PC Repair Shop Stole My PC Need Legal Advice!

[eV_6]

This may be quite a long post so please excuse. About three weeks ago i purchased a Chaintech 7NJS nForce2 board from a local computer shop this proved to be faulty and the replacement we were give was also DOA!. Then the fun starts the owner asked us to bring the rest of our PC so he could "test" to see if anything else was the problem. So off went our XP 1600+ 2x256MB TwinMOS DDR, GeForce4 Ti4400, CD Writer, 60GB HD, case + 400W power supply. We returned a few days later to be told that he had been in contact with Chaintech and a faulty batch of boards had been shipped and he was trying to get a replacement and could we return the following friday. We arrived on friday to be told that it was that one of the motherboard standoff's had been fitted in the wrong place and had dislodged a small component from the board, we were then told to return a few days later only to find our fully built PC sat on the counter and him demanding ANOTHER 159.99 for a new motherboard and a new processor (even though there is nothing wrong with the 1600+!!). When we explained we didn't have another 159.99 he said "i will just keep your PC here until you can pay me". So can any one give me any advice how i can get my stuff back? Thanx

[digitalwanderer]

Contact your local Better Business Bureau first, then take it from there. :)

[saturnotaku]

Then contact your local police department and have them meet you at the store. Perhaps when you tell the cop that this guy is trying to extort you, the shop owner will let up. I would also make sure to have all my paperwork handy - original order, return info, etc.

[vampireuk]

Crowbar to the head:D

[digitalwanderer]

Originally posted by saturnotaku
Then contact your local police department and have them meet you at the store. Perhaps when you tell the cop that this guy is trying to extort you, the shop owner will let up. I would also make sure to have all my paperwork handy - original order, return info, etc.

Yeah, I like this idea better! Much quicker, much more intimidating and potentially embarressing/damaging to the shop owner, and much more gratifying probably for you than dealing with some faceless buerocrats over the phone.

Talk to the cops, the cops are your friends. (I have a REAL hard time accepting that statement, it just goes against every instinct/training/natural reaction I have on the subject....I was a very troublesome teen for a decade or two... :rolleyes: )

[eV_6]

Thanx for your replies. I'am going to contact our local citizens advice centre as soon as i can (i work 6 days a week) to see what they can do. The shop in question i have been buying from for the last few years and have never had any problems like this. (Other than the usual "the customer knows nothing" attitude). I also took my old TBird 1000 in so he could try that to which he stated it was "mistreated and had burnt through the core" because there was a small amount of thermal compound underneath (from the thermistor on my KT7A) so it shows how much he knows!. (That's what i'm typing this on!!.)

[StuRReaL]

bloody hell!!! definatly goto the police you just CAN'T do that if a company sells u a faulty product u have a RIGTH to a free replacement (as long as u didn't kill it) and he should NEVER check the parts with your own stuff and then keep your computer thats just wrong and theft