Aldi, a grill and the SOGA

vyle

This might be lengthy, but I'll try to keep it brief.

My parents bought a Delta grill from Aldi about a year ago. They have had two or three over the years, all have gone wrong within their three year warranty period and every time, Aldi has insisted my parents send them to the manufacturer for a repair/replacement. The postage costs them more than the grill itself, so they've just bought a new grill instead.

This time, my parents mentioned the situation to me, because they were going to "have to" send the grill to the manufacturer this time as Aldi weren't selling them any more.

I told them to just take it to the shop, because their contract is with the supplier, but they didn't want to because aldi would just say "no."

I showed my parents the SOGA and they said that they only had a photocopy of their receipt, and Aldi probably wouldn't accept this.

Now, the reason they have a photocopy is because the little warranty registration card that comes with the grill has to be sent back with a proof of purchase, so my parents sent it with the original receipt and are left with the photocopy.

As the receipt is a proof of purchase, and the SOGA only states a POP is required, rather than a specific receipt, they should be fine, but I do have two questions:

1: Companies based in other countries who do not have any "selling floor" in england, such as Play.com don't have to comply with the SOGA. Am I right in thinking that even though ALdi is a German company, because it has stores in Egnland it should still comply with the SOGA?

2: If Aldi stipulates that their warranty, which is in addition to my parents' statutory rights, must be redeemed through the manufacturer/any other arcane method, can they insist on that method? I know the SOGA is separate, but I just want to know where they stand before I go down to Aldi to sort things out.

3: If that is the case and we have to take the SOGA route, would the fact that the item is supplied with a 3 year warranty be enough to prove that one year's use is not an acceptable lifespan?

neilmcl

1, Yes, the SOGA does apply to purchases from Aldi in the UK.

2, Yes, if dealing with issues via the warranty then the warranty's T&Cs apply, including sending faulty products back to the mftr. It is a "manufacturers" warranty after all. If you want to go via the SOGA route then your dealings should just be with Aldi.

3, Not necessarily, but 3 years is a reasonable lifespan for an electronic grill.

Anihilator

How much did the grill cost? Whats wrong with it.

Aldi are well within their rights to insist on you providing an experts report confirming the fault, its nature and that it breaches SOGA.

Unless the item was expensive (which Im guessing not) give up now.

Dave101t

sorry but an aldi grill has a subjective lifespan of 6 months anyway. pays your money and takes your choice.

of course technically you do have the law on your side, bt when its a cheap product is it worth the hassle and the endless unturned calls, letters, emails?

neilmcl

vyle wrote: »

They have had two or three over the years, all have gone wrong within their three year warranty period

Why do they keep buying one then.

vyle

Anihilator wrote: »

How much did the grill cost? Whats wrong with it.

Aldi are well within their rights to insist on you providing an experts report confirming the fault, its nature and that it breaches SOGA.

Unless the item was expensive (which Im guessing not) give up now.

The grill was only about £17.

Obviously it's not worth the cost of a legal battle or anything like that, because it's not worth the price to post the item to northern ireland, but if they could get it replaced without the cost, it's obviously worth doing.

The thing with the warranty, though, is so many people on this forum have had problems with an item that's under the manufacturer's warranty, but apparently it's the job of the shop to send it TO the manufacturer at their cost, rather than the customer's, even if it's 9 months on and the warranty wasn't issued BY the shop. I was wondering if that would apply in this case.

Dave101t wrote: »

sorry but an aldi grill has a subjective lifespan of 6 months anyway. pays your money and takes your choice.

of course technically you do have the law on your side, bt when its a cheap product is it worth the hassle and the endless unturned calls, letters, emails?

Subjective lifespan?

neilmcl wrote: »

Why do they keep buying one then.

I wish I knew. all I know is that they had a george foreman grill that went wrong once.

neilmcl

vyle wrote: »

The thing with the warranty, though, is so many people on this forum have had problems with an item that's under the manufacturer's warranty, but apparently it's the job of the shop to send it TO the manufacturer at their cost, rather than the customer's, even if it's 9 months on and the warranty wasn't issued BY the shop. I was wondering if that would apply in this case.

That's rubbish I'm afraid. The warranty is between yourself and the manufacturer, the retailer doesn't come into it unless it was specifically an extended warranty supplied by them. If you want the retailer to deal with it then you have recourse under the SOGA, but for £17 I would just tot this up to experience and never buy one of these cheap grill things again.

Anihilator

The warranty and SOGA are entirely seperate.

The SOGA imo wont protect you here anyway as it was worth £17 originally and I would suggest plenty of life for a good of the value was obtained.

LeeSouthEast

In principle I agree with the OP.

However, I think logically and subjectively, Anihilator is quite correct. 3 years out of a £17 grill is brilliant value.

Tozer

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

In principle I agree with the OP.

However, I think logically and subjectively, Anihilator is quite correct. 3 years out of a £17 grill is brilliant value.

From OP:

"My parents bought a Delta grill from Aldi about a year ago."

LeeSouthEast

Meh. I got lost in the discussion, clearly.