Any Advice I bought a Mercedes C270 estate about 7 months ago for my wife and all seemed fine.. I drove the car again after a week or so and realised that the when you give a little extra on the accelerator it got stuck in 2nd or jumped out, it transpired later that if you turned the car off and strated it again it cleared the fault, however on 3 occasions this didnt happen and we were stuck in 2nd... The car went back and they had it looked at and couldnt find a problem, this happened a few times. Then it stuck in gear and they then believed me so it went to a merc specialist??? They said there was an issue with the cpu and some sensors. They got replaced and it was given back. Problems still there, after lots of arguments they agreed to take it back it went back to the merc specialist this happened a couple of times aswell. Then it went to Mercedes in Gatwick who apparently said the sensors were fitted incorrectly and put some new one in...Problem is still there. It then went to a gearbox specialist who couldnt find the problem allegedly... As you can imagine this had gone one for several months in fact they have had the car for 3 months in total.... I digress. So with me getting the right arse ache we agreed that they would exchange the car. which they didnt their excuse was that they could nt get a similar car for me bearing inmind that they had a contract with a couple of merc garages and took a huge amount of part exchanges. This went on for a few months. J ust to pointout that i am not usually this stupid in letting this go on for so long but there you go! Now they wont even talk to me. I have sent two letters stating the SOGA and rejecting the car as advised and no repsonse. Where do I go from here, the only option is court but how much and is it worth it???

I bought a Miele FF from Comet for £699 in April 2009. It stopped working two weeks ago, just outside the two year warranty. Phoned Comet Customer Service to arrange engineer's visit 4 days down the line, for a £69 call-out charge. Engineer diagnosed blocked fluid circuit and thinks it has to be drained and refilled. He arranges for system's engineer to come and fix it. Engineer 2 arrives the following week and diagnoses a broken diverter valve. Says Comet/OnCall cannot fix that, which renders appliance unusable. Engineer 2 says he will inform Customer Services to arrange a refund for the £69. He also says that they will contact me by Friday (today) to let me know what happens with regards to compensation/replacement etc. Of course, I hadn't received any call by lunchtime today, so called Customer Services again. They only have a refund of the £69 on file, and that the FF cannot be fixed. They know nothing about replacement etc, so need to contact the Service Centre internally and then get back to me. When they get back to me, all they say is that they won't do anything more than repay the £69 call-out charge. Citing the SOGA to them makes no difference, so I ask to speak to someone higher up the chain. They cannot do this immediately, so I am promised a call-back from head office on Monday. Now my question is: where exactly do I stand? What should I demand on Monday? For nearly two weeks I have been without a working fridge or freezer and I desperately need to have this resolved. Do I have to wait for Comet to offer me something on Monday (I doubt they will!), or can I already go out and buy a new FF and then a partial refund of the £699 later on? Do I have to give Comet a written ultimatum before I go out and buy a new FF? I would think that under SOGA, I should get about 80% of the £699 back if they cannot repair it or find a replacement. Reason is that FF should be expected to last 15-20 years, whereas mine packed up after just two. Thanks for any advice!

On 1st September 2010 I purchased a Land Rover from a local dealership (not a Land Rover dealership) for £11,200 cash purchase; I had, ten days previously, put a deposit on the car allowing plenty of time for a full service and clean. I had used the dealership previously - and happily - but didn't know that it had changed hands (and not continued its membership of SMMT). After five days, during heavy rain, water began flowing freely down the front passenger and driver seat-belt housings. I also noticed oil on the road where the car had been parked. The car went in to the dealership's garage for repair on an oil leak and water ingress but the repairs were unsuccessful; it went in for repair three more times for the same faults, again without success. During a very heavy spell of rain, water began dripping into the rear of the car from the sunroof. After a heated exchange the md of the dealership said the leaks had been repaired and there was nothing further he would do. I rejected the car by phone on 14th October and on 1st November in a recorded delivery letter, giving ten days for a response and citing SOGA. I received a reply, eventually, in which the original two faults were acknowledged but not the third (and most expensive). The dealership said the only remedy it is willing to consider (after I suggested several alternatives) is diagnosis of the faults by a LR garage and then repair by its own workshop. My confidence in the dealership's ability to fix the faults after four attempts is nil and an admitted inability to diagnose the faults suggests incompetence. What are my responsibilities with regard to allowing the dealership another go at repair when I've already rejected the car? The stress is making me ill as I run a small business and need a car urgently; I haven't used the car since rejecting it.

