Amazon 'goodwill gesture' for broken camera

magyar

I have a Panasonic Lumix digital camera bought from Amazon in April 2009 and so it's about 18 months old (worth about £180). It has developed a fault whereby the lens motor will not focus (which basically means it doesn't work).

This appears to be a relatively common fault amongst this sort of camera.

I asked Amazon for a repair or refund and they have declined, saying

"Under the Sale of Goods Act, a consumer is granted recourse against a seller of goods if those goods were defective at the time of purchase...

...Your item was dispatched to you on April 10, 2009 and, until recently, you have used it successfully and reported no fault with the product. As you used the product satisfactorily for a substantial period of time, it is not established that the product did not conform to the contract (i.e. was defective) at the time of purchase."

However they have offered a £35 Amazon voucher or £35 off the cost of repairs as a goodwill gesture.

Is their view correct? To be quite honest, being reasonable, I don't think £35 is too bad an offer (since an equivalent camera is now about £120) but I was under the impression that goods had to last for a reasonable time - and I would have thought a digital camera should last at least a few years.

Unless anyone vastly disagreed, I was minded to accept the £35, but I was interested what people think.

vikingaero

Yes cameras should last longer, but in reality cameras are much higher tech than yesteryear and more likely to go wrong. Look at kettles. I remember buying kettles 20 years ago for £40 but they lasted a long time. Today you can buy a kettle for £5 but in reality will barely last 12 months.

I think that £35 is a fair offer.

shaun_from_Africa

If it's a fairly common fault have you considered contacting Panasonic to see if they are willing to do anything?

Even if they won't do it free of charge, it may be worth seeing if they will give a quote for a repair.

magyar

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

If it's a fairly common fault have you considered contacting Panasonic to see if they are willing to do anything?

Even if they won't do it free of charge, it may be worth seeing if they will give a quote for a repair.

Yes I will do that. I am sure a motor is fairly easy to fix - in fact often I find companies often offer a 'new for old' replacement rather than bother fixing it. Apple have done that for me in the past when an iPod died.

Esqui

Amazon are correct in saying "it is not established that the product did not conform to the contract (i.e. was defective) at the time of purchase." as the burden of proof to establish this lies with yourself (i.e. through getting an independent report confirming the fault).

However, it's almost certain that taking the £35 will be a lot less hassle for yourself - and you'll be able to put the extra money to getting a brand new camera, rather than spending almost the same to get your old one repaired.

neilmcl

Amazon have got it half right, what they didn't tell you is that an inherent fault doesn't have be immediately obvious. A premature failure of the focusing motor could still be due to an inherent fault of manufacture. It's quite reasonable to expect a £200 camera (and its internal components) to last longer than 18mths. What you have to do is get the fault properly diagnosed and have an engineers report to show that its an inherent fault rather than down to wear and tear or misuse, with this you can go back to Amazon for a more realistic remedy.