Faulty item bought from manufacturer's trade stand

ming60

Does the Sale of Goods Act, and Consumer Rights, protect you if you buy direct from a manufacturer?
We bought £150 worth of goods from a Philips Avent trade stand at the Baby show in Birmingham in May this year. One of the items has developed a fault. We have returned it to them twice, asking for a replacement explaining the fault, but on each occasion, it has come back to us saying they tested it without finding the fault. But it is still not right. They have now closed the complaint file on our item.
As there is no retailer involved in this situation, where do we stand regarding demanding our rights on the SoGA etc?

derrick

ming60 wrote: »

Does the Sale of Goods Act, and Consumer Rights, protect you if you buy direct from a manufacturer?
We bought £150 worth of goods from a Philips Avent trade stand at the Baby show in Birmingham in May this year. One of the items has developed a fault. We have returned it to them twice, asking for a replacement explaining the fault, but on each occasion, it has come back to us saying they tested it without finding the fault. But it is still not right. They have now closed the complaint file on our item.
As there is no retailer involved in this situation, where do we stand regarding demanding our rights on the SoGA etc?

Your remedies under SoGA are with the seller, in this case the manufacturer. As the goods are under 6 months old it is up to them to prove the goods where satisfactory when sold, (after 6 months it is up to you to prove they where faulty at time of purchase), however if they cannot find a fault, then they have nothing to resolve!

Is it an intermittent fault?
Is there anything, (searching the web), that suggests this item has an inherent fault?

The only other way I can suggest is that you inform them that the fault is still there, and if they will not replace/repair, you will have it independently checked out and if proved faulty you will take small claims action and sue for replacement/refund plus report and court costs.

bingo_bango

Forget the independent checking. You could just move straight to small claims court, take the item in, and show the judge the fault. Much cheaper, and much less work for the judge to do than reading a technical report (they don't like to have to think too hard!).

Derrick is right about Avent being responsible under SoGA though. They were acting as retailer when they sold to you.

derrick

bingo_bango wrote: »

Forget the independent checking. You could just move straight to small claims court, take the item in, and show the judge the fault. Much cheaper, and much less work for the judge to do than reading a technical report (they don't like to have to think too hard!).

Problem is, if you don't attempt to remedy it before going to SCC, (and that can include getting independant evidence), the judge will not look favourably on the claimant, and therefore they could potentially lose.

bingo_bango

Not necessarily so. As the burden of proof lies with the retailer, they need to submit any technical argument to determine fault or non-fault.

Also, local courts have actually started to advise claimants that there is no need for them to submit tech reports, as they are expensive and generally unnecessary if the fault can be shown on the day.

I accept the point you're making though, but such a report could be hundreds of pounds. It goes against the purpose of SCC to impose such a burden on the ordinary consumer.

Certainly OP should write to Avent and make these points clear to them, and the fact that they intend to pursue the company by legal means.

It will likely come down to one of the first questions you asked derrick. Is this an intermittent fault? If the answer is no, then I'd vote for bringing the item to court. If it's yes, then OP needs to decide if they take a chance, or pay to have it inspected.

Edit: Just spent a lot of time in Preston btw (back again in 3 weeks). Very friendly people there. Not what I was expecting at all. Seems it's not so grim up North

derrick

bingo_bango wrote: »

Not necessarily so. As the burden of proof lies with the retailer, they need to submit any technical argument to determine fault or non-fault.

Also, local courts have actually started to advise claimants that there is no need for them to submit tech reports, as they are expensive and generally unnecessary if the fault can be shown on the day.

I accept the point you're making though, but such a report could be hundreds of pounds. It goes against the purpose of SCC to impose such a burden on the ordinary consumer.

Certainly OP should write to Avent and make these points clear to them, and the fact that they intend to pursue the company by legal means.

It will likely come down to one of the first questions you asked derrick. Is this an intermittent fault? If the answer is no, then I'd vote for bringing the item to court. If it's yes, then OP needs to decide if they take a chance, or pay to have it inspected.

Edit: Just spent a lot of time in Preston btw (back again in 3 weeks). Very friendly people there. Not what I was expecting at all. Seems it's not so grim up North

Agree but, if they keep saying "no fault" then it may be a way forward to at least threaten with a report, (it will put OP in good light with judge and may force Avent to do something). Or compel Avent to submit a report under SoGA.

I was under the impression that if you alleged fault you had to get an INDEPENDENT expert to submit a report, loser to pay for this report, (although as under 6 months old the retailer SHOULD be doing this), if things have changed, then I have missed it! It should not cost "hundreds" to do a report on a "baby item", as the OP says, "We bought £150 worth of goods....One of the items has developed a fault", so the item is not expensive?


So what where you expecting? Flat caps and whippets:D, it's not grim up here at all:rolleyes:

ming60

Thanks for these comments guys.
Yes the fault was intermittent, but now it doesn't work at all! Here's some more detail to the story. The item is a £24 baby bottle warmer. It only developed the fault - doesn't warm the bottles up, just makes a buzzing noise - after it had been used off and on, at least 10 times, during the day. We're feeding twins! It developed the fault only a few days after we started using it about 7 weeks ago.
Philips told us, when they returned the item for the second time yesterday, that they tested it on 3 occasions over 3 days, and it was fine. This wouldn't have been enough to create the problem. However, when it came back to us yesterday, we not only noticed a crack in its base, which looks like it has been dropped in transit as the box is also dented, but the unit now doesn't work at all.
Instead of returning the unit to Philips again (costs £4 each time), we have video'd it not working and will send this plus another letter, incorporating some of your suggestions, back to Philips. Let's see what they say this time.
About a week ago, we had to buy another unit (same model, I know glutton for punishment), just so we could keep the twins contented. This one is working fine so far.
I wonder what Philips will do now that it's not working at all. Probably blame it on the carriage people, and suggest we claim from them! Seriously though, you would think that a big company like Philips would replace this unit, no questions asked, when we first sent it back.
Comments on the route we are now taking would be appreciated.

lovefreebie

considering the cost of the item to them also I find it very shocking that they did not replace it :wall: hope you can get to the bottom of this, in some magazines, there are consumer rights e-g: That's life, they also give you £250 if they fight your case.
good luck, hope the twins are well.