DVD Recorder - Not as described?

Kate78

My OH bought a DVD Recorder from Argos this week, a Sony DVD recorder with hard disc on sale, £166 instead of £250. Though he used a voucher and got it for £156. (So far, so MSE:)) He says he had a quick look at the specs on Sony's website, and on Argos, and it appeared to be okay.

Unfortunately, its not...... You can't record to DVD's in high speed, something which he wanted and assumed by the wording that you could do - a closer examination of Sony's site, reveals it doesn't do it, but it is mentioned in the manual! The other point, is that you can't record direct to DVD, again from the wording this appeared to be a function available.

But no, you can only record DVD's in realtime - so recording a 40 minute program involves playing (and copying) from Sky+ to the DVD recorder drive, then setting a separate recording to DVD - hence a 40 minute takes 1h 20 minutes to do!

To make matters worse, Argos told him that because its a recording device, it was exempt from their money back guarantee. Any goods with recording capability, MP3 players and cameras, are also excluded - (yet not computers...) The exception being if its faulty.

On Consumer Direct, it says:-

"If you have bought an electrical or gas appliance, it must be of satisfactory quality, fit for its purpose and as described.

When an item doesn’t meet some or all of these conditions:

If you have only used it a few times or haven’t had a reasonable opportunity to check them, you are probably entitled to a refund for a fault or poor description, or alternatively you may request a replacement."

He could use this to argue with Argos. He purchased a DVD recorder, it states you can use high speed DVD media in the manual, but it will only record at one speed; further, he reasonably expected direct recording to DVD - hence, he considers that the goods aren't fit for the intended purpose.

Can anyone help? My thought it that Argos will say it was down to my OH to check that the DVD recorder was exactly what he required before purchasing, but for once I would like to be wrong!

Equaliser123

Unfortunately, if he only saw it in the manual, this would, presumably, be after the contract was made and so the fact that it cannot do what he wanted it to do would not have been a warranty implied by SOGA.

Generally manuals tend to cover different models - are you sure that the manual is referring to the exact same item he bought?

4743hudsonj

You need to show us what made him think these features were available.

lucylucky

If you can link to the Argos description I am sure people will have a look and see if there is anything that can be done

hairy_g

Assume it's THIS one.

lucylucky

If it is that one then a quick look at the tech specs tells you it does not do high speed dubbing, so not really "not as described" in that case

kitschkitty

Argos are really bad for this kind of thing. I was really insulted and got rather peed off having bought a phone that on the Argos website said it had MP3 player, but it didn't. So I took it back and the customer service woman was really rude and condescending as in the catalog it said MP3 (not player). I wish I had printed of the damn web page as she was adamant I was some kind of idiot, when in fact I'd read the website description right.

I did manage to get a refund in the end, but only because my mum managed to keep me calm and we were given one as a "good will gesture". But I never buy anything electrical in Argos now because there service was so appalling.

Kate78

Thanks hairy_g, that is indeed the one.

And yes good point about the manual, he would have had to have bought it first to read it!

neilmcl

Kate78 wrote: »

Thanks hairy_g, that is indeed the one.

And yes good point about the manual, he would have had to have bought it first to read it!

So going on that description, how exactly is it not as described. Sounds to me the only real issue is your OH hasn't done enough reseach before making his purchase, hardly the retailer's fault.

Kate78

@neilmcl - That's what I thought (please see final paragraph of post #1)

stugib

Manual is available online. Page 72 includes "While dubbing at high-speed, or when
dubbing information is not displayed, press DISPLAY to check the dubbing information." but I can't see anywhere about selecting the dubbing speed other than possibly "Titles recorded in DR mode or Playlist titles containing scenes only in DR mode are all converted to 6 Mbps and dubbed.."

The manual is for several models but doesn't highlight model-specific features.

I don't know what Direct Record is (the only reference in the Argos description I can see refers to something like this).

Is poor that it can't record direct to DVD from an external source, but can't see anywhere on Argos site, Sony site or manual that claims it does.