh at your expense.

I'm afraid I did the Amazon thing but I used their "warehouse deals" page which saved me a bit for "open box" items

edit: All modern monitors are ready to use "straight out of the box" unless they come without cables

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Rip-off.

We always check for dead pixels on anything with a screen.

Only ever spotted some on an Acer laptop from Dixons ages ago and that was returned and swapped.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Having had an AOC monitor with a cluster of dead pixels, which was definitely outside of the norm, i can attest to the value of a retailer checking the product before sending it. However, at £19.99 its taking the pish. There is little doubt all they are doing is removing the monitor, switching it on, looking at it for a moment and repackaging...

But as i always say, something is only worth what people are willing to pay for and if people pay for this inspection, then it must be worth it...

 

[StuAff]

Yup, daft…but they're OK apart from that. Bought my Dell P2715Q from them back in 2018, delivered promptly & no problems.

 

[Brandane]

There is little doubt all they are doing is removing the monitor, switching it on, looking at it for a moment and repackaging...

If they even bother to do that....
You can be sure any faults will have occurred in transit, after it passed their rigorous inspection, and you will end up having to return it anyway.

 

[Alex321]

Looking for a new monitor, and trying not to automatically use Amazon.
Laptops Direct have the same one for more or less the same price, but when I get to the checkout, they offer me this:
View attachment 617223
To me, this looks like them charging twenty quid to save you the (quite unlikely) faff of possibly having to return a monitor that may have cosmetic damage or doesn't work. They can't set it up without plugging it into your computer, so that bit is a lie. Are dead pixels in a brand new monitor really not covered? That's not manufacturer's warranty, surely, but the normal consumer protection of the thing being fit to use when you buy it.

A certain number of dead pixels are considered acceptable from the warranty POV.

But that check is certainly not worth £20.

And breathe....
*empties Laptop Direct's shopping basket and looks elsewhere*

Why?
It is an optional add-on, just don't add it.

 

[swee'pea99]

That's 2/3 of what I paid for my monitor. (I didn't get a pre-inspection.)

 

[Spinney]

A certain number of dead pixels are considered acceptable from the warranty POV.

But that check is certainly not worth £20.


Why?
It is an optional add-on, just don't add it.

Because it's not worth £20 - it's a bit like those extended warranties that sales people in shops (used to?) push at you and are rarely value for money. A mini-scam for the unwary.

 

[Spinney]

edit: All modern monitors are ready to use "straight out of the box" unless they come without cables

Precisely. This one doesn't come with cables, and that £20 isn't offering to include one...

 

[Archie_tect]

Never heard about groups of dead pixies in monitors before...

 

[si_c]

Dead pixels in a monitor are a nuisance but are easily avoided by checking the monitor and then if found returning it immediately to the retailer and handily under the Consumer Contracts Regulations you are entitled to do this up to 14 days after delivery for any reason.

Definitely seems a little like a case of money for old rope.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

When I read this I had the same thoughts, what a con.

Thinking it through further and making the assumption that the checks being charged for are actually performed diligently I am less hostile to the idea.

If this is a domestic purchase then I can't see the benefit.

But if this is a business purchase where there is an employee unboxing the monitor and possibly the desktop/laptop bought at the same time for a new starter then the cost of dead out the box is possibly higher than £20.

• The new starter sits around doing nothing.
• The IT chap has wasted possibly an hour unboxing, being sure that it doesn't work and then reboxing it.
• The IT chap then has to repeat the process with the replaced item.

So if you view the charge as a premium for a guaranteed working item then it is not so outrageous, especially if the purchases are being made by someone using "company money and it's only twenty quid".

I can see why this could be seen as simply milking the customer and is not intended to be used in the way that I describe. Yet it seems to me to run a risk for Laptops Direct; As far as I am aware there is no precedent for recovering any losses arising from being shipped a dead/defective product as part of a commodity mail order transaction, but if you pay for this service and still get a dead/defective product then there may be grounds to claim for losses if the service was not properly performed.

Bye

Ian

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Good morning,

When I read this I had the same thoughts, what a con.

Thinking it through further and making the assumption that the checks being charged for are actually performed diligently I am less hostile to the idea.

If this is a domestic purchase then I can't see the benefit.

But if this is a business purchase where there is an employee unboxing the monitor and possibly the desktop/laptop bought at the same time for a new starter then the cost of dead out the box is possibly higher than £20.

• The new starter sits around doing nothing.
• The IT chap has wasted possibly an hour unboxing, being sure that it doesn't work and then reboxing it.
• The IT chap then has to repeat the process with the replaced item.

So if you view the charge as a premium for a guaranteed working item then it is not so outrageous, especially if the purchases are being made by someone using "company money and it's only twenty quid".

I can see why this could be seen as simply milking the customer and is not intended to be used in the way that I describe. Yet it seems to me to run a risk for Laptops Direct; As far as I am aware there is no precedent for recovering any losses arising from being shipped a dead/defective product as part of a commodity mail order transaction, but if you pay for this service and still get a dead/defective product then there may be grounds to claim for losses if the service was not properly performed.

Bye

Ian

As a retired IT chap - normally working on my own - unboxing a monitor and plugging it in would take about 5 minutes
if it failed - and I can;t remember any failing in my time as an IT Technician (about 4 years) or as an IT Teacher working with the IT Technician department (13 years) then the number of failed monitors was so low as to be unmemorable
They just tend to work

so £20 is just trying it on
IMO