Faulty product return advice - difficult retailer!

na.ec

I am just after any suggestions that might help me to resolve this problem more easily.

I purchased some £65 hair straighteners and after approximately 14 months they blew up....actually blew up! Spark, bang and gave me an electric shock!

I retuned the item to the shop but was told that they cant do anything after 12 months. They referred me to the manufacturer and no amount of citing statutory rights and reasonable amount of time seemed to do any good. The manager gave me the contact number for the manufacturer. When I tried to call this number it did not exist.
My other half then went to the same shop to have another go with a little more confidence but was told the same "its outside the 12 month warranty and therefore we cannot replace them" He was also told he could take it up with head office. Interestingly, as part of the conversation, the manager admitted that 14 months was a "reasonable amount of time" to expect them to last and that they should not have broken!

We then wrote a letter to the head office outlining the problem, the poor customer service that had been received and inviting the opportunity for an official response prior to making any demands.

The response seems to suggest that they are not willing to budge but I am fairly certain that I have understood consumer rights correctly and that they should be more helpful than this.

Rather than wasting time writing the same thing over and over again in letters, I thought I would see if anyone can suggest some important key phrases etc that might prove to be productive?

thanks

ah, it seems I am not allowed to post with links!
will this do instead? :
scotlandguidebooks.co.uk/sallys_response.jpg

anmarj

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3073916

if you have read the sticky at the top you will find that after 6months the onus is on you to prove that the fault is inherit. so they have done right in telling you to contact the manufacturer in which as a goodwill gesture may help you rather than a right, the only option is to provide an official report that states the product was inheritly faulting, and if you win then they should pay you your money back for the report.

wealdroam

anmarj wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3073916

if you have read the sticky at the top you will find that after 6months the onus is on you to prove that the fault is inherit. so they have done right in telling you to contact the manufacturer in which as a goodwill gesture may help you rather than a right, the only option is to provide an official report that states the product was inheritly faulting, and if you win then they should pay you your money back for the report.

Oh dear. This is wrong.

Yes... have a look at that thread OP, and you will find that your agreement is with the retailer.
It is the retailer that is responsible for any remedy that you might be entitled to.
Typically, the manufacturer's only responsibility is to honour the terms of any guarantee he may have issued.

Sale of Goods Act does say that the goods should last a reasonable time, and it does say that if a fault appears in the first six months from purchase then it can be assumed that the fault was present at the time of sale. After that six months the onus is on the purchaser to prove that the fault was inherent, and this can be done by getting an independent expert to write a report stating so.

George_Michael

Oh dear. This is wrong

Why?
Let's take it a bit at a time.

if you have read the sticky at the top you will find that after 6months the onus is on you to prove that the fault is inherit.
This is correct.

so they have done right in telling you to contact the manufacturer in which as a goodwill gesture may help you rather than a right,
This is correct. The manufacturer may offer to help but they are not obliged to do so.
They could have also mentioned the need for proving an inherrent fault, but they were not obligated to do so.

the only option is to provide an official report that states the product was inheritly faulting,
This is correct.

and if you win then they should pay you your money back for the report.
This is also correct.

bod1467

If you are pursuing remedy under SOGA then you pursue against the RETAILER.

If you are pursuing remedy against a manufacturer's warranty then you pursue against the MANUFACTURER.

Getting a report to prove an inherent fault relates to SOGA, not warranty. Wealdroam was right.

shaun_from_Africa

Getting a report to prove an inherent fault relates to SOGA, not warranty. Wealdroam was right.

I think it's all down to how you interpret the post by anmarj

the only option is to provide an official report that states the product was inheritly faulting, and if you win then they should pay you your money back for the report.

If the "they" mentioned is the retailer then it is correct, however if "they" refers to the manufacturer then it's wrong.
The post itself does have a few grammatical errors which makes it a bit confusing and to be honest it could be read either way which could explain the differnces of opinion above.

na.ec

Thanks for all the input so far guys.
The basis of the complaint is not that it was faulty when purchased (although may have been) but rather that a reasonable amount of time for this item is at least 14 months....as was even admitted by the manager of the store! Therefore it should be covered and should be replaced.....