Hi All, I'm new to this forum thingyi so please bear with me. I just bought a Citroen Picasso from a secondhand dealer for 2.6k. He mentions a couple of minor issues with the car and says airbag light is lit cos of some wire connection problem and would be easily sorted. He gives a discount of 290 (supposedly) so we can have that put right. He lets my husband test drive it in a tiny residential area where there are cars parked on both sides which means he hardly gets to test the brakes and the gears. The car looks all right so we buy it there and then - this is our first car-purchase so we were a little exited and extremely stupid to buy into everything he said. He tells us the warranty is for 6 months but when we check later it states 5. And on the warranty card he gets the address wrong by putting his address in the first line. But the worse problems lie with the car itself. As we drove home, my husband in the Citroen and I in another car trailer behind him, I notice to my horror that the brake lights weren't working. As we turn into a shopping area to pick up grocery on our way home, I watch as the rear view mirror falls off and hit my husband. As a result of the shock, he veers to the right and scrapes the back door on the driver's side against those black pole-like things on the edge of the curb causing a dent and a nasty scratch. We book the car in at our local garage for a check and manage to get a slot only more than a week after the purchase, and the verdict came back that 1. there was no airbag or module in the driver's seat - hence the light 2. the driver's seat had been stripped and it appears the original cover put over the replacement seat 3.No. 3 injector was leaking hence the diesel smell in the car 4. Inner antiroll bar brushes were rattling about 5. Brake light switch wasn't working needed replacing 6. Rear view mirror wasn't securely attached - fell off as mechanic was test-driving the car So what I've done now is book the car in with an official Citroen garage for an MOT (even though it's due only in May) and a more thorough check on top of the MOT afterwards at the same Citroen garage (as I think during the MOT only certain things are checked), and have asked them to replace the brake switch. Can someone tell me if I have a case against the dealer who isn't too approachable after the sale and can someone also tell me, objectively, if he sold us a car that wasn't road worthy? I'm really stressed over this and would appreciate any help/ideas. Thanks in advance. Rowen

I have a Sony Vaio laptop just coming up on three years old, purchased from my local Comet. A few months ago two keys became detatched that I've clipped back on, but now the pins have become worn and they'll only stay on a few mins before dropping off again, so today I've tried to reach Sony about a repair. What a nightmare! My local Sony centre say they're not a 'repair' centre, try this mob instead. This mob say they are a repair centre, but not for laptops, try Vaio UK instead. Vaio UK have automated answering that demands a serial number before speaking to you, and the sticker with that on it has gone from under the machine. No serial number? No speaky, go away. Trip to the shed and miraculously find original box, ring back local Sony centre to get help deciphering the various numbers on the box into a serial number, and ring back Vaio UK. Input serial number at request, and get told 'its out of warranty'. Out of warranty? No speaky, go away. Somewhat irritated that after an hour on the blower I've still not got someone to even give me a price on a repair, I decided to speak to the retailer. Miracle number two - I've still got the original till receipt showing I got it at Comet. Ring Comet and say that I've been trying to get someone to quote for a repair but keep getting stonewalled, and that since the E and S are pretty indespensible characters in the English language this is effectively making my otherwise serviceable machine a write-off. Suggest further that the Sony Vaio is definitely a premium priced product and that I've got every right to imagine it'd last longer than this before being a write-off. Nice helpful lady at Comet says she's happy to collect it for inspection for the somewhat outrageous price of sixty quid. Then once they've performed this very complex and detailed inspection (or alternatively once they've opened the lid and glanced at the keyboard), THEN they'll charge a further fee IF they can fix it. Ummmm, it doesn't NEED an inspection, dear, I can SEE perfectly well what's wrong with it - its got two keys missing. What I'm after is a price for a new keyboard fitted. Nope, says lady, no can do. You have to give us sixty quid first. Only then will we have a look to see if we can get a new keyboard, and give you a price for it. If we can't get a new keyboard, you're out another sixty quid and you've still got a knackered laptop. If we CAN get a new keyboard, but its another hundred and fifty quid to supply and fit it so you don't want to bother, then you're still out the extra sixty quid and you've still got a knackered laptop. So, am I being 'unreasonable' by saying that I'm not happy with that? I'm effectively being held to ransom here - I can't even discover whether its appropriate to shove a new keyboard on without having to pay a pretty hefty sum. I'm not even sure that I should be paying for a new keyboard anyway - the laptop only gets VERY modest use and its an expensive model, shouldn't it last longer than three years? And even if, for example, the keyboard should only last til now, doesn't the consumer have a right to know the likely cost of a repair without having to pay, in circumstances where no detailed inspection is necessary to ascertain the problem? I've only once used SOGA against a retailer and that was extremely straightforward - I told Blockbusters that my 2 year old Wii should last longer and they immediately agreed and gave me another one! Thanks for any and all advice

