Thank you for all your information. Unfortunately, my nerves couldn't withstand the stress of trying to obtain warranty service from a retailer who doesn't want to give it.
My DH was annoyed by my frustration so said "Just get another one" - so I did.
That was about 10 days ago. I ordered exactly the same laptop but it came installed with Win 11 instead of Win 10. Having used it, I've decided I absolutely hate Win 11.
It's completely skewed towards mobile phone users, and I have a hate/hate relationship with my phone so that's not good for me. It's also designed around a pastel appearance which makes all the text and graphics very hard to see (for me). Everything is pale and tiny. I hate all the "new" widgets and apps. I just want to go back to a (fairly) basic but fast laptop.
So, the update is that I'm in the middle of installing Win 10 onto my laptop. Hopefully it will work. I did create a full system backup on an external HD first so now I just have to wait.
Wish me luck.