Faulty Product (Non Purchase)

[Mossycat]

I'd appreciate some advice regarding consumer rights on a faulty product that was not purchased.

 

My Sky TV set top box has developed a fault after 18 months (they give you a 12 month guarantee when it is installed), but because it was never 'purchased' in the conventional sense I'm not sure if the 2 year EU law that applies to purchases would be valid.

 

I'm fairly certain that Sky will hide behind their 12 month guarantee, so before I go to them I'd like to be armed with the facts.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Mossy

[Bookworm]

The 2 yrs warranty is a red herring tbh. SOGA is a much stronger piece of legislation as regards consumer protection.

 

How is it not purchased in the conventional sense? (I don't have one, so you'll need to enlighten me) Even if you pay for it over time, you're still buying (leasing?)... Either way, they're still the retailer, your contract is still with them, and standard fitness for purpose/satisfactory qulity criteria still apply. I'll go check, but I think sales of goods and Services act may come into play too, but I need to refresh my memory on that one.

[fiyah]

Our set top box died a death a few weeks ago......the modem had died in it i think.

The set top box was a couple of years old and Sky engineer came out and replaced it no problems, we were expecting them to charge us for a new box but they didnt, cant fault Sky on this really because this is our 4th sky box which has developed the same fault and been replaced free by them........known fault maybe?

When i phoned them i was expecting the usual its out of warranty etc and then me threatening to cancel my multi room and HD but they didnt, couldnt have been nicer infact!

[Mossycat]

The 2 yrs warranty is a red herring tbh. SOGA is a much stronger piece of legislation as regards consumer protection.

 

How is it not purchased in the conventional sense? (I don't have one, so you'll need to enlighten me) Even if you pay for it over time, you're still buying (leasing?)... Either way, they're still the retailer, your contract is still with them, and standard fitness for purpose/satisfactory qulity criteria still apply. I'll go check, but I think sales of goods and Services act may come into play too, but I need to refresh my memory on that one.

 

It wasn't purchased in the conventional sense because when you take out a contract with Sky they give you the box free of charge, and you pay for the service of receiving a satellite signal. I do remember them telling me it was covered for 12 months, so to my way of thinking the SOGA wouldn't apply, they provided what I paid for (ie the satellite signal), and to be honest I am still receiving the signal it's the box that is faulty because it won't allow you to record, pause or rewind live TV, you can only watch it as it is coming in.

 

Mossy

[Bookworm]

Right, thanks, I get it now.

 

But the box is still part of the package even though it's "free". Ie without the box you couldn't get the service. They still have a duty to provide goods which are of satisfactory quality, I don't see how they can wriggle out of it. The "covered for 12 months" is just a standard line, meaningless in this instance.

 

I bought a 3 piece suite a while back, which came with "free" table and chairs (RRP £800). The table when it arrived was badly damaged, I argued it was still part of the package, and since they couldn't exchange, made sure they deducted a good bit off the suite's price (that's when RRP works in your favour!).

 

Even though it's "free", it still has an intrisic value, which tye choose to absorb to tie you into the contract. Indeed, in Sky's case, what use is "your" box if you no longer are connected to Sky? My understanding was that it is only good with Sky. In the old days where appliances came without plugs, if the retailer gave you a plug FOC with your appliance and it didn't work, wouldn't you have complained to the retailer that he had given you a dud one? I don't see that the reasoning is any different here. ;-)