warranties

[JohnCade]

I notice that some sellers like the Apple Store for instance, now make a point of explaining the six year period in which a claim for faulty goods can be brought, and pointing out that their warranties do not affect that. But in practice a claim for goods not being of marketable quality after several years of use is not so straight forward as going to a service department and saying that you have a problem that you want fixed under an agreed warranty period.

Depending on the goodwill of the seller, and his understanding of the law, and whether the fault could reasonably be seen as fair wear and tear or a manufacturing fault. You might get satisfaction, or you might have to try your luck in a small claims court to get it.

Several years ago I had a problem like this with a Samsung TV. One of the first LCD TVs which were quite expensive at the time. It had several faults and was repaired a two or three occasions in the warranty period, finally packing up with one of the same faults as it always had couple of months after the warranty ran out. The service department said it was out of warranty and that was that. The customer relations said the same. When I mentioned the sale of goods act they either didn’t know of it or didn’t care. I was not going to take this shoddy service lying down so I contacted Trading Standards, and wrote to Samsung’s CEO’s office and to their legal department pointing out the relevant parts of the act and telling them I would sue them if I didn’t get satisfaction. I never did get it repaired but they did finally give me a hard drive TV recorder DVD player as compensation. So in practise there was, and probably still is, no easy pathway under the act to get faulty goods repaired. Trading Standards will advise you but will not act for you, and you are on your own bringing a case.

There have been cases with higher value items like new cars where action against manufactures under the act has taken over the complainant’s life like Jarndyce V Jarndyce.

 

[OXYDrive]

This thread looks a bit to me like a guide how to catch a trader and what tricks to use to get them to repair faulty items even with expired warranty

With these 6 years it is true that we as a manufacturers have a liability to take care of our products but as Trex pointed out its only in certain circumstances i.e say battery recall or failing brakes on bikes due to manufacturing fault. I think a little bit misinterpreted by some members here that we have to fix all things even when warranty has expired. That is not a case really. Warranty is a period in which manufacturer is obliged to repair anything that goes wrong due to manufacturing fault. If you motor's gears are gone after 3 years due to normal wear or your controller's fets burnt you can't expect manufacturer to replace them free of charge because they simply aren't designed to last that long.

IMHO being a manufacturer but also a business law graduate knowing the law quite well, I would rather encourage anyone that feels gutted by product failed after warranty expired to come to the trader,talk nicely (as Colin KTM said, bringing some doughnuts and smile) rather then quote paragraphs from Sale of Good Act and Trading Standards. Trust me this will do you a lot better then taking a threatening way.

At the end of the day we are here to make a living but also to create a positive relations with customers and certainly not to argue. I have personally helped several times customers that warranty was already gone without charging a penny but that was all down to those customers attitude they had towards us and the problem.

 

[SteveRuss]

Reading the last two posts was inspiring and I agree on the whole with the points that you both brought up.

One of the things that i've observed in general, in the past few decades, is that most manufactures will try and absolve themselves of any responsibilities to their manufacturing or design processes, outside of the warranty agreement you agreed to (put up with) when you bought your product.

Many will try and make excuses within the period of that agreed warranty as to why it's actually your fault and not theirs if something unexpected goes wrong. And some will just respect the agreement they had with you in the first place and fix stuff when it breaks, as long as you haven't misused it.

As far as Apple products are concerned, I have a lot of them at home and have had a love and hate relationship with the company over the years (mostly love ). However, I will say that their efforts when you are within their warranty period are more than satisfactory and even when you're a month or so over the warranty then there's a chance they'll cover you anyway, if there's a flag up on an issue with that product itself.

I suppose my point, and question is that, is there a relationship with the higher/mid end of the market and the support you get when issues arise, versus the lower end of the market, post sale?

 

[RobF]

s there a relationship with the higher/mid end of the market and the support you get when issues arise, versus the lower end of the market, post sale?

Yes, because there's more profit in a higher end bike the retailer/maker can afford to be more generous.

This will impact particularly on those close 'warranty or not' calls, making them more likely to go in the customer's favour.

 

[wightrider]

Is it an urban myth that warranties are 2 years in the EU?

 

[flecc]

Is it an urban myth that warranties are 2 years in the EU?

Yes, warranties are a matter for manufacturers, governments and the EU commission use other methods to protect consumers.
.

 

[RobF]

Is it an urban myth that warranties are 2 years in the EU?

You may have heard that in the case of new cars.

Routinely, in the EU cars have a two year warranty.

In the UK, they have three years.

As flecc says, that's down to the importer/manufacturer.

For whatever reason, the UK new car market has a recent tradition of three year warranties.

Some makers offer longer, for example Kia and Hyundai.

 

[flecc]

Another example existed in consumer electronics a little while ago and may still. Sony in the UK normally gave a one year warranty, but in the USA gave up to 5 years, depending on the product, how much they wanted to promote it and the consumer protection applicable.
.

 

[wightrider]

Thanks for that. I may get slapped for going slightly off topic but I returned a Samsung netbook with a dead pixel to PC World who said that the manufacturers wouldn't accept it back as faulty as they have to have several pixels dead. I did get a good replacement and was told the one I returned would go back into circulation as is usual practice. So there is always imperfect PC World stock out there which is knowingly trying to be passed onto customers. I guess my point is that retailers, in some cases, can only return stock (to the manufacturer) if it's significantly damaged or faulty.

I find being disappointed but reasonable works very well if you are nice and polite to sales staff.

 

[flecc]

Dead pixels on panels have long been a problem, so manufacturers set standards that are acceptable for each product type. The number of permitted pixels and their permitted positions depend almost entirely on the price of the product, premium products have higher standards.

In today's fiercely competitive consumer electronics market, higher price premium consumer products are a rarity though, built down to a price is more common, as are dead pixels.
.

 

[JohnCade]

Posting your request on practically every open thread is going a bit overboard isn’t it?