I’m writing this post to describe the situation I am in with our Tesco Hudl 2 tablet and it’s screen which cracked by itself.
We purchased the Tesco Hudl 2 tablet just before Christmas as it appeared to be a good choice at the time with regards to quality versus cost.
About 2 months ago the first problem occurred . The time on the device would not stay correct. It would lose an hour or two each day. There appears to be quite a few people having the same issue. After trying all sorts of different ideas which were posted on the web and failing miserably we just decided to live with a device with the problem until maybe a firmware update came out to fix the device.
Unfortunately approximately two weeks after this occurred a major problem with the device happened. We were using the device quite happily for a few minutes one morning, Put the device down and while not even touching the device it cracked straight across the screen. A single hairline crack as you can see in the photo.
At no time had the device been dropped. It’s been very carefully looked after and has stayed within it’s rubber case at all times. Obviously we assumed that as we hadn’t mistreated the device and it was not damaged by us we thought we would be able to have it repaired or replaced. We were wrong.
After contacting Tesco, They sent the device to their engineers to be examined and returned the verdict that it had been damaged by us and so would not be able to do anything under warranty. Our only choices were to have the device repaired at a cost of £95 Pounds or alternatively to have the device returned unrepaired. As the device only costs £99 to purchase new why on earth would we want it repaired for this cost anyway.
We asked them to provide a full engineers report describing why this was the case.
The report we received was as follows :-
“The fault has been caused by accidental damage. This could have been caused by excessive pressure being placed on the unit or the cabinet being twisted, causing the glass to crack along the bottom of the screen.”
The is no actual detail supplied with the assessment with regards to actual tests being made or the reasoning for coming to that conclusion, I have asked further for this information and will update this blog if I receive any further details.
As far as I am aware a hairline crack is usually the sign of a manufacturing fault rather than dropping an item on the floor where a spider type crack is most likely to appear.
Being an engineer and a mobile software and hardware developer for over 20 years myself and seeing multiple devices fail, I find it hard to believe that there is no possible way out of all the many Tesco Hudl 2 tablets which have been produced that not one could have been manufactured with a faulty display or some other faulty component contained within.
Or a minor screen imperfection during manufacture which only becomes apparent under a certain set of circumstances such has heat generated while charging or intensive gaming etc.
Apparently the Hudl 2 has no repair service currently available, Which is one other thing to certainly bear in mind if you are ever considering purchasing one.
As we will be shortly investigating our options for recompense on this issue and I am aware of multiple people having similar issues, Please could you post a comment on this post if you have had a similar problem with a Tesco Hudl 2 device describing what occurred in your case so I can see if the fault in mine is truly unique as Tesco seem to be suggesting.
I would advise everyone who is sure they did not cause the screen to crack to contact Tesco and then Trading Standards etc. It’s only when a large number of people notify them of a problem will anything be done.
** Update ** Just as an update to my blog post, Tesco have in the end provided me with a full refund as a good will gesture. I hope all of you with a Hudl 2 with the same problem have an equally successful outcome.