Sale of Goods - TV broken after 14 months?

missk_ensington

Hi, I wonder if you can help me, I recently discovered that me old Dad bought a TV from Comet in May 2008 and after around 13-14 months a fault appered on it, whereby the colour/contrast settings all get lost after about 25 minutes and he has got to keep re-setting these settings every half an hour or so.

He went into Comet to try and get a replacement/refund or the fault fixing, and was told it was outsside the 12 months warranty so tough luck. He rang the Comet Customer Services line and was told the same thing. Being quite old and not au fait with his rights, he didn't know where else to turn to and not having the money to replace the model, has spent all of this year keep retuning the settings every 25 minutes!

I was at his house recently when the settings reset themselves and this is how I became aware of the situation and he told me all about it. I am absolutely furious, he had paid £450 for this TV which essentially broke after 14 months - which I am quite sure would constitute not of merchantable quality under the sale of goods act but was told he couldnt do anything.

I am now trying to address the situation, and wanted to confirm that 14 months is an unreasonable length of time for something to be of working condition at a retail price of £450. I would expect something in this price bracket to last at least 2-3 years, but since there is no official defintion of how long something should last, I wanted to find out for sure before I start kicking up a fuss with Comet.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Nikki

Esqui

The only definition of how long something should last is "a reasonable amount of". And you've said it yourself, you would expect it to last longer than 14 months

missk_ensington

Correction, he paid £550 not £450. So for it to last 14 months, it has essentially cost £39 a month! Surely that isnt reasonable?! But who's job is it to decide what is and isnt reaonsable??

wuckfit

give trading standards a call.

OlliesDad

As the unit is over 6 months old, it will be up to you to prove that the unit had an inherent fault. In order to do this you will need to get an independent report. If the report advises in your favour, you can then present it to Comet and ask for a repair plus a refund of the report, if the report advises against you it is tough luck.

If the report does find an inherent fault and comet do nothing, get the repairs done and then seek the cost back through small claims.

missk_ensington

Hi OllieDad (Im OlliesMum haha, my son is called Oliver!) how much does this report cost and where do you get one from??

My Dad hasn't got much money so if its really expensive it might not be a viable option for him

OlliesDad

Hi,

Most local TV Engineers will be able to do one, not to sure how much it will cost (i had a PC engineer give me a report for £40).

Have you tried googling to see if it is a common fault?

Esqui

OlliesDad wrote: »

Have you tried googling to see if it is a common fault?

I don't see how that would help. Common or not, if it's an inherent fault then it should be documented in a report and should be fixed

All internet searching does is lead people to misdiagnose their problem and/or make them think they have evidence to present to the retailer.

missk_ensington

So if my dad gets a report and pays £40 and indeed, it is a fault with the product, will my dad definately be refunding the money he's paid out for the report?

neilmcl

It has to be an inherent manufacturing fault, not just any old fault say due to wear & tear for example or misuse, and no your dad can't expect to get the cost for the engineers report refunded.

missk_ensington

neilmcl wrote: »

It has to be an inherent manufacturing fault, not just any old fault say due to wear & tear for example or misuse, and no your dad can't expect to get the cost for the engineers report refunded.

Well I cant see how the entire malfunctioning of the screen picture after 14 months on a TV that has been sat in his house can be considered wear and tear?!? And it certainly isnt from any kind of misuse! And I also dont think its fair that assuming it is an inherent manufacturing fault (which I can tell you unofficially that it is, because it cant be anything else) that my dad should be £40 out of pocket because said product was faulty???

Its no wonder so many people just give up and dont pursue these companies, Im young and fairly savvy on my rights - and if I am getting high blood pressure from trying to untangle it, its no wonder the countries old and vulnerable end up just giving up and losing money