Moan of the Day – Warranty/Guarantee Rights

When a product is replaced, should the replacement be covered only for as long as the warranty/guarantee afforded to the original product, or should the new product be covered for a year from the date it replaced the faulty product?

I am presently trying to get a product I bought replaced due to a fault that has occurred, through no fault of mine – even though they would like to think the opposite – after only 3 months of use. This has caused me to research my rights as a consumer, and to what the warranty actually covers. During this research I was astounded to read that the replacement product does not come with its own new warranty, it comes under the same contract as the original purchase.

Apparently a manufacturers warranty can have whatever terms they like – of course within reason – on the goods as there is no legal obligation for manufacturers to actually give any kind of a warranty. So that is why some will give a new warranty from an orginal purchase date and others from the replacement date.

On one of the forum sites I visited someone commented, “think about it, you could take it back every 11 months for a lifetime warranty”. Surely decent people wouldn’t do that? Surely we just want an item to be in good working order? And it could’nt be replaced if it wasn’t faulty again, so it makes no sense why a new warranty can’t be issued. In New Zealand they allow a replacement product to receive a new warranty.  On same forum another informed readers that if you were to get a refund for the original item you could then buy another of the same product, which would come with a full warranty. That’s certainly worth bearing in mind.

The way I see it is, if the replacement product I receive is also faulty I should be able to take it back to the retailer and ask for a repair, replacement or refund as a new item. Does anyone else agree?

For info:  The Sale of Goods Act offers protection against faulty goods even when the manufacturer’s guarantee has run out. The act says goods must last a reasonable time. That can be anything up to six years from the date of purchase (five years in Scotland).

 

Moan for the Day – Refunds

So should a faulty garment, product, item mean an automatic refund?

In the eyes of the law, and under consumer rights, the answer is yes. I think so too. Then why doesn’t the fashion shop Select?

I recently bought some cheap, diamanté shoes in a branch in Maidstone. I tried the shoes on, on the floor, and didn’t realise they were missing stones until I got them out to show my daughter.

Disappointed I asked my husband to take them back to the branch of Select in Portsmouth – as we were only visiting Maidstone – when he went to work on the Monday. Ideally I wanted an exchange but unfortunately, the Portsmouth branch didn’t have the shoes in stock. So hubby asked for a refund. This is where the fun began…..not!

Apparently, Select’s company policy is to return the product – in this case my shoes – to Head Office. I know, seriously? There is no doubt they are faulty. Only a fool would say it wasn’t. This really frustrated my husband, which I’m sure you can understand, so he asked for the Head Office address.

So that evening, my daughter composed a letter for me – a little too polite for my liking – and I added the photos of the faulty shoes.

Last night I received an email back from Select saying:

“Regarding your query, as you have expressed that your item is at fault, (didn’t express, I sent photo evidence) we advise that you take the item back in store, your item will be sent off to Head Office by the store staff. When your item is received at Head Office it will be reviewed by our Garment Technologist (seriously, who employs, on a wage obviously, a Garment Technologist?). If your item is found to have a general manufacturing fault and is deemed faulty we will be happy to assist you with a refund.

Just to let you know this process can take up to 14 working days to inspect and contact you with an outcome.”

Who else thinks this is a load of bullocks? Seriously, have you ever heard of such insanity? It’s not even a well-written email. I’ve changed commas to full stops, but I haven’t bothered changing their grammar mistakes. I have talked to Trading Standards and they believe the company is stretching the rules. Hopefully, I will hear from them again tomorrow to see whether anything can be done to claim a refund in store rather than needlessly sending it to the Head Office.

Can’t believe they are allowed to get away with this. So, needless to say, I won’t be shopping in Select ever again. Will you?