Hi,
I am a self employed web developer, My girlfriend bought me a laptop from dell.co.uk and I started using it in May. I think it was purchased in April.

Around December the Hard Drive complained it was faulty, and to back my work up and get a new hard drive.

As the product was still under warranty, I called Dell.

They asked me to try a Hard Drive reformat.

I knew this would not have much effect, if the hard drive was complaining it was going to die.

I did the reformat, and 20mins into using the new system. It started complaining again.

So I called Dell again. I asked them if I could get it back before Christmas. The guy said it will only take 4-5 days, you will have it back before Christmas Day. So I gave the go ahead to deliver. And they arranged a pick up.

They came to pick the unit up on the 16th of December.

I contacted them on the 22nd of December and they said it had been fixed and should be with you in the next day or so.

The guy gave me a bogus tracking number. (I knew it was bogus as the courier company was City Link and their tracking numbers are way different)

Anyway, long story short.

Today it is 5th of Jan 2010

I have over 4 projects to do and I am losing money each day I cannot use my PC.

Can I claim loss of earnings?

You last called them Dec. 22nd? That's two weeks ago! I would have been calling them every day since Christmas.

In answer to your question, probably not. Most warranties such exclude incidental damages.

I have received the Laptop back today, around 3PM.
What are my rights regarding loss of earnings?

Hello c:

Apparently, you're in the UK and I'm not... But we share common legal ideas... I'm going to talk about the "reasonable man" theory. That theory asks the question, what would a reasonable man do in this situation...

In MY view, and I'll bet the courts view as well, given that it's known that hard drives fail, and that computer rentals and/or backup computers are easily available, most prudent (reasonable) businesspersons would have made provisions to protect their income, instead of relying on repairs and shipping dates, especially around Christmas time.

You didn't. Therefore, if you sued, I think you'd lose.

excon