Update – September 2018
After two failed attempts with lodging complaints with the Department of Fair Trading, Mr Nicholas Peters finally lodged his case with QCAT.
We finally had the opportunity to present our case at QCAT on the 1st August 2018.
The judge listened to evidence put forward by both parties and came to the conclusion that the damage to the computer was caused by some form of liquid.
The judge furthermore was satisfied that this damage this was caused by no action or inaction on behalf of Total Microsystems.
The judge found that Total Microsystems had acted reasonably and had assisted Mr Peters as much as possible given the circumstances.
The judge dismissed the case on the day based on the above findings.
We hope that after sustaining 2 years of defamatory and malicious comments online at the hands of Mr Nicholas Peters – the matter is now finalised. We hope that Mr Peters will move on with his life and accept the decision of the judge as fair and final.
Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that a misguided and disgruntled ex-customer is continuing to use social media to make defamatory and untrue statements about our business and his experience with us. We are a family owned, independent small business. Untrue and defamatory remarks made on social media platforms can and do hurt a business – especially when they are presented as a one sided view of the situation. We would just like to clarify our position on this situation and leave it at that.
Total Microsystems build, service and repair machines of a specialised nature on a very regular basis. Occasionally, parts can and do fail. If these failures are deemed a manufacturer fault, which fall under the manufacturer’s warranty, we manage the return and replacement on behalf of our customers – as required by Australian Consumer Law.
If a part is damaged due to a mistake made by a technician – we take full responsibility and of course organise a replacement at our cost. However, we cannot and will not take responsibility for damage sustained to a computer when in the customer’s possession.
This customer purchased a custom built gaming system last year. He returned it to our store approximately 3 months later with a fault. Our inspection and assessment concluded that the system faults were due to a high level of corrosion and corresponding damage on the internal components as a result of exposure to some form of liquid – a scenario not covered by either our own or manufacturer warranty (nor any manufacturer we have ever come across).
There appeared to be actual salt crystals built up on inside the computer case and it is only our guess that salt air/spray/moisture is responsible for this damage as the customer lived 150mts from the beach at the time.
Regardless, at the customer’s request, we returned several components to the manufacturers (at our expense) for their assessment – all came back with the same conclusion. That being, exposure to some form of liquid had caused damage not covered by warranty.
This customer maintains that the liquid cooling unit that was attached to the processor was faulty – however as demonstrated in the video below… this is simply not true. If this unit was faulty, you would see the coloured internal liquid leaking onto the white paper towels under the unit. Aside from corrosion on the fan unit – this component is not faulty.
Furthermore, we had the liquid cooling unit professionally assessed elsewhere for an independent opinion and their conclusion was the same – it is in perfect working order.
We responded promptly to the complaint they lodged to the Department of Fair Trading about the matter. The Department of Fair Trading concluded that we had no case to answer and that if the customer wanted to pursue the matter, he should take it to QCAT. We encourage them to do so – if only to reach a conclusion in this ongoing saga.
We are truly disappointed that this situation has come so far. While we can appreciate our customer’s frustration at the situation, we have done everything within our power to assist them with a resolution. However, as the damage to the computer occurred while in their custody – there is nothing more we can do.