Pi-Top Laptop Not Working No Refund

[ukanonymous]

I recently bought a pi-top laptop and it was faulty. They asked me to send photos and I did. Now they are totally ignoring me. What can I do?

[Mosaic]

Do you mean a raspberry pi laptop, that someone built and sold to you?
Did you pay them direct or go through a third party such as ebay?

[Buenchico]

Who is 'they'? The only references I can find to the Pi-top laptop seem to be US-based. Did you buy from within the EU or from outside it? (It makes a very big difference!)

[ukanonymous]

I bought it through kickstarter when I was in the EU

[Mosaic]

Is there a way that Kickstarter will pursue your case, much as Ebay would?

[Mosaic]

BTW the only crowd-funder I ever paid into was a total flop, never saw a result or my money back.

[Buenchico]

Tricky. You bought a product from a US firm (Pi-Top) through a US website (Kickstarter). So your rights are those under US law, meaning that any legal action would have to be through US courts under the relevant State laws, not Federal ones.

I note, however, that there is UK address on the Pi-Top website, so you could try sending a letter by registered mail, threatening either legal action or (possibly more effective) adverse publicity via the technical press. The address given is:
PI–TOP
499 Hackney Rd
London
E2 9ED

Don't expect to be contacting a massive office by using that address though. Googling shows that it's actually the address of Hackney Coffee Company!

You might get more joy through buying a copy of Computer Active magazine and contacting their guy who specialises in sorting out complaint issues with companies. (They often respond quickly if they're threatened with poor publicity).

[Mosaic]

Another sweet thought is that you could sell the laptop, or better still take it apart and sell its components, on ebay.

[furrypusscat]

How did you pay, if it was by a UK credit card you may have certain rights. I know you said you bought it when you were in the EU. I suppose it depends on the purchasing laws where the purchase took place.