Length of warranty 3 months!

simoncurtis

Hi. My son has a Fender guitar amplifier which is now a year old. A week before the warranty ended the amplifier developed a fault and was taken back to the shop where it came from. It was sent back to Fender where the repairs where carried out. It is now back with a bill of £120 for repairs and replacement of the valves. Fender state on their USA website that the valves only have a 90 days warranty. I thought now that all warranties were at least a year, is this correct?
Thanks Simon

Antispam

NO warranties are a extra safe guard they dont have to come with anything

You do have the sale of goods act BUT you have to prove the amp had an inherent fault

System

TBH 90 days is about standard for thermionic valves.

esuhl

You are covered by the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as ammended). The act states that goods must be of a standard (including fitness of purpose, durability, etc.) that a reasonable person would find acceptable. If the goods fail to meet this standard, you can claim ask for a repair/replacement, or claim damages from the retailer (i.e. a partial refund, based on how long you have had the goods). If this happens in the first six months after purchase, the onus is on the retailler to prove that the goods were of acceptable quality; not your responsibility to prove that they were not.

The warranty is separate from the Sale of Goods Act. Your legal rights (under the act) are with the retailler. The warranty usually gives you extra rights with the manufacturer.

In this case, the goods were faulty and you took them back to the retailler. The retailler arranged to fix them and, it appears, has not proved that the goods were of reasonable quality.

Unless amplifier valves are considered "perishable", it is the retaillers responsibility to repair/replace the goods. They should pick up the bill, and you should not deal directly with the manufacturer as you have no legal rights with them.

I have no "proper" legal experience, so please don't take the above as legal advice! But good luck!

More info on the Sale of Goods Act here:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

roger196

Search google for "EU directive 2 year warranty"

savemoney

No dont

Sale of goods act is what you need dont waste your time with eu directive its built in into SOGA

roger196 wrote: »

Search google for "EU directive 2 year warranty"

rsykes2000

3 months warranty on valves seems pretty standard. An example:
http://www.watfordvalves.com/aboutus.asp "All small signal valves and output valves carry a 90 day warranty". The amplified itself will be warranteed for the standard 1 / 2 years but the valves themselves as they are so sensitive and easily blown if you don't look after them get 3 months / 90 days.

neilmcl

Where and from whom did you buy the amp from? If not a UK company then the SOGA will not apply.

wuckfit

Thermionic Valves are consumable items, just like filament bulbs.
valve life will depend on usage, and the circuit configuration - certain circuits drive the valves harder for more power, and its worth remembering that the valve is usinga lot of power whenever the amplifier is switched on - not just when a guitar is being played through it.

Sometimes a valve going can cause damage to other components. Normally the components that go are only a few pence in value, and some circuits are designed so that a component will fail in a puff of smoke if the valve goes to protect the rest of the circuit from damage, and more importantly, your house from fire.
It's probably worth remembering that valve equipment should NEVER be left unattended when switched on, because of the fire risk should something go wrong.

RadoJo

OP - Think of amp valves like guitar strings - you wouldn't expect them to last forever, and replacing them is pretty much standard practice when using them over a long period of time. It might be worth your son learning basic amp maintenance as then he would be better placed to know whether something is actually broken or whether it just needs a component replacing - I'm guessing if he could have identified the problem and replaced the valves himself, then it wouldn't have cost as much as it did.

yummymummy79

roger196 wrote: »

Search google for "EU directive 2 year warranty"

For the love of God please don't! The sooner that crawls back under the rock that the Daily Mail found it under the better. Pain in the bum doesn't even start to cover it!