Faulty Washing Machine, 8 Months Old. Currys won't help.

[BankFodder]

I'm going to deviate a little from my site team colleague's advice.

Under section 9 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you are entitled to goods which are of "satisfactory quality". Satisfactory quality doesn't only mean that they have got to be satisfactory at the time that you purchase the item but also it relates to durability.

Durability means that the item has got to last for a certain length of time – depending on what it is, price paid et cetera.

Durability means that the item has got to remain in satisfactory quality for a reasonable period of time.

It's difficult to imagine any thing which you might be purchasing from Currys to be of satisfactory quality if it breaks down within six months of use – or nine months of use.
It's difficult to imagine that any washing machine costing £359 should not last for a good four years or five years or six years.

If you bought it at the end of August last year and it broke down in April, that means that you have had it for seven months. If Candy were to advertise their washing machines and say spend £359, it will last you for seven months after which it will break down and be in need of some fundamental repair for which you will have to pay – would they sell any?

I'm hundred percent certain that they wouldn't sell any at all. No washing machine manufacturer would ever be happy with the washing machine which only lasted this long because they wouldn't sell any of them at all.

Customers reasonable expectations are that they will pay £359 for a washing machine and that it will last at least five years or six years – and most often very more. Of course I suppose it depends on the level of usage but even if you are doing one wash per day, it is difficult to imagine that even the manufacturers would be happy with the machine which broke down after seven months.

On that basis, my view is that the machine is not of satisfactory quality and because it has been sold in breach of section 9 of the 2015 Act, they are in breach of contract.

Who is in breach of contract? Candy is certainly a breach of their contract to Currys. However Currys is in breach of their contract to you. They are the retailer and they are responsible.

What you are getting is the typical fob off from Currys and other white good sellers. They simply want to store them in their warehouse, take your money and deliver them to you and they don't want anything else to do with them.

This is rubbish and nobody should put up with it and we are fast getting to a culture where people simply accept that that is what happens. You will probably even find that the people at Currys believe that they don't have any liability and that the liability is with Candy..

Have you got a paper trail or an email trail of your exchanges with Currys and with Candy? Have you got records of your telephone calls – either recorded calls or at the very least notes of how often you have called and how long you have been hanging on the phone?

You have been here since 2009 so I'm quite sure that you have read our customer services guide and you have implemented the advice there that we give people all the time and say you do have call recordings. Bravo, well done. This is a great start