EU 2 year guarantee

voynich

Hi,

I did see a few posts on here relating to the EU 2 year guarantee to cover electrical goods bought in the EU. I know that we have a 1 year guarantee in this country then after that it is 6 years in total but the onus is then on the consumer to prove that the goods were not up standard when bought.

I then saw another posting to say that the EU directive which I believe was going to be brought in during 2009 was never implemented in the UK. Does anyone know if this is true and what the position is now for UK consumers.

I have a cooker which was bought in April 2009 but has developed a faulty thermostat, although it is over the one year guarantee the manufacturers gave another 4 years but covering parts only not labour. Do I go back to the shop or the manufacturers and who pays to have the cooker fixed.

It would help if I knew if the EU directive for 2 years guarantee covered this, but I could find nothing on the trading standards website.

One further point if the EU direcive is in fact law does it operate from when they first introduced it, ie when was that, and what happens to goods that may have been bought prior to that date do they only have the original one year guarantee.

If anyone knows the answer it would be much appreciated.

Optimist

You need to look up the Sale Of Goods Act. There is no EU directive giving you 2 years warranty.

voynich

The sale of goods act was prior to the EU directive. Also it was mentioned on this site and others as well as the daily mail and unfortunately I am not allowed to post a link regarding it.

I was hoping someone might have more up todate information.

This was from Cab last year when they were asked their views on consultation -

>>Q54: What are your views on the likely effects of the two year fixed period of liability for traders?

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]

We agree that in many cases the change to a two year limit will have a limited effect. We do not think that the statutory limit in place in the UK is well known by consumers or used in relation to everyday purchases.
We do see, however, that for some purchases the reduction in time limit to two years will be important. In particular, as sited by the Law Commission, major renovation or repairs to a consumer’s home may take far longer to come to light. In the following example the fault occurred three years from purchase but well within the life expectancy of the cooker and the rest of the kitchen which had been bought as one package: <<

>>Article 28.5 carries forward the reversed burden of proof for the first six months. This proposed Directive provides the opportunity for this to be lengthened to the

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[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]at least the two years at Article 28.1. This would be far easier for consumers and for traders and advisers to understand and to use. <<
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wealdroam

Everything that the EU Directive requires is already incorporated into the sale of goods act.

As mentioned above...

Optimist wrote: »

There is no EU directive giving you 2 years warranty.

Optimist

My fault in my haste and getting fed up of requests for information on the EU directive I put it incorrectly. There is a EU directive, 1999/44/EC to be precise. However the Sale Of Goods Act gives greater protection and is the legislion that is currently in force in this country. This gives the consumer 6 years (5 in Scotland) protection.

McCuddly

Awaits Esqui to put this to rest

voynich

Optimist wrote: »

My fault in my haste and getting fed up of requests for information on the EU directive I put it incorrectly. There is a EU directive, 1999/44/EC to be precise. However the Sale Of Goods Act gives greater protection and is the legislion that is currently in force in this country. This gives the consumer 6 years (5 in Scotland) protection.

Thanks however I take that to mean that after the one year guarantee if you have a problem then it is up to you the consumer to prove that the problem was not of your making and you cannot get an automatic replacement or free repair.

somethingcorporate

voynich wrote: »

Thanks however I take that to mean that after the one year guarantee if you have a problem then it is up to you the consumer to prove that the problem was not of your making and you cannot get an automatic replacement or free repair.

It's actually at 6 months (but this is the same under the EU directive).

neilmcl

For the love of........

OP, try doing a search on EU directive/warranty etc and all will be revealed including the trap that some of you DM readers seem hellbent in falling into.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2946078

voynich

I had a look through the links supplied on this web site and it appears that Martin Lewis is saying that the EU directive does not give us any additional rights in the UK as we have 6 years.

However what is confusing is that the EU directive appears to imply that you have 2 years where you the consumer does not have to have proof that you know what caused the fault, where as Martin seems to be saying that it is only 6 months.

Really unless you are lucky when you complain it looks as if the consumer really just has 6 months or goes to court within 6 years as sometimes it is hard and expensive to try and show what caused the fault when electrical goods break down.

So it is shafted as usual.

williham

Before 6 months the retailer needs to prove it was not inherently faulty, after 6 months you do.

Get an independent report saying you haven't broken it then get the retailer to pay for the report and the repair.

Ignore the 2 year eu rubbish, sale of goods act complies with the act and gives you more.