Our lass has an Acer netbook she bought from an online reseller. Just within the warranty period it developed a fault and now I'm trying to sort it out - we're now actually 2 weeks outside warranty. I didn't realise this at the time. Acer have refused to get involved. I understand the contract is with the online reseller. Am I right in saying that although the laptop is outside the normal warranty period it is reasonable to say that 1 year is not fit for purpose or of satisfactory quality? Finally should I be quoting the sale of goods act or the EU legislation? Thanks

Hi, I have a Zanussi dishwasher, which (as you will see below) was purchased in January 2009 and is out of its one year warranty. It has now broken down after approximately 1 year and 9 months. I have done some research on this site and others, and was hoping that I could pull it all together here and see if those with more knowledge think my plan is sound. So far I have: Phoned the seller (Boots online) and asked them to fix it. When they refused, I discussed this with the representative and also their supervisor. Their position is that the dishwasher is out of warranty and unless I provide a report to prove that the item was defective when I bought it, they would not repair it. Further, they said that if I did provide such a report, they would make a "contribution" towards the repair. A few days later, Boots emailed me (see below). Phoned the manufacturer. They informed me that the lifespan of their dishwashers (not this model specifically) last 5-7 years and some have been known to last decades! My proposed plan: Write to Boots, giving them two weeks to fix the dishwasher (see letter below). If they don't agree/reply, I will pay for the mechanic to come out (~£60). Depending on what the problem is, they may fix it there and then or quote me for a repair or tell me it needs to be replaced. Write to Boots, invoicing them for any work done/future work quoted by the mechanic/new purchase, and giving them a week to remedy the problem themselves. If they don't agree/reply, I will pay for the next stage myself. Write to Boots, invoicing them for everything and giving them a week to settle up. Fill out a small claims court form. Does this sound like the correct way to go? Am I in the right here? According to my reading of the SOGA, they have to fix it. This contradicts the third and fourth paragraphs of their email (below). Who is correct? I am reading the SOGA as saying that if the item was supplied with poor durability then they have to fix it, and that durability is a 'hind sight' issue - I can only now tell that the durability was dodgy. They are saying that I basically have to show how it was poorly durable through an engineer's report. Of course, the defect could be something that an engineer cannot see... Any ideas would be most gratefully received! My proposed letter to Boots: Boots email to me, 9th October:

This is a long story so I'll try to keep it brief as I feel stupid enough already. Bought a Cat C car with all the proper checks and paperwork i.e. HPI, valid MOT, VIC check, independent engineers report and so on. Took it to my local garage and there's lots more wrong with it including bits that would make it fail its MOT plus there were many lies in the original car advert which have since been discovered by the garage. I spoke with Consumer Direct, sent the 14 day refund notice letter under SOGA as to fix this car would run into thousands, and am awaiting a response. My biggest concern is how flaky the dealer is as they seem to work with/under 3 different names which aren't Limited companies so aren't on Companies House. If they disappeared then I honestly wouldn't have anything decent to track them with. I'm just very scared that this guy can shut up shop and disappear and am trying all I can think of to find out what I can in the meantime. Is there anything anyone can recommend or suggest please? I feel so stupid but lesson learned at least and now I just need to try and come out of this with the money I put in. Thanks