Lemon-Law Rights for PC Owners
Amber Bouman is an editorial assistant for PC World. E-mail her at onyourside@pcworld.com.
Two weeks after I received a new Sony S480 notebook, it began to freeze intermittently. I have a two-year on-site repair agreement, so a Sony technician came by and replaced the hard drive. When the problem resurfaced, Sony had me send the portable to a repair center, where the drive was replaced again. But the problem persisted. I sent the unit in again but have been unable to get an update by phone. Is there a lemon law that covers this issue?
Martin Sheridan, Baltimore
On Your Side responds: After we contacted Sony, the company determined that the notebook's problem was caused by a faulty motherboard. Sony repaired the notebook and extended Sheridan's on-site repair warranty for an additional year.
There are no PC-specific lemon laws, but the federal Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act says that a company that doesn't provide successful warranty repair for any product must provide a new replacement or a full refund--and pay court costs for consumers who must sue to exercise these rights. If you think you might want to sue under this law, Martin Sackett, spokesperson for Kimmel & Silverman, a law firm specializing in lemon laws, recommends keeping thorough documentation of problems and detailed logs of all interaction with the vendor.
Amber Bouman