Packard Bell Easynote K5285 Review

Overall Rating

After 14 months there are no discernible good points. I suppose it worked satisfactorily for 14 months.

Despite costing £1200 in Sep 03, by Nov 04 several hundred pounds need to be spent to make the laptop serviceable.

At the time of purchasing the Packard Bell Easynote K5285 I resisted considerable pressure from PC World to take out extended warranty - I always do.

After 14 months I was unable to boot up the laptop and sought advice from PC World (the vendor) at Exeter - without success. I sought professional assistance. We were advised that the problem was likely to be minor and that re-installing Windows XP would resolve the problem. However, the DVDRW drive was found to be defective. Again we sought professional assistance to repair the defective drive. The original drive installed was UJ-810b but when our adviser contacted Packard Bell to procure a replacement he was informed that Packard Bell did not recognise this model for the Easynote K5285. He was sent an alternative drive (UJ-811b) but the laptop did not recognise this model in bios.

Thus, it is apparent that the DVDRW drive originally installed was not as per the specification for the Easynote K5285 and alternatives are incompatible with the laptop.

After taking advice from the Trading Standards Office I complained to PC World at York. Predictably the Duty Manager hid behind the skirts of the lapsed 12 month warranty and Packard Bell. He offered to return the laptop to Packard Bell but at a minimum expense of £50. Frankly, I was treated as just another ignorant consumer who could be fobbed off and the Duty Manager was struggling not to laugh in my face.

I am advised that the laptop sold by PC World was not of satisfactory quality and not fit for the purpose as described in their marketing literature. Thus, PC World should be liable for making good a repair or returning the full purchase costs under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended in 2002.

I have given PC World 14 days to respond to my complaints after which I will seek address in parallel through Visa and the Small Claims Court. Also, I am writing personally to each board member of Dixon's, the parent company, and have informed all media consumer "watchdogs".

This is a classic example of a large company that is more interested in selling high margin extended warranty policies than actually providing a quality consumer service. Has anyone else had a similar experience with poor goods/shoddy service from PC World/Packard Bell or can anyone give me advice on how best to proceed? If so, please leave a comment on this review and we'll form a pressure group.

Members' Comments onJohn Lister's Review

• antonyx on 8th Mar 2005

  Yes, I had the same problem with my laptop
  The CD Drive would not boot when trying to install xp, anyone else have this problem??
  I've not even had it for one year.

• Matt34 on 14th Mar 2005

  Are you suggesting that PC World should be responsible for the repair of your laptop indefinitely? The 1 year warranty is pretty much a global standard across retail and a line has to be drawn somewhere, companies cannot keep on supporting their products indefinitely.
  
  I'm sorry that the laptop bust just outside the warranty period, but you were offered the extended warranty (which is expensive, but would have covered exactly this scenario) and declined it.
  
  I would also be surprised if you had any luck with the Sale of Goods Act, as it states that if a fault occurs within 6 months of purchase, it can be assumed to be faulty from manufacture, outside that six months, the consumer has to prove the case - the warranty is above and beyond your statutory rights. You would be very lucky to have any success with the fit for purpose issue, as it has been for well over a year.
  
  Sorry to be downcast about your chances of a happy solution, but I think it would be a better use of your time chasing the suppliers of the second CD drive that wasn't suitable, rather than (unfairly in my view) attacking PC World.

• Matt34 on 17th Mar 2005

  Drop into the BIOS (normally either F2, Esc or Delete) and change the boot order. It's normally set to HD>Floppy>CD, best to pick Floppy>CDRom>HD. If that don't work, use a Win98 bootable floppy to drop into DOS, put a CD in and type D: then at D:>dir. If a list comes up, the CDROM is fine, otherwise its bust.
  
  N.B. change D: for the letter of the CDROM (E:, F: or whatever, try a few)

• supervillain on 29th May 2005

  I too purchased a packard bell easynote k5285, from dixons. After 14 months (after not purchasing the extended warranty)the laptop went dead. It wouldn't boot up at all. I sent it to a local repair centre who confirmed that the motherboard had 'failed' and that only Packard Bell could provide a replacement. I went to the packard bell website and contacted their 'out of warrently service partner' Romtronics. They collected the unit and ordered the replacement motherboard, That was 5 months ago.
  
  Romtronics claim that the manufacturer of the k5 series did not hold back any spare parts from production but instead used them all to create more units, Romtronics claim that Packard Bell are doing everything they can to have the parts manufactured and that it will cost me £500 pounds for a replacement when one is finally made.
  I too wrote to Trading Standards, to no avail. I also wrote to Packard Bell in Holland (they have no email address on their website! wonder why) I recieved a generic letter with mastercares phone number on, when i called them it was an answering machine offering software support. Romtronics say they cannot even get batteries for the k5 series and they have 10 of these units waitinig for parts from packard bell. I have given up and I have requestd the return of my broken laptop from Romtronics (at £20 labour charge!!) and i am buying a broken unit on ebay and fixing it myself, i can get a refurbished k5285 for cheaper than the repair cost of mine. Dixons, curries, NEC, none of these companies count you as a consumer once your warranty has elapsed, it's disgusting how they treat their 'customers'.

• zzzz1234 on 28th Sep 2005

  Hi,
  
  No offence but I don't agree with your point of view. If the warranty expires, then a company has no obligation to repair something for free.

• jcarter196 on 22nd Oct 2005

  I too brought a Packard Bell K5285 from PC World.
  I always had trouble with the battery not lasting very long then it went dead, I replaced the battery with a good quality one and still was no good.
  I also cant run it without battery installed.
  My dad got a Compaq before I got mine and has no probs and his runs without battery installed. Unlike Packard bell where even if you use mains it still needs battery installed.
  I also looked on Ebay and noticed alot of Packard Bells have same fault with powering up. I will not be buying Packard Bell anymore. You would also think with all the probs with Packard Bell that PC World would stop dealing with them.

• jonarblaster on 23rd Nov 2005

  I bought Packard Bell K5285 in Oct 03 from Walsall Currys and it failed to start-up May 05. Replaced Hard drive and okay until Oct 05 then failed to start-up again. My battery began losing its charge after about 6 months from purchase date and not long after only had enough charge for 1 min without mains. I will not be purchasing another Packard Bell product...Ever.

• dqjc on 29th Dec 2005

  I too have an easynote k5285 but have a different problem and i am hoping that someone may have an answer. Apologies if it is a problem that has a simple answer but i'm new to laptops......anyway, damn thing keeps shutting the screen down although i can make out a very weak image in the background. If i reboot it is ok for another few minutes then goes down again.....fan etc still running in background so its not powering down...any help??

• dqjc on 29th Dec 2005

  My easynote k5285 continually shuts its scren down although leaving a very weak image in the background. any ideas...thanks