Tv away too long on repair

jackso_2

Hi, bought a tv from John Lewis just before christmas. It was working fine up till the middle of july then developed a problem. So phoned up John Lewis & they sent out repair company a few days later. They came in, turned the tv on, then off. Took if off it's stand, left that behind & carried away the screen. Told me that it was a simple problem & they'd have it back to me within 7-10 days.

It's been away on 'repair' now since mid-july. Have phoned them up once a week & am constantly getting fobbed off with crap like the part should be in before the end of today & we'll install it straight away & get it out to you within the next few days. Phone back a week later, get someone else who says the part is still on order & they have no timescale as to when it'll be back in stock.

Phoned JL a few weeks ago. They told me their policy was 28 working days for repairs & that the repair company had no right to say it would be any less. They'd get on to them & phone me back with a status update (which they never bothered to do).

Bottom line is 28 working days have passed. No word from either JL or repair compnay. Tv cost £1200 & has hardly been used & am having to make do with the bedroom tv just now.

So I was wondering do I have any right in this regard to get something done (lcd is 7 months into a 5 year warranty), such as ask for a replacement model or anything like that, or do I have none & have no choice but to keep on waiting?

Many Thanks.

The_Pedant

I would push your rights under section 48B of the Sale of Goods act. Under this section, any repairs or replacement must be provided:-

within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer

Unfortunately that term is not explicitly defined in any way & is subject to individual circumstances & interpretation.

I would stress to them whatever case you have, along with the view that many would consider the delay to be unreasonable and inconvenient. I would therefore see how amenable they are to expediting the issue within a suitable timescale (end of next week?) or to come to some other arrangement with you to resolve the situation, whether that be considering a refund, loan set, compensation (refund of cost of the policy - even if it was included) or whatever is appropriate.

Esqui

If JL's max repair time is 28 days, get in contact with them for your replacement.

cardinalbiggles

If it's your only TV I would be arguing that anything over a week is a major inconvenience and you want it replaced or fixed.

I am surprised you even had to send it away usually for a large item like a TV its in house repair or replacement.

jackso_2

Hi, thanks for the replies, I've only just got back after being away for a few days. I took the numbers with me & called both repair company (part is still on order), as well as phoning JL. After about 15mins of repeating myself, finally got them to offer me a replacement. He kept banging on about replacing it to spec, but the model he offered me while this years, is at the bottom of their list & doesn't have a good few of the features as my current model.

The other alternative he said was a refund minus £100 because I had had the tv for 6 months & got that much useage out of it.

Obviously I find either unacceptable, a lessert spec model or losing money on the refund. Is there anything any of you guys can recommend saying when I call back with a response.

Thanks..

tandraig

no - you have a right to replacement on specification. the appliance was less than a year old when you reported the fault - doesnt matter how long they have kept it . you are due a replacement of equal or better specification from the company you bought it from

tandraig

oh and as for them saying you had 6 months useage - thats b*****s you werent renting it were you?

jackso_2

No, the tv was bought instore just before xmas, but delivered in the first week of jan.

The part that rankled the most with me was leaving me without a tv for a month & a half, then having the cheek to inform me they'll be taking over £100 off any refund if one is to be issued. If anything they should be paying me on top of the initial fee because of all the hassle this has caused me.

Amistoso_2

jackso wrote: »

No, the tv was bought instore just before xmas, but delivered in the first week of jan.

The part that rankled the most with me was leaving me without a tv for a month & a half, then having the cheek to inform me they'll be taking over £100 off any refund if one is to be issued. If anything they should be paying me on top of the initial fee because of all the hassle this has caused me.

Crikey, remind me not to buy a TV from them!!! as far as the £100 reduction for 6 months use goes, that's pretty common these days I'm afraid. If the case ended up going to court they would rule that you paid £1200 for the TV, on average I think they would say that a telly should last you roughly 6 years-ish, they would then divide the amount you paid by the length of life expectancy
£1200/6 = £200 per year of use, you had it for 6 months-ish so that would equate to the £100 deduction.
Not very fair seeing as they have messed you about so much, they should just give you a full refund for the sake of decent customer service.
Keep us posted as to how you get on

woody01

tandraig wrote: »

no - you have a right to replacement on specification. the appliance was less than a year old when you reported the fault - doesnt matter how long they have kept it . you are due a replacement of equal or better specification from the company you bought it from

Sorry but that is incorrect.
There is no entitlement after 6 months.

jackso wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies, I've only just got back after being away for a few days. I took the numbers with me & called both repair company (part is still on order), as well as phoning JL. After about 15mins of repeating myself, finally got them to offer me a replacement. He kept banging on about replacing it to spec, but the model he offered me while this years, is at the bottom of their list & doesn't have a good few of the features as my current model.

The other alternative he said was a refund minus £100 because I had had the tv for 6 months & got that much useage out of it.

Obviously I find either unacceptable, a lessert spec model or losing money on the refund. Is there anything any of you guys can recommend saying when I call back with a response.

Thanks..

Are you mad?
Take the refund minus £100.
You can get at least as good for £1100 now if not way better.

The new LED TV's are amazing.

jackso_2

Just got off the phone to them! :mad:

They have 2 LED Samsung models. They offered me the lower spec LED one that doesn't even have some of the features that I have (or now had) on the current set. I tried pointing this out but they wouldn't have it saying a lot of the Samsung tv's didn't have them. The higher spec one is £100 dearer, but has the pretty much the same features as the one I do now minus it being LED with a higher contrast ratio. I even offered to pay half the cost (£50) to upgrade to this set & they were still not having it. Wasn't even interested & instead had the cheek to tell me to go do a price-match for this set.

The last time I phoned one of their schmuck's said they do replacements on terms of specification & not by cost. Yet the specs of the one he offered me were basic compared to the one I have now which was their top model at christmas when I got it.

Just took their offer of a recision value & will lose out on £100. Have to go in tomorrow & give them back the box, stand, remote etc which the delivery company left behind. I told them the box was too big to fit into my car & was told that they needed me to bring it back before they were able to process my refund. Have been screwed around with them for a few days short of 2 month & will never, ever step into another JL store in my life never mind give them another penny of my money!