6 year statutory warranty - advice please

[maggie60]

Hi,

 

I would welcome some advice here please and I hope I have posted this to the most appropriate section.

 

Many years ago I bought two fairly large LED TYs which were around £650 and £750. One was a Sony, used constantly and totally problem free and used constantly. The other, an LG, used less than 50 times (because it’s in a little used room) stopped working a while ago when it wouldn’t turn on.

 

I was eventually gopg to get Currys to fix it through their collect and deliver service, but was remineded last week by Gloria Hunniford on her consumer programme on the six year statutory warranty on goods expected to last that period.

 

I did think it was well over 6 years, but checking this actually expires next month, so I emailed the seller I bought it online from and they predictably answered:

 

DEAR CUSTOMER,

Further to your email the TV set is out of warranty , however we can get a trade cost repair , you can bring the TV at our shop Monday-Friday 09.00-17.30pm

 

So I reminded them of the law and they replied:

 

Dear MRS SARA55,

 

Further to your email, we are sorry to hear you are having problems with your TV, I can confirm we will follow all the legal obligations as per our terms and conditions.

 

 

We are sorry to hear that your goods have developed a fault. Please note that you purchased the good on the 08/12/2009 and at the time you would have been offered to take out a protection plan, our records show that this was not taken out. Your 12 month warranty has expired and the good are now out of guarantee. Please note that for you to raise any claim under the sales of good act 1979 ( as amended ) you the end user has the burden of proof to prove that the goods were faulty from day one , furthermore this act does not entitle you to a free of charge repair, however so that we can assist you further please return the goods back to our Xxxxxxx branch and we will provide the following.

 

1/ Free of charge estimate which would normally cost £59.00.

2/ Repair of the faulty goods at Trade cost to you the end user.

 

Please advise by return so that we can assist you in this matter.

 

Please note that this offer will not affect your Statuary consumer rights .

 

I replied that I would seek advice and get back, but explained it was two hours each way to their showroom and how long they take to check it hoping they would say an hour or two, but they responded.

 

Dear SARA55,

Further to your email, once you bring the TV in the store, we would send to a repair centre I cannot say how long , but we can let you know once we get repair estimate.

 

So I am wondering if “the burden of proof to prove that the goods were faulty from day one” how much use this is?

 

Also difficult to carry a 40” tv, but at least its not a fridge/freezer, but will they be creative in defining a “trade” price repair?

 

Thanks,

 

Sara

[BankFodder]

There is no such thing as a statutory warranty and certainly no such thing is a six-year statutory warranty – certainly not in this country.

 

What there is for your contract is the protection of the Sale of Goods Act and that entitles you to have goods which are of a reasonable quality and remain so for a reasonable period of time. What is a reasonable time depends on the facts of the case including what the item is, the price paid and any claims made for it et cetera.

 

Six years refers to the time you have from the date of a contractual breach to bring an action.

 

In terms of the Sale of Goods Act, that generally means six years from the date that you bought the item because you would be claiming that the item was defective when you bought it – even though that defect was only revealed sometime down the line. The fact that they sold you a defective item would be the breach of contract.

 

You had the TV for six years and although you haven't used it very much, I think that you have a very tough job trying to prove to a court that the fact it lasted for six years was less then a reasonable consumer might expect.

 

Even if you did succeed, you would only get the value of the television less six years use. So if the TV cost you £600 and a court felt that a reasonable life for the TV was, let's say, eight years, you would only get two years worth of the value.

 

Divide 600 by eight and then multiply the answer by two and that will give you an approximate value – assuming that you won your case.

 

I'm afraid I don't rate your chances very highly. I would certainly expect the TV to last longer than six years – especially if he hasn't had much use – but at the end of the day the effort in proving your case and the amount of compensation that you would get for the remaining useful life of the set makes it hardly worth it.

[maggie60]

Thanks bankfodder, I just wanted to check I wasn't boing fobbed off.

 

I wasn't considering court action just a repair at a fair price. So probably Currys a better bet.

[stevemLS]

Currys is rarely a better bet.