Hotpoint any advice?

Loop

Ok so I have had 5 faults on my washer dryer than was £500 new!

Its now just under 2 years old, retailer wont refund (its was great universal catalogue as partner used to work for them) and hotpoint are refusing to replace or refund.

They are sending an engineer out Mnday, but it was only fixed wednesday !!!!!!!

I know I am within my right...

Edited to ay..Just had a call, the woman will offer us the next model up for £89...Im tempted but I cant help but think they do this on purpose to cover their costs.

What do you think? What should I do?

furrypolka

You can't legally force Hotpoint to do anything if it's outside the manufacturer's warranty.

Your contract is with Great Universal and they are the ones with responsibility under the Sale of Goods Act.

In the first instance they are entitled to either repair or replace the item with one of equal value. You have to give them this opportunity, but I assume you have as you have had repairs done.

If the repair fails and the same fault is still present, you can then (now) push for rescission of the contract. This is basically a refund less an amount for wear and tear that you have had from the item. Therefore you would have to take into account the fact you have had 2 years of use from it, and would have to negotiate a partial refund based on that.

This is all with Great Universal, not Hotpoint.

Loop

But Trading standards said Hotpoint are jointly liable as GU wont refund they are liable too? Is that incorrect?

Its 16 months old, I just checked my guarantee.

Also if I still cant get a refund/replacement who do I sue?

I have hardly had any use of it since November, as thei is the 4th repair in 3 months.

Thanks x

furrypolka

Hotpoint are not legally liable after their warranty has run out, as you don't have a contract with them. I'm quite astonished that you would be told differently!

It would be Great Universal that you would need to ultimately sue, if they don't offer you a reasonable solution as per my previous post.

If you had paid by credit card, your card company would be jointly liable but I am assuming this is not the case as it was a catalogue sale.

Loop

Yes it was a staff account sale, so they bill us on staff account and my partner either sends a cheque or pays it over the phone.

Im surprised I was told this too. The lady said that 12 months is not a cut off, that they use this to fob you off and quote 12 months but she said infact anything can be any age, if it is unfit for purpose even at 2 years old they are still liable...

God knows, Im confused myself now!

Great universal are refusing to do anything FULL STOP

furrypolka

No, a manufacturers guarantee is for a set period of time, and they don't even have to give a guarantee. It's in addition to your statutory rights, which are against the trader who sold it to you, not the manufacturer.

Very strange - was it Consumer Direct or Trading Standards who told you otherwise? I'm very surprised that an experienced adviser would say that.

I would write a very stern letter to Great Universal explaining that your contract is with them and therefore they are liable under the Sale of Goods Act as the item is not of satisfactory quality or fit for its purpose and therefore does not comply with the above Act. You have given them an opportunity to repair (I assume the previous repairs have been done via them?) and this has failed to resolve the problem, therefore you are now looking for either a like-for-like replacement or you will rescind the contract and claim a partial refund.

Give them a date to respond by.

Loop

consumer direct...

Yes they have repaired 4 times so far 2 new pumps and 2 new thermostats.

This time its the pump again apparently from the Fault code.

Well looks like i will be suing GU instead, I dont mind having to but would prefer not.

Will write the letter today, but after discussing at lenght they will not refund/replace I know for sure, esp as they have never sorted the repairs, and I have had to contact Hotpoint directly...

Cheers for your help, not happy I was told wrong, cos I look like I dont know what I am doing now...xx

dmg24

You have not been told incorrectly.

Privity of contract is not always required. Therefore the manufacturer is equally liable. This principle was established in Donoghue v. Stevenson.

Furthermore, all Hotpoint warranties are for five years, so you are still well within the timeframe.

furrypolka

dmg24 wrote:

You have not been told incorrectly.

Privity of contract is not always required. Therefore the manufacturer is equally liable. This principle was established in Donoghue v. Stevenson.

Furthermore, all Hotpoint warranties are for five years, so you are still well within the timeframe.

I'm afraid I cannot agree with this - it is possible if there has been negligence on the part of the manufacturer and you can prove they have breached their duty of care that you could sue them in tort (common law), but they are in no way liable under the Sale of Goods Act. This is what happened in the above case which was settled as negligence on behalf of the manufacturer (who I assume was found not to have acted with due diligence in their procedures to prevent snails getting into their drinks bottles).

Most cases successful in the tort of negligence in this way are for personal injury, so if you were injured by faulty goods and the manufacturer can be proved to have not taken reasonable care to avoid this injury, you may sue them in tort for damages. It wouldn't apply to a straightforward faulty goods case, which simply need repair or replacement.

However if the warranty was indeed for five years then you would have a claim, but only so far as the terms and conditions allow.

In my considerable experience Consumer Direct get it right 99% of the time, so don't be put off, unfortunately it does seem that you were unlucky this time.

lemmings999

hotpoint 5 year warrenties are only on parts, not call out and labour charges and only if activated
any claim with regard to soga wou;d be against the retailer

Loop

HOLD on now im confused, Consumer direct said I can claim with Hotpoint OR GU (retailer) I called them again and a different person said the same thing.

My warranty is 5 years on parts, it is activated. You only pay a call out charge, not labour which is £89, and so far I have not paid once, because the same fault reoccurred within 12 months...2 thremostats and within 14 days of them visiting a pump replacement, and then another 2 after this.