Ownership of goods that should have been collected (law)

[Elliot]

Bit of a law question, can anyone give any advice or point me in the right direction?

 

A month or so before Xmas, I bought a PC from Dell. When it arrived, the flat-panel monitor had a broken pixel bang in the middle of the screen. I phoned them and told them I wanted a replacement. They said their policy was only to replace screens with 3-4 pixels broken

 

After around 9 calls ("an engineer/technical assistant will call you back tonight sir" & "please hold the line"...(cut off) ) I sorted out a new one, but they wanted the old one first. I laughed at that & said no way.

 

They delivered my new one a few weeks later (supposed to be 3-4 days) & instead of picking the old one up, they arranged for someone else to pick it up at a later date.

 

They phoned several times to arrange this & never showed (there's always someone in the house)

 

Several months later, I've still got it boxed up by the door waiting for someone to collect! I'm not wasting more money phoning them, & they haven't phoned me since just after Xmas.

 

So, what happens in regards to ownership & the right to dispose of as I like? I remember something in my Law class about it, but can't find it in my notes.

 

Also, is there a market for 17" flat panels with one pixel missing?

 

If not, I might just sell the one I'm using & use the one with the pixel gone (I was only being picky!)

[merckx]

Just colour it in with a felt tip pen !

[Elliot]

PMSL! I said that to my girlfriend, but she said

 

"What if the page is white?"

[Guest Rafsen]

Its been a long time since i did law but from what i can remember; as long as their is no underlying contract (between Dell & u) that states otherwise you have to allow "reasonable" amount of time. Now if Dell can deliver a PC say within 2 weeks from the order then it would be reasonable to assume they can collect faulty goods within a similar time frame. I think the legal definition is something like "reasonable length of time is what a reasonable man on the street would consider reasonable".... or something stupid like that!

 

I wouldnt throw it away or sell it just yet as you dont really have the title of ownership anymore but you could charge them storage- if its been say a couple of months then i dont think its unfair to dispose of it! Your house isnt a storage depot!!!!

[Alex]

I think there is a 6month cut off...but don't quote me on that....but basically it's upto them to get it back within 6months.

[Chase]

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/consumer_affairs/keeping_lost_found_and_uncollected_goods.htm

 

Any use?

[Elliot]

Nice one!

 

Basicly, I have to send them two letters telling them to collect the goods. If they don't reply / collect by a certain date then it's mine...all mine!

 

If I do that, I wonder what a reasonable storage charge would be!?

 

I might just sell the decent screen & keep the broken pixel one just in case as I have a 3 year warranty on the PC & don't want them using the monitor as any kind of case against me!

 

I think keeping quiet is probably the thing to do. I doubt they'd get the monitor back to sell anyway, I guess they'd just dump it. They probably only cost them £20 to make, so not worth the hassle of picking it up.