Faulty LCD TV

jonny2706

Hi

My wife and I are after some advice about a LCD TV that we bought in November 2008. In the last few days the TV has developed a fault where sections of the picture are repeated down the screen, making the TV quite unusable. The fault is intermittent but I have a couple of photographs of the faulty picture.

The TV is a 42" Sony LCD which cost well over £1,000 new from a well known UK retailer so it was NOT cheap and I think any reasonable person would expect a TV costing this amount to last much longer than 2 and a half years. Its also not been used for more than a couple of hours a day.

Whilst the TV is outside of the manufacturer's warranty period, it seems to me that the consumer goods regulations state that we still have redress against the store from which we purchased the TV (see Martin's SADFART consumer rights page) as we don't feel this is a resonable lifespan for such an expensive electrical item. The TV has never been moved, knocked or pushed over (and the store is welcome to examine it for any marks etc).

Can we demand a free repair or partial refund ?

Thanks.

MisterBrico

If you can get an engineers report to say the TV is suffering from an inherent fault then you can expect a repair, replacement or partial refund

Have you tried contacting Sony or the retailer? It may be a known issue and will catalyze the solution.

Oh and just remember, all your rights are with the retailer not Sony the manufacturer

dreamypuma

You can demand whatever you like, this doesn't mean you'll get what you want.

You need to firstly follow the advise given in the article you read. Read the Sticky's above for further advise. You are required to demonstrate that a inherent fault existed at time of purchase. The burden of proof is on you at this stage.

jonny2706

MisterBrico wrote: »

If you can get an engineers report to say the TV is suffering from an inherent fault then you can expect a repair, replacement or partial refund

Have you tried contacting Sony or the retailer? It may be a known issue and will catalyze the solution.

Oh and just remember, all your rights are with the retailer not Sony the manufacturer

Well I have pictures of the fault picture so that isn't in question, and it should be possible to demonstrate this in store. I'm thinking that I may have to have an engineers report to say the TV hasn't been damaged in any way?

The retailer is a well known UK store and I fully expect to be fobbed off by them

I haven't spoken to Sony as I do realise any issue is with the retailer. I also paid for the TV by credit card so do I have redress with the CC company if the retailer won't accept responsibility?

Thanks

jonny2706

dreamypuma wrote: »

You can demand whatever you like, this doesn't mean you'll get what you want.

You need to firstly follow the advise given in the article you read. Read the Sticky's above for further advise. You are required to demonstrate that a inherent fault existed at time of purchase. The burden of proof is on you at this stage.

Indeed!

How do I prove there was a fault at time of purchase? By an engineer stating that the TV hasn't been damaged or modified in any way since we bought it and so the fault must have been there all along but taken time to show itself ?

dreamypuma

If you follow the process, and make clear to the retailer that you are seeking redress under SOGA (in writing) you will probably find that the retailer will play ball.

The choice of remedy will be determined by the retailer.

dreamypuma

jonny2706 wrote: »

Indeed!

How do I prove there was a fault at time of purchase? By an engineer stating that the TV hasn't been damaged or modified in any way since we bought it and so the fault must have been there all along but taken time to show itself ?

The engineers report will likely identify a component that has failed and refer to the quality or standard of the component. This will hopefully eliminate your usage as a factor for failure.

jonny2706

dreamypuma wrote: »

The engineers report will likely identify a component that has failed and refer to the quality or standard of the component. This will hopefully eliminate your usage as a factor for failure.

I get you. I shall get an engineer to look at it.

Thanks for your help.

CoolHotCold

Out of curiosity, which retailer?

Some are better at handling SoGA queries than others.