Sales of goods act - help please!

moneysaver_77

Hi everyone,

I will try and summerise my current situation and was wondering if anyone could help with some constructive feedback/opinions. I brought an american style fridge/freezer from a large German company back in Sept 2008 which came with a 2 year warranty. The appliance began to go wrong in May of this year, approx 2.5 years from purchase. It no longer cools. I called the company and had a engineer visit from them. The stated that it need a new fan and blade which was not in stock and need to be ordered from Germany. It would take week from him to come back and repair it. I called the customer services and mention that £1000 appliance should not be going wrong so soon, that Im refusing to pay for the repair and would like to claim the cost of the goods lost.

To cut a long story short, we swapped letters for a while with them refusing a free repair or consequetial losses. I spoke with consumer Direct who said that I have no option but to take them to court. I filled a claim and have now just recived an couter claim from them for the call out (£89 + £25) - which never fixed the problem They also state that I have no right under the 1979 act as I have had reasonable amount to time to inspect the goods.

Anyone think this is worth pursuing or should I just pay up and accept it?

Thanks in advance

molerat

What has your independant engineer's report stated on whether the fault was inherent or not ? That is the basis of your argument against them.

visidigi

yep, I really hope you've got that independent report...as otherwise without it you wont likely win in court on these circumstances laid out above.

MisterBrico

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you purchased it from a German company do you have any redress in an English court in regards to SOGA or... anything?

Apologies for my ignorance

moneysaver_77

I have not got one thus far. Some of the main reasons are: their own engineer has produced a report reporting the fault. At no point is misuse etc reprted on there. An independant report is likely to say the same thing, that the applaince has not been misused etc thus im migating my losses to the defendant as one of their claims has asked me to prove this.Also it is highly unlikey to identify when the fault occured. Finally, on the counter claim, a form from the courts states that 'you should not obtain an expert's report until you recieve the court's direction.

somethingcorporate

Unless the fault was inherent you have no case, if you have nothing to support your claim that the fault is inherent you have no case.

You should have had this before putting in a claim.

moneysaver_77

What about other factors, such as durabilty, of satisfactory quality, must last a reasonable amout of time etc? We are talikng about a £1000 appliance here!

beetlebug1

i think i have read on another site (cag) that a high end appliance should last average of 6 years not 2 1/2

somethingcorporate

Indeed, but after 6 months under SOGA the responsibility is down to the purchaser to prove that the fault is down to an inherent fault.

Have a read of the FAQ at the top of the page.

shaun_from_Africa

What about other factors, such as durabilty, of satisfactory quality, must last a reasonable amout of time etc?

I don't think that anyone on here will disagree that a £1000 appliance should last more than 2 1/2 years, but peoples opinions are worthless when it comes to court action.

The SOGA states that for items that become faulty more than 6 months from purchase, the onus is on the consumer to prove that the fault was present at the time of sale (an inherent fault).

About the only way to do this is to get a written report from an independent engineer and the report must specifically state that the fault was inherrent.

moneysaver_77

Thanks for your replies everyone. I appreciate the law states that I must prove that the fault was an inherrent one after 6 months of use. I have been doing a lot of research on the net, which has been driving me crazy lol! Maybe I have misunderstood the law, that apart from proving the fault was inherrent, the other factors such as durability, of statifactory quality etc should also contibute to my case, especially relavtative to price? I maybe totally wide off the mark and the only thing this law requires me to prove is that the fault was inherrent? What about the 6 years to make a claim (I apprecaite this in the the warranty length of time)? How do you prove that the fault, fan and blade need replacing just didnt fail over time?