Sales of goods act - help please!

arcon5

moneysaver_77 wrote: »

I think im just going to have to agrue along the lines that I have no access to this part, I can see it, service it etc and that if this company expects their applaince to last this long at that price I would not have made the purchase. Im just so fed up with them. Im going try and fight this all the way. I may lose, but I'd be satisfied in the fact that I made them work for their victory! Even if I end up with 1k's worth of useless junk lol

That's not a valid argument. An independant specialist would be able to access it.

If your fridge lasted a year because you damaged it, you can't claim it didn't last a reasonable time; if there is an inherent fault and didn't last reasonable time you would have a case.
--- this is what your trying to prove.. that the fault was inherent.


I'm very surprised consumer direct advised you to file a court case without any evidence. Its cost you what, £60? + the hearing fee about £55. So you could be even more out of pocket -- do as advised, get your eevidence and add the cost to the claim

bb999

Did you pay with a credit card? If so, a claim to the card company may well be in order.

Re the independent report - this may not be required, because you do have a report which states the fault! What always seems to be overlooked when talking about the SOGA is that it now mentions durability, and the fact that an item fails prematurely is enough to prove that the fault was inherrent - ie from day 1 the item was not capable of lasting a reasonable length of time. This of course does not apply to wear and teat items, but a fridge has very few of these: door seals, hinges, lightbulbs, etc. spring to mind, but certainly not a fan.

One other thing, are yuou definitely dealing with the supplier, rather than the manufacturer or their agent?

unholyangel

bb999 wrote: »

Did you pay with a credit card? If so, a claim to the card company may well be in order.

Re the independent report - this may not be required, because you do have a report which states the fault! What always seems to be overlooked when talking about the SOGA is that it now mentions durability, and the fact that an item fails prematurely is enough to prove that the fault was inherrent - ie from day 1 the item was not capable of lasting a reasonable length of time. This of course does not apply to wear and teat items, but a fridge has very few of these: door seals, hinges, lightbulbs, etc. spring to mind, but certainly not a fan.

One other thing, are yuou definitely dealing with the supplier, rather than the manufacturer or their agent?

Would that not depend on whether the fridge/freezer needed a certain amount of room at the back/sides/whatever? I know my own fridge needs to be kept at least 2" away from the wall at the back of it.

And then of course, there are certain things a consumer can do to shorten a lifespan. Say for example, door hinges......putting heavy products in the door is likely to cause more strain on the hinges as it opens.

Neither would i trust a report from the manufacturers......however seeing as they are counter claiming for the cost of the engineer, certainly wouldnt hurt to ask them for a copy. If it stipulates the fault was inherent, the OP has no need to pay for a 2nd report. And their counter claim should (if the report says fault is inherent) be dismissed as they would be liable for costs anyway.

jayne55098

Hi all
Perhaps you can help me? I am in a similar situation with a Zanussi electric oven. It is 3 years old (foolish me, did not take out extended warranty) . The element has blown. Got Zanussi service engineer out. Cannot replace element as all screws & holes have corroded & panels cannot be removed.
Have report that states "appliance does not appear misused" & "the corrosion would seem outside of customer's influence".
Should I now have to get an independant engineers report before I contact the retailer? Zanussi have offered a like for like replacement with me contributing approximately 2/3rds of the cost of a new appliance.

unholyangel

jayne55098 wrote: »

Hi all
Perhaps you can help me? I am in a similar situation with a Zanussi electric oven. It is 3 years old (foolish me, did not take out extended warranty) . The element has blown. Got Zanussi service engineer out. Cannot replace element as all screws & holes have corroded & panels cannot be removed.
Have report that states "appliance does not appear misused" & "the corrosion would seem outside of customer's influence".
Should I now have to get an independant engineers report before I contact the retailer? Zanussi have offered a like for like replacement with me contributing approximately 2/3rds of the cost of a new appliance.

Someone had a rough guide on depreciation values (not sure if it was retailer specific though). It was something like it drops value by 40% in the first year. So much in 2nd, so much in 3rd etc. So if the same logic were applied, 2/3 wouldnt seem that unreasonable.

Technically under SoGA they can offer repair, replacement or refund. However the refund can be partial and can take into account the use you have had of the item. Are they treating the replacement in the fashion of a new contract or extension? New contract should come with new warranty etc (you could even perhaps try pushing for a extended warranty free as part of the agreement).

Just to be clear, is it the manufacturer or the retailer who has offered the replacement? Any problems should be dealt with via the retailer as technically it is them you have a contract with and not the manufacturer.

System

jayne55098 wrote: »

"the corrosion would seem outside of customer's influence".

How can that be?
It will be caused by a mixture of location, usage and the conditions it sits in which are all controllable by the user.

unholyangel

!!!!!! wrote: »

How can that be?
It will be caused by a mixture of location, usage and the conditions it sits in which are all controllable by the user.

Orrrrr unsuitable parts were used? Or perhaps werent given any protection against the conditions they would be used in?

By no means am I an oven expert (especially not electric ones), so its just a guess I'm guessing the engineer either knows it is a common fault or doesnt think the consumer has contributed to it in any way.

bod1467

I recently gave an analogy of depreciation, along the lines of:

Year 1 - 40%
Year 2 - 20%
Year 3 - 15%
Year 4 - 10%
Year 5 - 7%
Year 6 - 5%

So after 6 years you'll have had the expected life of the item. (Obviously this will vary depending on the item, but things like TVs, fridges etc. this is reasonable). So offering 1/3 of the original price is reasonable.

somethingcorporate

bod1467 wrote: »

I recently gave an analogy of depreciation, along the lines of:

Year 1 - 40%
Year 2 - 20%
Year 3 - 15%
Year 4 - 10%
Year 5 - 7%
Year 6 - 5%

So after 6 years you'll have had the expected life of the item. (Obviously this will vary depending on the item, but things like TVs, fridges etc. this is reasonable). So offering 1/3 of the original price is reasonable.

What are you basing your profile on? Pretty sure it would be product specific (depending on quality, price paid, nature of item etc).

It may be handy as a very rough rule of thumb but no more than that.

bod1467

somethingcorporate wrote: »

What are you basing your profile on? Pretty sure it would be product specific

And I address both those questions in the ( ) part of my post.