My rights if laundry product damages garments

Chimpofdoom

narabanekeater wrote: »

Aquados ltd - is this the name of the manufacturer and Aquados or similar the name of the product. Do they look like powder wrapped in a see through plastic, not at all like normal liquidtabs nowadays?
The reason why i ask is that and I am going back years they did it to my clothes as well. I remember the name of the product so well. You could get them in a blue or green box

thats the one

Dolly13

I sent them another email earlier today as a 'polite reminder' as I haven't heard back from them after sending my email last Friday. I have requested a response within 7 days (which I think is fair).

It has to be said, you'll never find someone 100% happy with a product. Or perhaps I'm just sceptical, but the rule of the web is.. if it's too good to be true...

Funnily enough this is what I said to the CEO in my initial email complaint. His response was that they make XX number of these annually and they have very few complaints etc. What I tried to tell him is that anyone knows that many unhappy customers do not complain directly, they simply stop using the product or tell their friends how rubbish it is. Also other customers may go to the retailer they purchased it from and this retailer may not go back to Aquados with these issues. He was not having any of it!

Personally I would be gunning for the report and trying to get them to reimburse my ruined laundry.. but that's me.

I really want to see the report, particularly as it was the CEO who said he'd send it in the first place. This would then clarify all issues and I can then stop this complaint. If they can prove they are not at fault then I'll deal with the compensation they have offered. If they can't then I'll have to keep pursuing them.

Was anything mention about HOW they would test the sheet - i.e. would the lab be able to test it without having to cut pieces out of it ? Is there a sheet left to actually return ?

They never answered this particular question, even though I asked it 3 times on 3 different occassions. I asked if the sheet would be damaged and if it would be returned. No response yet.

I didn't notice that yours was a Bosch and, purely from my own experiences, I'd accept this as a valid reason actually.

Problem is that they don't mention this anywhere on their product or the website (though it may be on there now!) And if this is the cause then Aquados are partly to blame for not putting this warning on the product even though they know about this issue.

Aquados ltd - is this the name of the manufacturer and Aquados or similar the name of the product. Do they look like powder wrapped in a see through plastic, not at all like normal liquidtabs nowadays?
The reason why i ask is that and I am going back years they did it to my clothes as well. I remember the name of the product so well. You could get them in a blue or green box

Yes, that is the product. I knew that this could not have been just a one off problem, and from the way the issue was dealt with it seemed they were churning off some standard set answers. I now have a feeling that they were never going to send off anything for testing as it would cost them money as they are well aware that this is a fault with their product. They just offered to do it to see if I'd follow through (which I did), and then they thought by offering me some money I'd just disappear - well I'm not going to.

If I don't hear back from the company by next Friday I am going to get a solicitor's letter as it is Aquados' job to prove that they are not at fault, and until such time I can legally push this on. If they can show me the report and it clearly shows this is not their problem then fine, but they need to send it to me for this to happen.

zppp

Dolly13 wrote: »

If I don't hear back from the company by next Friday I am going to get a solicitor's letter as it is Aquados' job to prove that they are not at fault, and until such time I can legally push this on.

Under what law would they have to prove that their product did not cause damage to another product?

Dolly13

It forms part of our statuatory rights. Under the sale of goods act if I complain within a certain amount of time the company has to prove they do not have a faulty product (in this case the faulty product damaged a third item). Also under our statuatory rights goods must be fit for purpose. So laundry products should clean not stain.

isplumm

Dolly13 wrote: »

It forms part of our statuatory rights. Under the sale of goods act if I complain within a certain amount of time the company has to prove they do not have a faulty product (in this case the faulty product damaged a third item). Also under our statuatory rights goods must be fit for purpose. So laundry products should clean not stain.

You sure of that .... isn't it the other way round??

Mark

Dolly13

Hi Mark. If the fault is reported as soon as possible and in a 'reasonable' time frame (normally less than 6 months) then the company whose product it is has to prove it's not faulty. If it's over 6 months or what is considered a 'reasonable' time then the consumer needs to prove that it's at fault normally, though there are other considerations such as an item being fit for purpose etc.

WestonDave

Trouble is - in terms of blaming this particular detergent, I know that our Bosch machine will do this despite the fact I've never used that particular detergent! I find it tends to happen when I've made an effort to clean up the machine after its started to smell - so if I run a hot wash, with or without soda crystals, quite often the next wash (or even two) will come out with similar grey blue sludge on it. From what I can tell this is accumulated undisolved detergent/limescale etc which is often loosened up by the hot wash or the water softening effect of the soda crystals. Looking at the FAQ's on the website, it suggests fast disolving etc, which hints at it potentially containing similar water softening chemicals, which in turn might have had the same impact on your machine. (Perhaps you could advise if you live in a hard water area?)

If that is what is happening, then its a tricky position - is the fact that the powder is loosening grot in your machine an inherent fault of the detergent, or not. My guess is that they would argue that when used in a clean machine it has never presented that issue and so the root of the problem is historic within your machine and therefore they are not liable for the damage. I suspect all their factory tests are done in new machines that have only ever had their powder in, so its not going to show as a problem in their tests which are what they will use to prove their product is safe.

I'm not particularly defending them - just offering an alternative explanation which may help you understand how it may have happened.

Dolly13

Hi. I know what you're describing and this is very different. We've had this machine a long time and have never experienced anything like this before no matter what laundry product has been used and at what temperature.

The sludge you mention is much more solid and black and is build up. I wash my machine out every 3-4 weeks and this then stopped. This particular staining is not solid, and looks more like dye. Like if you leave something that isn't colour fast next to something light. So it leaves an imprint.

Still waiting for their report as this would clarify things. I"ve only sent them one sheet, and have all the rest so if needed I could get one of my other sheets tested.

isplumm

Dolly13 wrote: »

Hi Mark. If the fault is reported as soon as possible and in a 'reasonable' time frame (normally less than 6 months) then the company whose product it is has to prove it's not faulty. If it's over 6 months or what is considered a 'reasonable' time then the consumer needs to prove that it's at fault normally, though there are other considerations such as an item being fit for purpose etc.

Hi ...

Ok ... sales of goods act - fine - still believe it is up to you to prove issue is down to washing powder ... they will have loads of reports showing how wonderful it is ...

Mark

Dolly13

Hi ...

Ok ... sales of goods act - fine - still believe it is up to you to prove issue is down to washing powder ... they will have loads of reports showing how wonderful it is ...

Mark

Hi Mark

I understand what you're saying and what you mean. However, that excuse could be used by almost all companies for all of their products, but that doesn't mean that their product is totally fault free. A good case takes into account the acutal complaint at the time and the tests that are being run for that particular problem in which case all their wonderful reports don't apply.

My guess is that they would argue that when used in a clean machine it has never presented that issue and so the root of the problem is historic within your machine and therefore they are not liable for the damage. I suspect all their factory tests are done in new machines that have only ever had their powder in, so its not going to show as a problem in their tests which are what they will use to prove their product is safe.

Think you're absolutely right that this is probably the case. However, as they do not mention anywhere on their packaging that their product may not work as well with a Bosch washing machine this doesn't apply as the consumer has not been pre-warned about an issue they know already existed. If I undertake independent tests they will do the tests in both their lab and also with my machine. Also, taking into account that my machine has been used faultlessly for so many years with so many other brands of laundry liquid/powder, and that these particular sheets have been washed so many times in the same machine, at the same temperature, same settings etc and the only difference was the laundry powder will also hold strength.

However, all of this is speculative at the moment as they still need to send me their report done from the tests on my sheet. They seem to be dragging their heels about this which only proves to make me more suspicious.