If a consumer buys a laptop from the manufacturer and over the course of a few months numerous faults become apparent that render it unfit for purpose.
These faults are all due to issues with drivers, firmware, and operating system misconfigurations by the manufacturer rather than due to hardware. These faults were present due to poor configuration by the manufacturer and were present on receipt of the laptop, just not apparent.
These issues will take significant time and effort to fix and so the consumer would like to return it for a refund and purchase a replacement from another manufacturer.
The consumer contacts the manufacturer asking for a refund just under six months after receiving the laptop. The manufacturer informs the consumer that they are outside their returns policy. When the consumer asks for a statutory return, the manufacturer says that that only applies to hardware problems.
Is the manufacturer correct, and what rights does the consumer have?
