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Posted by BigJim on February 18, 2008, 12:52 pm
Please log in for more thread options probably not unless the part was defective and cause the problem.
>A friend had a mid-range price laptop by a major manufacturer and
> needed a replacement A/C adapter. Friend went to major computer-theme
> national retailer (the store was in Virginia, where the retailer's
> headquarters is also located) and asked for help from a clerk. Friend
> asked for help because a visit to Radio Shack, to a knowledgeable
> middle aged salesman, turned up a warning that universal A/C adapters
> often do not work. (Radio Shack employee attempted to find a laptop
> "tip" that would fit the D/C jack; and even though a tip was found, it
> did not charge the unit.)
>
> At this other, larger, computer-intensive retailer, a clerk used an
> "open-box" universal charger to show that the charger would work with
> the laptop. Clerk demonstrated which tip to use, and the sale was
> finalized.
>
> A month and a half later, the laptop began to have freeze.
> Diagnostics all came up normal, but in under two months, the laptop
> was dead.
>
> The computer technician who did the diagnostics asked, first, if the
> universal A/C adapter was "set" to the right voltage. Technician said
> Hand's down, the problem is the universal adapter, the most common
> cause of laptop failure. My friend did not know the answer to his
> question, because the retail clerk never explained that the "brick"
> part of the adapter has a variety of voltages to set the charger to.
> In this case, however, the brick *was* set to the correct voltage:
> 14-17 Volts.
>
> This weekend, friend was starting to part-out the disassembled laptop
> to sell perfectly usable parts. When disassembling the universal
> adapter, the discovery was made that the little baggy the actual D/C
> tip should have come from--labeled "14--17 Volts" was vacuum-sealed.
> Another little baggy, containing other tips, labeled "17--21 Volts"
> was the one the clerk at the major retailer instructed friend to use.
>
> The fact that the baggy with the correct voltage tips is vacuum sealed
> led friend to ask whether corporation should be liable for the failure
> of the laptop ($1200. in 2004). Brunch with a lawyer friend who
> refuses to give legal advice elicited a terse nod. Hence, this
> post.
>
> The manager of the particular store where the adapter was bought
> offered the non-response: "We sell an awful lot of K_______________
> brand of A/C adapters. They're used for Hewlett Packards, Toshibas,
> Lenovos, all kind of laptops. I can't be held responsible for the
> actions of a clerk who no longer works here. Call the manufacturer of
> the adapter."
>
> But the manufacturer didn't demonstrate the application of a wrong
> voltage tip. So who, if anyone, can be "implicated" in the failure of
> a laptop that had not been malfunctioning before the universal adapter
> was purchased?
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