Cooker Problem - "out of warranty"

DeeGee75

Hi,

My mother in law bought a cooker from Curry's about two years ago. She seldom uses the grill (literally a couple of times since she bought it). Last week she tried to cook using it and found that it wouldn't turn on. At all. The knob's not working.

Now, by my reckoning, a cooker should last more than two years, so I told her to phone Curry's. She did, but couldn't get past the automatic call handling system. So she went to the branch that she bought it from instead.

They said that it was out of warranty, there was nothing they could do, and if she wanted to complain she should "write to the European Union". they offered to let her pay for someone to come out and inspect it to see if it is repairable.

Now, aside from the not at all amusing "flippant" comment about my German-born MiL contacting the EU for resolution, I reckon that she's had a bit of a raw deal here.

By my reckoning, white goods like a cooker should be expected to last more than a couple of years, right? So I have issues with its durability. As such, might I have recourse to the Sale of Goods Act to get this seen to? I'm going to write a letter anyway to see what can happen, but is it worth my while pursuing this with a bit more vigour than I might ordinarily do.

I don't really want a refund, merely for the cooker to be made to work.

What do you reckon?

macman

Since it's 2 years old, you would have to prove that it was a pre-existing fault to claim under the SOGA. The opposite only applies up to 6 months. DSG don't have to prove anything.
Since this will require you to pay upfront for an engineer's report, with no guarantee of a successful claim, it's unlikely to be worth the risk for what is probably a relatively cheap repair.
In future, don't buy from DSG if you expect anything in the way of aftersales service.

DeeGee75

Looks like I'm going to have to fix it myself, then...