Light bulb warranty / faulty lightbulb

thelight

I bought an osram halogen haloline bulb from energybulbs.co.uk in september. Yesterday the bulb popped. Now the packaging from osram seems to state an expected life of 2 years, and I was under the impression that everything had at least a 6 month warranty where the retailer was obliged to prove the bulb WASNT inherently faulty.

So i contacted the retailer who have told me that they only offer a 1 month warrnty on any bulb they sell. This wasnt a cheap 50p, it cost over £7 which if i can only expect them to last 3 months is going to add up. Am i correct or are bulbs inherently not covered by normal consumer legislation because its hard to argue against wear and tear?

yummymummy79

My thoughts:

thelight wrote: »

I bought an osram halogen haloline bulb from energybulbs.co.uk in september. Yesterday the bulb popped. Now the packaging from osram seems to state an expected life of 2 years, and I was under the impression that everything had at least a 6 month warranty where the retailer was obliged to prove the bulb WASNT inherently faulty.
Not exactly, there is a reasonable period of up to 6 years to potentially bring a claim. The 6 month thing is the point where it changes over from it being seen as inherently faulty and the trader having to prove it's not, to you having to prove that the fault was there from the start.

So i contacted the retailer who have told me that they only offer a 1 month warrnty on any bulb they sell.
That could be OK on one level as warranties are optional. What isn't optional is their responsibility under the Sale of Goods Act, and you would be arguing that the bulb isn't satisfactory quality or durable. Although as you mentioned below, this is not guaranteed to be successful.

This wasnt a cheap 50p, it cost over £7 which if i can only expect them to last 3 months is going to add up. Am i correct or are bulbs inherently not covered by normal consumer legislation because its hard to argue against wear and tear?
Wear and tear is going to be your main stumbling block, especially as light bulbs are likely to be seen as consumables.

Anihilator

A wind up surely.

You paid for a lightbulb at £7 and it lasted three months. Maybe not great but doesnt make it faulty.

I'd suggest any court case would be laughed at.

Tozer

Anihilator wrote: »

A wind up surely.

You paid for a lightbulb at £7 and it lasted three months. Maybe not great but doesnt make it faulty.

I'd suggest any court case would be laughed at.

And how many District Judges have you been before?

Going to be difficult with this as the cost/hassle of pursuing isn't really worth it.

As an aside, I bought some LED GU10 bulbs from 2 Ebay sellers - £8 each. One lot is lasting no time at all. The others (so far!) are great.

They were supposed to last 5 years. The carpy ones lasted 2 months.

pmduk

I reckon anihilator is the wind-up. He seems to live in a world of his own where consumers are always wrong.

mad-mark_2

pmduk wrote: »

I reckon anihilator is the wind-up. He seems to live in a world of his own where consumers are always wrong.

Absolutely! I look forward to the day when he (she?) needs some friendly (and accurate!) advice. He certainly won't get a favourable reply here.

I'd love to learn more about his/her personal circumstances, just in case we can work out why he is so anti-consumer. Come on Anihilator, tell us about yourself... :A

thelight

Not a wind up at all im afraid. I just wasnt sure of my rights, especially as osram claim on the box that the lifetime of the bulb should be around 2 years (twice that of most others as far as i can see), which is why i chose to buy this particular bulb. But at the same time i understand bulbs are possible considered a consumable item. It was really a question as to whether it was worth bugging the company to issue a replacement or whether i actually had no right to do so. For example if my £10 bluetooth dongle broke within 6 months id assume that i would be entitled to some kind of repair or replacement for that.

KeithP

thelight wrote: »

...as osram claim on the box that the lifetime of the bulb should be around 2 years...

Why not ask Osram for their thoughts on this?

OSRAM Ltd.,
OSRAM House
Waterside Drive
Langley
Berkshire SL3 6EZ
Great Britain
Tel.: 44 17 53 48 4(1 00)
Fax: 44 17 53 48 42 22
E-Mail: [EMAIL="csc@osram.co.uk"]csc@osram.co.uk[/EMAIL]
www.osram.co.uk

thelight

Didnt cross my mind to be honest with my contract being with the retailer but its worth a shot, cheers!

R0bert_Sterling

I friend of mine lost an arm in an accident a couple of years ago.

I asked him what he was up to today?

"Going to change a lightbulb" he said.

I thought for a moment and asked if he wanted me to come over as it might be a bit difficult.

"Why will it be difficult?" he said, "I kept the receipt !!!"


(I'll get me coat!).:cool:

thelight

lol. result. Osram are sending out a replacement bulb