Thanks Dixons! Money for busted TV

bosseyed

Hi ho, thought I'd post a brief success story here regarding getting money out of Dixons for an old and broken TV. Theres often threads in here along the lines of 'my TV is broken, what do I do' so I thought this, whilst nothing relovlutionary or clever, might be of some interest/help to various people.

Or not of course, but hey ho

So: My old Sharp LCD TV - 3 years old, well out of warranty, no extended warranty etc, the screen started showing signs of burn. The wife left Jeremy Kyle on pause for a few minutes and lo, we had that grinning idiot burnt into the screen for a week, same with the snooker when that was on. Essentially anything static for more than a few seconds (including the sky planner) would burn the screen and the general quality was getting worse and worse with every passing day.

So considering the price I paid from new (£1,095) I wasn't happy that the TV had broken in a fairly short space of time. I did a bit of digging, contacted Sharp etc and wrote the following cheeky letter to Dixons, claiming breach of my statutory rights:

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Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you regarding a breach of my statutory rights with reference to a product I purchased from yourselves in March 2007 via the Dixons online website:

Order Ref -
Product code Sharp Aquos LC42XD1E LCD TV
Original price paid £1,095.00
Order Placed - , Order delivered -

I have owned the above LCD TV for just over 3 years now and I am experiencing problems with the screen which the Manufacturer’s (Sharp) technical department has quoted around £2,000.00 to rectify by installing a replacement screen.

As you will be aware, the statutory rights detail the legal obligations that you as a retailer are required to meet. They have a category relating to satisfactory product quality, with specific reference to durability of a product. My statutory rights have been breached in this instance as the product is of unacceptable quality with regards durability.

I have consulted the code of practice supplied by RETRA (Radio, electrical and television retailers association) who suggest (quote):

“General total life expectancy…..Higher priced non-portable CTVs 4-8 years”

i.e the retailers association with regard to electrical products suggest that a TV of this size and quality should have an expected lifespan of at least 4 years. I have also spoken to the Manufacturers Sharp who have informed me that a high end LCD TV such as this one should have a lifespan of between 5-8 years.

Clearly a major defect on this product after just 3 years is well below the expected quality level. This is a breach of my statutory rights and I am within my rights to bring a complaint up to six years after the point of sale.

The Sale of Goods Act makes reference to ‘the seller’, ie the retailer I purchased the TV from, in this case yourselves. My statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act take precedent over and above any warranty or guarantee I have with the retailer or the manufacturer and the legally binding contract for the sale of this product is with yourselves and not with the Manufacturer – therefore it is your responsibility to deal with this issue, not the Manufacturers.

As it is not financially viable to repair the product and as you have a legal obligation to uphold my statutory rights in all aspects, I would suggest that a full refund of the original purchase price of the product is in order, ie a full refund of £1,095.00.

I look forward to receiving your reply,

---

And thought nothing of it really. But to their credit, I received a phonecall within a couple of weeks asking for an engineers report confirming the screen was suffering from an 'inherent' fault and that it was unecomical to fix whereupon they hinted they would cough up £400 contribution for a new one. Not quite the original purchase price, but I never expected them stump up that much, so all good.


And I did, I paid £115.00 for a Sharp approved engineer to poke my TV for a week, whereupon they produced a report confirming a replacement screen would be £3,050.00 :eek:, but neglected to mention anything regarding inherent faults with a basic 'wear and tear' reason stated for the screen failing.


With fingers crossed I sent the report and this letter to Dixons:

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Dear Sir/Madam,

Customer complaint ref: -

Original sales ref: -
Product code: Sharp Aquos LC42XD1E LCD TV

Further to my correspondence dated - regarding breach of my statutory rights with regard to product durability of the above television, I have since spoken to your customer support team who advised me that an independent television engineers report was required by yourselves to confirm that it is uneconomical to repair the television before you can contribute to the cost of a replacement.

Please therefore find enclosed the required report from a Sharp approved television repair specialist company, who have assessed the television and confirmed an inherent fault with the screen resulting in screen burn. They have quoted £3,045.96 to repair the television.

This can clearly be taken as confirmation that the television is uneconomical to repair. I have been informed by your customer support representatives that you are willing to contribute in the region of £400.00 to the cost of a new TV. I was also assured that the cost of the engineers report would also be refunded – as you can see from the attached quote this is £115.74.

I look forward to receiving confirmation of the total amount you will be contributing and how this is to be issued.

Yours Faithfully,

---

Of course expecting Dixons to come back saying I hadn't proved the fault was inherent and for me to F off. But they didn't bless them and a nice chap last week confirmed they'll be transferring £500 by BACS into my account to cover the cost of replacing the TV and then to consider the matter settled.

So, £500 for a 3 year old broken TV. Plus I then flogged the old Sharp for £150 which is also quite pleasing. And all together, the £650 just covers the cost of my New Samsung and the engineers report.

There you go, it is possible to squeeze some money from companies - a cheeky letter here and there can't hurt and may get something done.

garth549

Congrats, what a great result!

Just goes to show if you are firm with a company and know your legal rights you always have a chance of getting something back when items fail early.

mamajojo

Will be following you example with Dixons! Thanks for your post - great result!

shaun_from_Africa

To be totally honest, I think you brought the whole problem upon yourself.

The wife left Jeremy Kyle on pause for a few minutes

I think that would be enough to !!!!!! even the best of televisions.

amersall

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

To be totally honest, I think you brought the whole problem upon yourself.



I think that would be enough to !!!!!! even the best of televisions.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::eek: