Can Anyone Help with a John Lewis/Bosch disppute?

SilverLiz

My daughter bought a Bosch tumble dryer from John Lewis with a 2 year guarantee about 18 months ago.

It has never dried the washing adequately and she complained soon after purchase.

She has now had 3 separate repairs, each tradesman inspecting the machine and reporting that he could repair the fault. Each one has given a separate fault. The machine still does not dry the clothes!

John Lewis have informed her that she is now tied to the Bosch guarantee and they are powerless to do anything if tradesmen report the machine can be repaired.

She has now been told that she has to have a 4th inspection and repair. She feels that earch tradesperson 'would say that wouldn't they' as they get paid by Bosch for the repair. She has three young children under 6 and has had to wait in and be available for 3 inspection and repair visits to date, which have proved quite stressful.

Does anyone know where she stands, in consumer law, in this situation? We would be so grateful for any advice.

keith969

The Sale of Goods Act is what you need. According to that, the goods you buy must be 'fit for purpose'.

The onus is on the retailer - in this case John Lewis - for redress. Leaving it for 18 months is a bit long though, why did she not ask for a refund initially when the problem was found?

ormus

once youve accepted a repair, then youre really tied to that fact.
the law says you have to give the makers (reasonable) time to fix it. and some attempts.
she should have demanded a replacement first time.

after say 6 attempts, then you can demand a refund or a replacement. as that becomes unreasonable.

SilverLiz

She did complain - soon after she bought the tumble dryer but was told they would send a technician to investigate the problem. One would naturally think that this had to take place before a refund could be agreed.
The technician who attended was the first Bosch technician who reported he could repair the machine.

I would have thought 3-4 repairs with all their attendant inconvenience is unreasonable.
Six repairs I would consider as Totally and Ridiculously Unreasonable.

I am sure that by that time Bosch would have paid these 'technicians' more than was paid initially for the machine!

gas4you

I assume she is having to book these 'engineers' via John Lewis?

If so I would tell them that 'time is of the essence' and if they have not repaired it within 7 working days she wants a new one.

I would also suggest she contacts John Lewis head office complaints and not just deal with the local branch.

I had one of their washing machines that went wrong after about 4 days. I politely said I did not want a repair, but would have a new one. It was there within 2 days.

They are usually about the best with customer service.

Paul_the_Painter

I used to work for them, my advice would be to be clear about the problem to someone in store and get it escalated to department manager level at first. Her compaint seems reasonable so it should be dealt with - she might have been dealing with people at the the call centre.

I worked as a sales assistant, and would fix most problems myself (sometimes needing a manager to sign off on them) next level that would actually get a different response would be the department manager (there was a section manager in between, but I knew what he/she would sign off, and just did it then got hiim/her to sign) next level would be a written complaint to either Store managing director, or the Chairman of the company.

The only time that a complaint to the chairman actually made a difference to what we would have done in the store - if only we'd known - was if the complaint was in my mind totally unjustified.

Yours sounds reasonable - speaking to the department manager will probably fix it.