Product design flaw discovered after 4 1/2 years

Shevek

I bought a bluetooth enabled car stereo in August 2007. It was not a cheap stereo and is made by one of the leading manufacturers.

I have installed it in all 3 of the cars I have owned since then and it has always worked flawlessly, until now!

My phone recently stopped working and I obtained a replacement under warranty. When I tried to pair it with the car stereo it didn't work.

I tried to pair it with both my wife's car stereo and a bluetooth headset and it works fine, so I know it is not a problem with the new phone.

My wife's phone can pair with her stereo and the headset but not my stereo.

I have googled and it appears that this is a specific problem with my stereo model - once it has paired to 20 devices bluetooth will never work again. There is no way to reset this and no firmware/flash update to fix it.

One particular forum post claims that the manufacturer is aware of the issue and will not do anything about this.

I feel that this is a pretty basic design flaw for a product which is supposed to be a bluetooth stereo!

Other than this the stereo is in perfect working order so it is IMHO well within it's operational lifetime.

Obviously it is out of warranty but do I have any rights regarding this issue?

I want to double check before I contact the manufacturer.

TIA

wealdroam

Shevek wrote: »

Obviously it is out of warranty but do I have any rights regarding this issue?

I want to double check before I contact the manufacturer.

You do have rights, but against whoever sold it to you, not against the manufacturer.

Is the seller still around?

You may need to prove that your unit is suffering from an inherent fault.
The information you have found on the internet is purely anecdotal.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights article for more detail.

mattyprice4004

From seeing similar issues in the industry, I really doubt you'll get anywhere.

ThumbRemote

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

From seeing similar issues in the industry, I really doubt you'll get anywhere.

Really? Care to provide some sort of basis for that, or are you just posting rubbish - again?

ThumbRemote

Shevek wrote: »

I feel that this is a pretty basic design flaw for a product which is supposed to be a bluetooth stereo!

Other than this the stereo is in perfect working order so it is IMHO well within it's operational lifetime.

Obviously it is out of warranty but do I have any rights regarding this issue?

You are covered by the Sale of Goods Act. However, you are likely to be offered a refund which takes into account the use you've had of the product to date.

This may mean you only get (say) 10% of the original cost back. It's your call whether that is worth pursuing.

arcon5

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Really? Care to provide some sort of basis for that, or are you just posting rubbish - again?

The item is 4 1/2 yrs old... you don't really think the manufacturer (who op has told us know of the issue but not doing anything about) will want to help? I'm guessing not.

The likelihood of the retailer wanting to help is also slim at best.

It's likely op will get nowhere with this, unless he wants to waste his time getting a report on the fault just for a few quid back.

s_b

august 2007 is nearly 5 years
im surprised if its that good a unit and been in 3 different cars no ones nicked it
compensation?

poor thing needs a decent burial more like

paddyrg

Does it remember any of the old devices? Perhaps you could go back to one of them?

I would appeal to the manufacturers better nature - tell them you loved the stereo but it hit the silly 20 pairings limit and so is disappointing - ask if they will part-ex it for a new one which will last you another 5 years and keep you as a customer/brand advocate. I assume it is a premium brand, so they may want to offer you a part-ex/discount against a replacement? In their position, I would.