Watchdog

STORM CLOUDS AHEAD?

signed specifically to protect your interests as a consumer. Over the page, we check out the latest PC prices on the high street and direct from manufacturers in Price watch. Storm Technology, the US-based scanner manufacturer which bought Logitech's scanner business a year ago, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This allows it to continue trading while it tries to sort out a deal with its creditors, but it's dependent on Storm getting agreement from its banks.

So far this hasn't been forthcoming. Storm has two court dates lined up, on December 7th and in February 1999, so it's safe into next year, but unless it can get agreement from its creditors or its financial position improves dramatically, it looks likely to cease trading.

At the moment it's business as usual, so all customer support and warranty service continues as normal. But what happens when - or if - a company goes down? Storm's UK PR company shared Watchdog's concern for customers, but couldn't give us a firm answer in this case.

However, the situation looks bleak. If a company supports its own warranties, and goes down, you as the customer have no redress. The only hope is if a warranty is backed by insurance - many smaller notebook sellers now adopt this policy - or assured by a 3rd party maintenance company which has been paid in advance. In this situation, you should be able to get your computer or peripheral repaired without having to resort to paying for it. Otherwise, you'll be checking out your friendly local computer dealers.

MAIL ORDER - KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

Free offers form part of almost any collection of adverts you might look through - they're a well-known way of tempting you to buy more than you'd bargained for. But how do you know if they're really free, especially if you have to buy something else or contribute to postage costs?

You can't know, but under the Code of Advertising Practice there are strict guidelines. Advertisers can ask you to pay for postage and packing, and they can make their free gifts conditional on other purchases.

However, they may not try to recover any of the costs of a product they are giving away 'free.' They may not charge you any more than the actual costs of postage and packing, and they may not impose any other abnormal charges. Most importantly, if you have to buy other goods to get your freebies, these goods must be of their habitual quality and sold at their normal price.

If you send off for a free offer and feel that you've been ripped off, then let Watchdog know. Your local Trading Standards office and the Advertising Standards Authority will also be pleased to hear from you.

CASE FILE

15 months after the Halma Group bought an Agfa scanner, it broke down with a hardware fault. It was three months out of warranty, and wasn't user serviceable, so David Waller of Halma enquired about getting it repaired.

Agfa said he could either exchange the old scanner for a reconditioned unit with an extended warranty, for #95, or send it in for repair at a minimum cost of #97.50. Given that he could buy a new scanner for less than #100, he wrote to Watchdog.

Agfa told us that technology has benefited consumers by making scanners available for less than #100, but the implied price of this is that it is no longer economic for manufacturers to repair them. Instead, Agfa tries to make its products as reliable as possible and offers three-year warranties at the time of purchase for an extra #59.

We don't think this answers Mr Waller's point. We accept that a #100 scanner will cost as much to fix as a #300 model, and applaud Agfa's determination to reduce failures by making its products even more reliable, but products will always break down. Perhaps designing peripherals with more user-serviceable parts would be a partial solution - Mr Waller would have been quite happy to change a bulb and tried replacing the scanner's internal fuse. In the meantime, the Halma Group has simply bought from another manufacturer.

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