Consumer Rights: MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

lfc84

Art wrote:

Your contract is with the vendor, not the courier. The courier is employed by the vendor. You must look to the vendor to remedy the situation.

If the vendor has promised to send another unit to you tomorrow I would wait to see if it arrives. If it does, you have your bike. Leave it to the vendor to deal with the courier.

If it doesn't arrive inform the vendor in writing that he is responsible to provide you with a replacement or refund your money. If he doesn't tell him that you will take him to the Small Caims Court.

So long as the bike was over £100 you are right to say your credit card company is jointly liable. Write to them to this effect and ask them to get involved.

Finally, make sure that the replacement when sent doesn't get delivered elsewhere again. Insist that the courier only delivers to the address as given. Ask the vendor for their contact number and talk to them to find out when they will call.

Regards,
Art.

Thankyou for your advice. I am pleased to say that the vendor has delivered the exercise bike. The vendor told me they had quite a few incidents of this nature..... Makes you wonder why they continue to use the courier in question....
Cheers.

spikypixie

I am somewhat surprised at Smeg's request for a contribution of £285 towards the cost of replacing a 27 month old oven that has suffered three identical element failures since purchase.

The initial element failure occurred within the first 12 months warranty.
The company has attempted to rectify this on a long-term basis by replacing the element.
Both replacements have failed within a matter of months of installation. They have therefore failed to correct the initial fault.

Smeg even voluntarily extended my warranty until April of 2007. There was little point in this if they had no intention of honouring it.

Surely this oven is not ‘free from defects’ and ‘fit for purpose’. Under such law, I can expect to have a ‘reasonable’ length of service from such a product and can reasonably expect much longer trouble free service than the oft quoted ’12 months warranty’. That said, the fault initially occurred within that period in any case, and a £500 - £600 oven should be expected to last longer than 26 months. By asking me to contribute such an amount, they are ‘charging’ me over £100 for every month I have had use of their faulty product.

(sorry - hope this post is in the right place ..sorry if it isn't ....that rant was very cathartic .... I feel so much better now!)

Art_2

spikypixie wrote:

I am somewhat surprised at Smeg's request for a contribution of £285 towards the cost of replacing a 27 month old oven that has suffered three identical element failures since purchase.

The initial element failure occurred within the first 12 months warranty.
The company has attempted to rectify this on a long-term basis by replacing the element.
Both replacements have failed within a matter of months of installation. They have therefore failed to correct the initial fault.

Smeg even voluntarily extended my warranty until April of 2007. There was little point in this if they had no intention of honouring it.

Surely this oven is not ‘free from defects’ and ‘fit for purpose’. Under such law, I can expect to have a ‘reasonable’ length of service from such a product and can reasonably expect much longer trouble free service than the oft quoted ’12 months warranty’. That said, the fault initially occurred within that period in any case, and a £500 - £600 oven should be expected to last longer than 26 months. By asking me to contribute such an amount, they are ‘charging’ me over £100 for every month I have had use of their faulty product.

(sorry - hope this post is in the right place ..sorry if it isn't ....that rant was very cathartic .... I feel so much better now!)

Did you buy the oven from Smeg or are they the manufacturer?

You are right to say you should expect better use from the oven than what you have had so far. Write to them and state that as they have had to replace the same part on a number of occasions there is obviously an inherrent fault in the part which prevents the oven from working as intended.

Tell them you expect the oven to be replaced or repaired free of charge to your satisfaction and if they refuse to do this you will seek redress in the Small Claims Court.

If Smeg are only the manufacturer and you bought the oven elsewhere you should take up your complaint with the retailer.

Regards,
Art.

spikypixie

Hi - thanks. The oven was initially purchased from an online retailer. I can't remeber how or why I ended up dealing direct with Smeg - probably because they have a real time online customer support website - which was great the first 2 occasions, but I never managed to get through this time. I may well be too late to refer it to the seller, as I think their responsibility only lasts a year??
I thought I was buying quality. Should've stuck with my £200 Belling!

spikypixie

Maybe I'm unlucky, but I also purchased a new topup tv anytime receiver last Dec. Not a day goes by that it doesn't freeze / lock up or c*ck up a recording. My husband works for the BBC as a VT editor so it's not that we're technically inept or anything. The box has had all the downloads etc but is no better. I wrote and emailed them around 10 days ago and they haven't even bothered to reply. I have given then until the end of the month to get their act together and provide the service as promised or cough up.
Surely I am within my rights to cancel the service and get a refund for this box of bits??

Art_2

spikypixie wrote:

Hi - thanks. The oven was initially purchased from an online retailer. I can't remeber how or why I ended up dealing direct with Smeg - probably because they have a real time online customer support website - which was great the first 2 occasions, but I never managed to get through this time. I may well be too late to refer it to the seller, as I think their responsibility only lasts a year??
I thought I was buying quality. Should've stuck with my £200 Belling!

No the retailer is actually still responsible for the oven. It is not acceptable for a product of this price to cause you the trouble it has. If you can find out who you bought it from I would tackle them on this one.

Did you pay by credit card?

Regards,
Art.

Art_2

spikypixie wrote:

Maybe I'm unlucky, but I also purchased a new topup tv anytime receiver last Dec. Not a day goes by that it doesn't freeze / lock up or c*ck up a recording. My husband works for the BBC as a VT editor so it's not that we're technically inept or anything. The box has had all the downloads etc but is no better. I wrote and emailed them around 10 days ago and they haven't even bothered to reply. I have given then until the end of the month to get their act together and provide the service as promised or cough up.
Surely I am within my rights to cancel the service and get a refund for this box of bits??

You don't mean a Freeview box do you?

Firstly is the problem due to poor reception where you live and not the box? Were you told you could get reception where you are?

If yes to the last question, then you are within your rights to reject the box and ask for a refund.

Regards,
Art.

pinkchix

Hi Im hoping someone here can help me out.
I bought a 28in pacific tv from asda on 30 jan 2005 and as my luck goes it has suddenly stopped working today,exactly 2 years after I bought it!! What Im wondering is, is there any way asda will/may replace it as surely a tv is supposed to last longer than 2 years?

(Apologies if i have done wrong by posting this here as Ive posted elsewhere on site too but found this one after i did.)

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Art_2

pinkchix wrote:

Hi Im hoping someone here can help me out.
I bought a 28in pacific tv from asda on 30 jan 2005 and as my luck goes it has suddenly stopped working today,exactly 2 years after I bought it!! What Im wondering is, is there any way asda will/may replace it as surely a tv is supposed to last longer than 2 years?

(Apologies if i have done wrong by posting this here as Ive posted elsewhere on site too but found this one after i did.)

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Initially, you should contact ASDA and see if they will do anything for you. Speak to the branch and if you get no joy there write to their head office in Leeds.

Regards,
Art.

spikypixie

Hello again,
The box is the new freeview subscription box dtr. They tell you that if you can receive channel 5, then you can use this service. When it works, i works fine. It is the box that locks, not the signal. If you read the forums, many customers have had this problem. Topup tv keep fobbing customers off saying ' it will all be sorted out in the next software download' of which we've had 2 if not 3. They even helpfully suggest turning it off at the mains and forcing a re-boot. It is still no better. Surely a company cannot launch a product this glitchy and use us all as guinea pigs??