Who is in the right? Help Needed Please!

andy240986

In February this year my brother bought a xbox 360 4gb from Argos, he took out a 3 year breakdown care guarantee insurance from Argos as well. The policy highlights the notion that if your product cannot be fixed then you will receive a brand new product. About a week ago his controller began to malfunction and now does not work therefore he is unable to use the product. He visited the store from where he bought it from and explained that the controller wouldn't work, he had a receipt of the purchase and the insurance. After showing the problem to one of the staff members at the customer services he was told that he would need to contact xbox in order to get the controller fixed or replaced. The xbox telephone number charges 7p per minute with an expectation of paying for postage and package to send the controller to the people who need to examine the fault and either fix it or replace it.

From a biased family member point of view he had purchased insurance in order to cover this very event and it seems that Argos have either mis-sold the insurance to him or they are not accepting the work that is needed. Inside the console manual he found a statement this week which says the following "do not take your xbox 360 and/or accessories to your retailer or service".

who is in the right?

What should/can he do?

I am grateful for any help

Elle7

Has he actually spoken to Xbox?

They are usually very good, and have sent a courier to pick up my Xbox twice. That said, I've never had a broken controller, so if they are charging you to send it back it may be under their repair scheme because they think your brother has broken it, rather then it being faulty.

As it's outside of 6 months, your brother would need to prove the controller was faulty, and as it doesn't seem to be a common complaint, it doesn't seem likely that anywhere will declare it an inherent fault. It might be worth just spending the £30 on a new controller.

wealdroam

Elle7 wrote: »

As it's outside of 6 months, your brother would need to prove the controller was faulty...

Probably better to say "may need to prove the controller was faulty".

There seems little point in proving that unless asked to do so.

Also OP, have you looked for an equivalent, cheaper phone number on saynoto0870?

mo786uk

well the purpose of the insurance is that he has extra rights over the SOGA so it is possible he doesnt need to prove the 'fault' but it depends what the insurance says - i doubt they just cover things like wearing out the controller

if the insurance is directly from argos and not xbox insurance then he shoudl be pushing argos.

unholyangel

Also worthwhile checking whether the insurance covered the xbox itself or accessories (which is what a controller is classed as) also. If it covers the product as sold and is listed with controllers than i would fully expect the insurance to cover it.

But ultimately, you need to check the insurance terms and conditions to see exactly what you are covered for and what you arent (ie are you only covered for faults or are you covered for accidental damage etc too?)

purple.sarah

His contract for the goods and insurance is with Argos not the manufacturer so he should pursue it with them.

scheming_gypsy

Depends what the problem is with the controller, because you said "After showing the problem to one of the staff members...............", so it was only after the fault was shown to them that they decided he had to deal with Microsoft. Is it a fault with the controller that would be covered under a normal warranty or has he used it that much it's become damaged? if something has come look through use then they could be classing it as wear and tear rather than a standard fault.

MamaMoo_2

It might be worth looking through the T&C's of the policy.
I know when I used to work for Gamestation, we sold 3 year warranties, but after the first year, the customer had to go to the providers of the warranty (Allianz) in order to get their goods repaired etc.
Also, peripherals were not covered, only the console itself.
You may also want to check your policy, as sometimes, the warranty is single use, and once you've made a claim, you then need to purchase a new warranty to keep you covered, in which case it's probably cheaper to just go somewhere like Cash Generator and buy a cheap 2nd hand controller.
Hope you get it sorted soon!

andy240986

thank you for all your replies i will take everything that you have said and see if we can sort it out.

thanks again

djb215

The Breakdown Care is inclusive of the manufacturer's 12 month guarantee, so on the warranty side it is an additional 2 years (3 years total), whereby if it develops a fault within the first 12 months it would normally be repaired under the manufacturer's guarantee, then afterwards it would be handled by the Breakdown Care policy (Domestic & General).

The breakdown care also covers accidental damage from day 1, so if the remote/console was dropped, water spilled on etc, then that would be covered under the Breakdown Care, and you contact D&G with the leaflet you were probably given when you bought the 3 year care and policy number on the receipt.

In terms of contract with the retailer, whilst I agree that if a fault develops it is the responsibility of the retailer, a number of manufacturers including Microsoft (XBOX), Sony (PlayStation), Vax and Dyson prefer that the customer contacts them directly to sort out the problem, and it would be less inconvenience for the customer, because the store will send it off for repair in the same manner but then you have the added inconvenience of picking it up from the store when the product returns, when the manufacturers mentioned above offer a repair/courier service pickup from your home/workplace.

Hope this helps.