Laptop/Consumer Advice Needed

My mum recently bought a laptop from a computer store for about £150, used. Since she's had problems with the trackpad, it works fine for about half an hour, after that it becomes slow/unresponsive at all. Several attempts to take it back have resulted in him coming back with ridiculous excuses such as, "you installed Norton Anti-Virus, it does that", or "you spilled something on the trackpad" (she hadn't) and even last time said it was because she installed Google chrome. She's computer illiterate and starts to believe this, I haven't had chance to go in with her but he's slowly starting to wiggle out of it. With the item being second-hand, we've got no idea where we stand with our rights for a refund. Anyone know more about this subject?

Just tell them you will go to trading standards or whatever they are called nowdays,

If they do not fix the problem you want your money back.

Have you disabled it and turn it back on in the bios ? This happened to me last year i did this and its never happened since.

You've bought it from a shop, and exactly the same rules apply as if you had bought it new, in other words it has to be fit for purpose. If it doesn't work take it back and you are quite within your rights to ask for a full refund.

As for the laptop itself, make sure the track pad is clean. Wipe it with a cloth, try it with a little alcohol. Failing that make sure the drivers are up to date, go to the manufacturers website and download the latest version

if I breathe on my trackpad it goes all funny for a few minutes. Really irritating but not a problem with the PC.

Also, I would be surprised if there is an actual fault with the trackpad, possibly the system is running slowly and so the pointer is not responsive. If Norton is running system scans all the time then possibly the PC is running really slowly. It is feasible.

Plug a £2 usb mouse in if you want to check. If that is fine then there is a fault with the pad. Otherwise, more likely the system is just slow.

Just asked one of the bods in our IT dept regards the issue, he suggests turning it off and then back on again.  

Quoted from moosey_club

Just asked one of the bods in our IT dept regards the issue, he suggests turning it off and then back on again.  

Technical genius's like that must be costing your company a fortune.  

What shop?

Quoted from topuphere666

What shop?

I'd rather not say in case it is us and I've accidentally put off customers, but it is a independent store.

I've tried cleaning the trackpad etc, I've got a mouse myself which we'll try but the next step is to wait for it to do it again and take it to the shop then, it's only round the corner.

Thanks for the advice on getting a refund, if he doesn't fix it soon i'll have no option but demand one.

If you press and hold Control Alt and Delete keys a dialogue box comes up with several options.  Select task manager and another box comes up with several tabs.  Select the Performance tab and this will display a graph like an oscilloscope and a bar graph indicating CPU usage.  If these are high then the tracker pad will be slow to respond during peak operations.  High CPU usage can come from several programs gobbling up system resources such as the ever hungry Norton.  Another tab along from the Performance tab is the Applications tab and again this will show how many applications you have running.  If she has multiple web pages running or a hoard of pop ups this can also slow response.

There should also be a application to test the pad in control panel.

Quoted from Marinerz93

If you press and hold Control Alt and Delete keys a dialogue box comes up with several options.  Select task manager and another box comes up with several tabs.  Select the Performance tab and this will display a graph like an oscilloscope and a bar graph indicating CPU usage.  If these are high then the tracker pad will be slow to respond during peak operations.  High CPU usage can come from several programs gobbling up system resources such as the ever hungry Norton.  Another tab along from the Performance tab is the Applications tab and again this will show how many applications you have running.  If she has multiple web pages running or a hoard of pop ups this can also slow response.

There should also be a application to test the pad in control panel.

You just beat me to it 93, that was just what I was going to say.

Quoted from grimsby pete

You just beat me to it 93, that was just what I was going to say.

  ok Pete, I suppose you were also going to say that by using the function key fn and one of the F1 - F12 keys you can activate and deactivate the touchpad depending which type of laptop it is  

By pressing and holding the fn key and a variety of F1 - F12 keys does certain things to your PC, activating and deactivating the touchpad is one of them.

Quoted from Marinerz93

  ok Pete, I suppose you were also going to say that by using the function key fn and one of the F1 - F12 keys you can activate and deactivate the touchpad depending which type of laptop it is  

By pressing and holding the fn key and a variety of F1 - F12 keys does certain things to your PC, activating and deactivating the touchpad is one of them.

I find any problem I have is best sorted by,

Switching it off and back on again.