Independent Engineers Report? - Pushchair!

GrannyKtee

First thread. The Mamas & Papas pushchair I bought from Argos in October last year developed two faults. The first: it 'Locks' into the folding position and is very difficult to un-fold. Secondly: the lie-back mechanism no longer stays up-right leaving my granddaughter having to hold on to the front of the pushchair to stay sitting upright; totaly unfair on the little one I emailed them last week; obviously they stated the item was now over a year old and not covered. I replied saying that it should still be covered; they got back to me saying they wanted a Idependent Engineers Report on the pushchair! I had to pay for this and if it failed the inspection Argos would refund me for the item and reimburse me the cost of the report. I'm confident the pushchair will fail the inspection; but should I have to do this? If so where do I find such an Engineer? :question:

deanos

Yes its up to you to prove its an inherent fault , not sure where you could get a report done on a pushchair, maybe an independent nursery shop that also do repairs ?

mattyprice4004

Outside of 6 months from purchase it's down to you to prove the fault wasn't present when you bought the pushchair - in this case via an independant report.

SuperHan

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Outside of 6 months from purchase it's down to you to prove the fault wasn't present when you bought the pushchair - in this case via an independant report.

I thought the report was to prove that the fault WAS there at the time of purchase? Hence an inherent fault? Or an I mistaken?

regency_man

SuperHan wrote: »

I thought the report was to prove that the fault WAS there at the time of purchase? Hence an inherent fault? Or an I mistaken?

I agree, the engineer is assessing whether the fault is one that is inherent in the design or a defect in manufacturing - i.e. that the part was bound to fail in that time-frame with normal use, as opposed to a fault that has come about through misuse or excessive wear.

regency_man

As for who could do it - I have no idea on the law in this area... but I would imagine any engineer or technician connected with the design, manufacture or repair of pushchairs could do it. It may even be the case that anyone with an engineering degree would be suitable, or they might have to be a chartered engineer (i.e IMechE), I really don't know.

It might be an idea to write back to Argos asking them for a list of their accredited pushchair engineers (lol!!) or if they do not have a list (most likely), details of who they would accept as an authoritative person to make the assessment.

mattyprice4004

SuperHan wrote: »

I thought the report was to prove that the fault WAS there at the time of purchase? Hence an inherent fault? Or an I mistaken?

Sorry, I mistyped. It needs to be proven the fault was there at the time of purchase.

My apologies for any confusion.

MamaMoo_2

Have you tried contacting M&P directly? I know they offer a 2 year "commitment" on all of their pushchairs etc

fred7777

regency_man wrote: »

As for who could do it - I have no idea on the law in this area... but I would imagine any engineer or technician connected with the design, manufacture or repair of pushchairs could do it. It may even be the case that anyone with an engineering degree would be suitable, or they might have to be a chartered engineer (i.e IMechE), I really don't know.

As far as I know there isn't really any law in this area.

It comes down to what would prove a fault in a court. If retailer is thinks the will loose they will often pay up to avoid future cost.

Up to 6 months the retailer has to prove the fault wasn't inherent after 6 months the sale of goods act doesn't say anything so if a retailer is taken to court the purchaser has to prove the fault was inherent and it follows the retailer has to prove it was not.

So the purchaser isn't wise to court without some evidence to back up their claim and the effectiveness the evidence (not necessarily a report) would depend entirely on the nature of the fault and the relevance of the report writers experience and qualifications.

If anyone knows of a company or organisation who carry out these inspections and write these reports please post their detail as I have never found one. I know of once case where a purchaser of a faulty laptop got a very thorough report written by an electronics engineer only to have the retailer argue that as the report wasn't written by the manufacturer it wasn't good enough as only the manufacturer would have the specialist knowledge required to work out what was wrong.

Going back to the original problem I would do the following:

1. Contact the manufacturer direct as their warranty may cover the fault or they may be able to supply spares.

2. Give the mechanisms a good clean, speaking from experience it's amazing the trouble sand causes the locks and mechanisms of a quinny pushchair.

GrannyKtee

Thank you all for your support :j I did contact M & P's after Argos told me it was they I should take the complaint up with; they in turn said no; it was Argos! M & P's did offer to repair the faults - but at a cost to me I pointed out to both parties that this was a 'Part Time' pushchair. I only have the little one 2 days a week - since March last year - as my D-I-L returned to work. With the odd overnight stay at weekends the pushchair was not used a great deal. The folding mechanism - it 'Locks' - the last time it happened I was out on my own with my granddaughter and it was a nighmare :mad: I now plan to take the issue up with both retailers; Argos even admitted that such a purchase should be good enough for 6 years :eek: so why they will not accept my compalint after just over a year of light use? I don't know! I will keep you posted

MamaMoo_2

Have you tried emailing their CS? I find companies are usually a lot more helpful if you put your complaint in writing