Free 6 year warranty

marty-401

One of the lesser known laws. All goods carry a 6 year warranty against manufacturing defect in England (5 in Scotland). The onus is on the purchaser though to prove that the fault is a manufacturing defect (easily done if you search the net for common faults on you product or ask a question on https://www.diynot.com ).;)

faithless

marty-401 wrote: »

One of the lesser known laws. All goods carry a 6 year warranty against manufacturing defect in England (5 in Scotland). The onus is on the purchaser though to prove that the fault is a manufacturing defect (easily done if you search the net for common faults on you product or ask a question on www.diynot.com ).;)

Oh, not this fallacy again. There are numerous threads on this all around MSE. Having looked into this whilst studying Commercial Law and when I worked for Trading Standards after uni:

Basically no it doesn't. The rumour comes from an EU Directive which appeared to say this. However, Directives are not directly effective on this county (basically have no legal standing), so the many provisions of it were translated into UK law in 2002 in the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations.
The Regs say nothing about a 6 year warranty, the UK Government interpreted the EU Directive as requiring some method of redress to be available to consumers for two years after purchase - ie the ability for consumers ot take legal action - sue - for two years.
As in the UK a civil matter can be pursued in the court for up to 6 years under the statute of limitations, UK Govt decided we already exceeded the requirements of the Regs. The Directive basically meant to ensure a minimum standard of rights across all EU countries, as some had very little/no consumer rights provisions.

As a result of the Regulations, the onus is indeed on the retailer to prove the item is not inherently defective if it goes faulty within SIX MONTHS - if reasonable to expect it to last that long, e.g not fresh food!
I have marked this thread as expired so that no-one sees the first post and is mis-informed.

albionwarrior

requested move to correct forum

marty-401

Taken from Argos's breakdown cover conditions page
Consumer Rights
Consumers have certain rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 including the right to claim for repair or replacement of an item for up to 6 years (5 years in Scotland) if when it was sold it was not of satisfactory quality. After 6 months from the date of purchase the consumer needs to prove that the item had a fault when it was sold.
So what does this mean then? :rolleyes:

BargainGalore

It means what it says. the SOGA implied that the first 6 months the onus is up to the retailer to prove it after that its you. Usually you have 12 months warranty on many items

Ignore the EU directive its been incorporated into SOGA any way and its slightly weaker than SOGA

gardner1

you try proving that a playstation 3 that is 18 months old YLOD had a fault when it was sold
sony ask you to get an independant report to prove it had fault in manufacture stage

savemoney

Not sure why you posted this is freebie forum, its more consumer forum related.

This subject gets mentioned daily on forums. The sale of Goods act makes it quite clear what responsibilities you and the retailer has

marty-401

Ok. If it's on the wrong forum please move to consumer rights forum (not that I have ever looked at this). But if someone can explain why Argos have put this in print, I would be most grateful ( its also in the back of the catalog).

pawlala

have you asked Argos?

savemoney

Can a board guide please move this over to right forum

lorweld

MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES


Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email abuse@moneysavingexpert.com.