Online laptop purchase return and distance sellings regs...

[andyoxon]

Anyone know what the law/guidance says for returning a newly bought laptop if it's not obviously faulty, but where, say, it turns out that having bought online one is unexpectedly not happy with an aspect of the machine's performance/ functionality e.g. screen.  A high street shop may stipulate that you can return it before X date, as long as it's in original condition and packaging, and you 'haven't transferred any data', though with a laptop one normally has to set-up the operating system before doing anything meaningful ... 

Thoughts?

[Kim]

I'd say that ergonomics issues come under "fitness for purpose".  Seems perfectly reasonable to return it if it turns out the screen is unreadably shiny, or flickers at 200Hz, or the trackpad is an irritating glitchy piece of crap, or the space bar doesn't unless you hit it dead centre, or whatever.

"Haven't transferred any data" is a weird one, though...

[hubner]

Afaik, if you bought something not in person, ie "at a distance", you can return it within 7 or 14 days regardless. You don't have to give a reason nor does it have to be faulty. I think there are some exceptions like tickets, made to order items etc.

[drgannet]

Consumer rights are up to 30 days to return https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/i-want-to-return-my-goods-what-are-my-rights.

You can always do a factory reset of a laptop to return it to its 'out of the box' condition.

[grams]

If you're talking Apple they are ludicrously good if you can take your device to an Apple Store. They barely check the box the several times I've done it. The last one was an iPhone X that I'd had for over a month (yay extended Xmas Gift Return policy) with quite a lot of scratches on the screen that they didn't even blink at.

[andyoxon]

Thanks all.