TV's - guarantee's only a year

aquarian3

Hi everyone,

We are looking for a new tv for our front room, we've seen a lovely one from a registered business on Ebay for £380. It comes with a year's back to base guarantee - they have bases around the uk so we're not worried about that, my query is the guarantee.

We don't have money to throw away and it would be sods law after a year the tv goes wrong and we would have no come back on this company.

Where does a buyer stand when you have the sales of goods act saying a product should last a reasonable amount of time, yet a seller giving only a year's guarantee?

Is it worth chancing the tv will last us longer than a year? It's a LCD Samsung HD ready tv.

Thanks in advance,

Lisa

Coupon-mad

Try searching Martin's articles for 'Sale of Goods Act' (Search the site using the green button top right).

Here's a quote on this subject from avforums, which covers it:


'Consumers' Statutory Rights in the UK

The EU Consumer Rights Directive sets a minimum 2 year limit on claims by consumers for faulty goods; in the UK this legislation is enforced under the Sale of Goods Act and the limit is actually 6 years.

Where goods are found to be faulty within 6 months of purchase, there is a presumption that they were defective at the time of sale and a full refund or replacement are normally offered. Many retailers extend this period to 12 months. However, the right to a refund or replacement is not automatic and faults due to mis-use or damage are not counted as defects.

If goods that are over 12 months old are found to be faulty because they were defective in manufacture, the consumer is entitled to a range of potential remedies which may include replacement but also repair or partial refund depending on the circumstances. As the consumer has already had 12 months' use of the product, it is unlikely that a full refund or replacement will be appropriate and an alternative remedy is more likely, this being determined by the retailer on the basis of the fault involved and the practicalities of effecting a repair. Different types of goods have different expected lifetimes and price paid may also be taken into account when making this decision.'



HTH. Don't pay for any extended warranty IMHO.

Hintza

Buy direct from an authorised retailer if you want or expect more than the minimum warranty. I sold TV's for a while and touch wood not a problem yet but the margins were so tight and the prospect of a return were just too great to make it worthwhile.

Coupon mad is strictly correct but then again you might need to prove a fault, be given the run around etc etc is it worth it.

TBH though if the discount is big enough I would probably be willing to accept the 1 year warranty and take the risk.

MsCrow

Might be a case of avoiding eBay for this one? We had a Toshiba that died after a year or so; this was before the SoGA publicity and though it came from a shop and we argued it wasn't fit for purpose, they didn't help at all, neither did Toshiba. It was quite a distressing experience. Since then I've avoided internet businesses for things like TVs (ours came from a. internet/shop retailer at the other end of the country so no opportunity to go in and stamp feet).

Our last one was bought locally though they are on the internet too. I bought a Panasonic Viera for £380 and it came with a five year Panasonic guarantee if you went into the shop to complete the transaction. It might be worth looking around for these offers, Panasonic and Sony run them regularly. Otherwise, have a look at John Lewis if they're still doing five year guarantees as standard. This way, face to face, you also have more opportunity to haggle and price match

custardy

Hintza wrote: »

Buy direct from an authorised retailer if you want or expect more than the minimum warranty. I sold TV's for a while and touch wood not a problem yet but the margins were so tight and the prospect of a return were just too great to make it worthwhile.

Coupon mad is strictly correct but then again you might need to prove a fault, be given the run around etc etc is it worth it.

TBH though if the discount is big enough I would probably be willing to accept the 1 year warranty and take the risk.

exactly,i bought my TV locally from richer sounds for ease of dealing with any problems
its cost me more but that was the choice i made.