Bought Cooker From Ebay Seller/Online Retailer, Told I Don't Have Manf. Guarantee?

LouLou

I bought a Smeg graded dual fuel cooker in March 2012 from an ebay seller (they have their own retailer website outside of ebay).

After a few months of light use (I'm single), back in November, the rubber door seal around the oven was hanging off, and I couldn't re-attach it to the "holes" around the oven door. The rubber seal secures to the oven with metal hooks, but on closer inspection the seal was badly glued and had tears at the corners where the hooks attached. It's hard to say whether I was just unlucky or this is a common problem with Smeg ovens.

I should point out that the cooker was listed on ebay (along with current Smeg items by this retailer) as "With Smeg Guarantee", so I thought sorting out my oven seal would be a breeze.

After telephoning Smeg I was told that the cooker is NOT covered by their guarantee, something to do with the fact it was an ebay seller.

On phoning the ebay seller (and sending pictures as proof), he told me that the cooker IS covered by the Smeg Guarantee, and that he'd sort it out for me, by contacting them himself. By this time I was getting frustrated as time was passing and bought my OWN "official Smeg spare" door seal, which he said he would reimburse me for. I'm still waiting on the refund.

The door seal didn't fit properly, I sent more emails and phoned a few more times...Smeg still haven't been contacted; I haven't had the refund for the door seal, and now the manager of the ebay store says that they will send a new, correct, door seal out to me. Absolutely contradicting what he said previously. Weeks later, I'm still waiting.

It is now four months since my original contact with the seller and it's nearly a year since I bought the cooker (I doubt whether I have ANY sort of guarantee for it, as nobody seems willing to fix it). In all this time I haven't been able to use my oven.

What rights do I have with this retailer? What should my next course of action be?

Thanks for reading.

InsideInsurance

Your rights sit with the retailer not the manufacturer.

I assume the listing did state that the item was brand new rather than reconditioned or used?

If it is sold as brand new then you would need to make a claim against the retailer. Start by sending them a Letter Before Action giving them a specific list of items they must do and a realistic timescale you require them to be completed in (7 days is generally considered the absolute minimum but if you want them to organise people to visit etc then it may only be reasonable to arrange the visit within 7 days rather than the visit itself happen within 7 days)

If that fails you could look to the small track County Court to make a claim (aka small claims court). Given the item is over 6 months old however it is up to you to prove that the fault is with the product and not either from miss use or normal wear and tear.

LouLou

Thanks for replying, InsideInsurance. The cooker was sold "As New, but Graded". Their definition being that Graded is something minor, like a customer return or small scratches (as it was in my case).

From their ebay shop:
".....products have NEVER been used.
Secondly all products carry their manufacturer’s warranty which will be a minimum of a year.

There are number of reasons that a product may be graded:-

It may not be in its original box or packing.
It may have been on shop floor display.
It may have slight cosmetic marks which are usually to the sides or rear but not to the front of the product.

Each product will have a description of the reason the product is graded."

Note that it states "1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty" which Smeg tell me I don't have!

My boyfriend phoned them yesterday, asking where the replacement cooker seal was (after waiting more than a fortnight for it, and being told different things over three months). The customer assistant hung up on him! I do feel he had every right to be exasperated by their customer service.