Faulty TV question after only 5 months

sarahh112

Hi I was wondering if someone could give me a little advice re: sale of goods act 1979.

I purchased an own-brand 22" television/dvd combo (with built in freeview) from a well known supermarket at the end of January this year.

We have been quite happily using the TV with an internal TV aerial and signal booster. The aerial is the same brand as the television.

About 3 weeks ago we lost all the TV channels and couldn't pick anything up at all. We tried a different brand of aerial to no avail, and tried the original aerial with another portable TV (which worked fine). This proved that it was definitely an issue with the TV.

I took the TV back to the supermarket - assuming that they would just do a straight swap as the TV is less than 6 months old. I was advised to ring their helpline who would then authorise an exchange.

I phoned the 0845 'helpline' to be told that they would not swap the TV and would have to send the TV for repair. I very begrudgingly agreed, pointing out what the store had told me, and basically was told tough.

I stressed that we use the TV with an internal aerial, gave them the product number of the aerial and they said they would test it with an internal aerial.

A few days later the TV is returned and the problem is still there. I phoned their 'helpline' to be advised that they had replaced a board in the TV out of courtesy - but that the television worked fine when plugged into their external aerial. I pointed out that the TV worked fine before so there must be something wrong with it now, for it to no longer work as it previously had. I also queried why they hadn't tested it as I had requested to be told that the original member of staff should never have agreed to my request.

Helpline assistant and his supervisor said that the only thing that they could suggest was that I plugged the TV into an external aerial (which we do not have). They were very unhelpful and rude.

I had checked that we haven't had any analogue signal transmitter changes in our area recently.

My query is whether the TV is now fit for purpose as I purchased the TV and the aerial to watch freeview television channels. As the TV no longer does this surely I should be entitled to a refund or a replacement?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - at the moment we have a TV that we can only use to play DVD's so its not very useful.

DCFC79

I think but dont quote me on this but the retailer has to prove whether its faulty

here you go i think this is relevent to you

If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty)

link

wealdroam

OP, have you tried re-scaning the tuner?

sarahh112

DCFC79 wrote: »

I think but dont quote me on this but the retailer has to prove whether its faulty

here you go i think this is relevent to you

If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty)

link

Thanks for the link I will have a read through it now.

The problem I am having is that the retailer is saying that there is no fault with the TV as it still works with an external aerial. They completely disregard that I specifically bought the TV to work with an internal aerial. As far as I am concerned it's not fit for purpose.

sarahh112

wealdroam wrote: »

OP, have you tried re-scaning the tuner?

Yes - that was the first thing we tried. Wouldn't pick up any channels at all with either of the internal aerials we tried.

shaun_from_Africa

Does the manual (or the online one if available) state that the TV is suitable for use with an internal aerial?
Maybe if it is a low price budget model, the tuner/amplifier isn't very powerful and an external aerial is recommended.

Unintentional

Have you tried a different aerial? I would just to eliminate the possibility it's the aerial, then you can go back and say it's the television that's the problem.

Oldbiggles

I had a similar problem and contacted the manufacturer.
I was told to leave the set on standby on Thursday nights, as this is when updates are transmitted in my area. It worked.
Your area could be different, so try leaving your set on standby every night for a week to see if you get an update.

jonnyd281

OP have you tried the TV on your own external aerial, plug it in to the aerial and retune the set or carryout an installation setup, if it works the TV is not faulty and it is possibly a poor/weak signal on the internal Ae.

anmarj

has this happened during the swtich over? we have two transmitters were I am one at the front and one at the back, before the switch over we could only get a signal from the back because of a bounce back and hence we only got a certain number of channels, which was confirmed by a aerial set up team, we couldn't get a signal from the front one. even with the swtich over we can't get a signal from the one in front only from the back one, and as our lounge faces the front one, until the factors sort the external aerial, we can't get freeview.