Sale of Goods Act and my rights with this retailer

nirvikalp78

Hi,

I am here for opinion from users who might have been through a situation similar to mine before.

Situation: Projector bought online broke down after 2 years and 10 months of usage. Cost of purchase approx 500GBP. The Projector has been used sparingly (original bulb supplied with the Brand new Projector has been used approx 30% of it's expected life) in the noted period.

I wrote to Projector Repair Center (considering it is out of warranty) and after RMA, posting and inspection by a technician, the cost of labour was quoted at £210 (the parts are being installed for free by the support center). An assumption- had the repair center included the cost of parts it might have been more than the cost of the original brand new projector :mad:?

After receiving the quote from repair center, I wrote (via email) to repair center saying the product is not of satisfactory quality and I should be given a discount in the repair costs. The support representative stated that parts have lasted the expected life (which I have disputed since) and no discount can be offered.

Next I wrote (via email) to the seller of the Product requesting that the repairs be organized as the Projector hasn't served a reasonable length of time (argument that the original parts should have lasted more than the standard life span for the original first bulb). This message was copied to Repair center representative.

Response from seller: Manufacturer Repair Center Rep is right. No reason to consider my request. All the retailer can offer is a discount on purchase of new Projector in case I want to replace and not repair.

After getting the contact details for escalating the issue at both the seller and Repair center I wrote to the seller (using a template letter for requesting repairs citing Sale of Goods Act) via recorded delivery and copied to the Repair Center Complaints officer. I also sent printed copied of earlier email communications and quote for repair.

Response from Seller: Accepted only limited liability and offered as a gesture of goodwill- If I contribute approx. 46 percent to the cost of the repair (£80 +VAT), the retailer will organize the repairs (saves me £114 from the original quoted cost). Also the seller has asked me to pay the money to the seller and not the repair center.

Questions:
i) Do I refuse the offer and insist on repair at no charge to me?
ii) In case the retailer does not agree to pay the full repair costs, do I ask for refund (with say a deduction of 30% for usage till date)?
iii) or if the retailer refuses to pay the full repair costs and I pay for the repairs under protest (as advised on MSE), do I stand chance in small claims court (considering the retailer has offered to contribute to repair costs at this stage)?

Thanks for reading a long post and for any help that users can offer as this is my first experience of formal complaint to a retailer citing Sale of Goods Act.

P.S. Update @ 8.15am on 01/04/13: I wonder if anybody can offer useful advise rather than just wasting mine and theirs time by pointing out what mistakes I have made already (in not contacting the seller initially).

wealdroam

Have you read MSE's Consumer Rights article?

That, together with their How to Complain document, has all your answers.

Of course, do come back with any further questions.

nirvikalp78

wealdroam wrote: »

Have you read MSE's Consumer Rights article?

That, together with their How to Complain document, has all your answers.

Of course, do come back with any further questions.

Thanks for posting.

Yes I have formally complained and received a response. I have posted to request opinion about my specific queries (noted in my post) from those who have been in a similar situation (e.g. filed a claim in small claims court even when the retailer is offering to contribute to repairs for a out of warranty sparingly used costly (~subjective ) product). The document details what to do but doesn't tell what happened to those who did take course of action I am planning to take.

Techhead_2

nirvikalp78 wrote: »

Thanks for posting.

Yes I have formally complained and received a response. I have posted to request opinion about my specific queries (noted in my post) from those who have been in a similar situation (e.g. filed a claim in small claims court even when the retailer is offering to contribute to repairs for a out of warranty sparingly used costly (~subjective ) product). The document details what to do but doesn't tell what happened to those who did take course of action I am planning to take.

But you haven't followed the advice in the article or the guide.

unholyangel

What they mean is, have you established that the fault is inherent? Or are you just pushing for a repair/refund with no regards as to whether they are actually liable or not? After 6 months, the onus is on you to prove the fault isn't the result of misuse or wear & tear.


And fwiw, I think your expectation of a 30% reduction for 3 years use is overly optimistic to say the least.

nirvikalp78

unholyangel wrote: »

What they mean is, have you established that the fault is inherent? Or are you just pushing for a repair/refund with no regards as to whether they are actually liable or not? After 6 months, the onus is on you to prove the fault isn't the result of misuse or wear & tear.


And fwiw, I think your expectation of a 30% reduction for 3 years use is overly optimistic to say the least.

Thanks for the advice. A product costing £500+ developing a fault after a (very) low usage (say less than one hour/per day) and the repairs requiring major components needing replacement definitely shows that the Product is not durable.

Having read few forums/online guides, I personally think it is almost impossible to prove that a fault at the time of manufacturer existed.

When you say, I haven't proved, may I ask who can give such an opinion (I doubt experts exist for such a situation). I have sent it to the authorized repair center who are not charging for the parts but only charging labour (£210) which in my humble opinion shows acceptance of partial liability.

I am resting my request and future case on lack of durability of a costly item.

30% reduction is just to put an alternate argument as the retailer is asking me to contribute to repair without a reasonable argument.

Techhead_2

nirvikalp78 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. A product costing £500+ developing a fault after a (very) low usage (say less than one hour/per day) and the repairs requiring major components needing replacement definitely shows that the Product is not durable.

Having read few forums/online guides, I personally think it is almost impossible to prove that a fault at the time of manufacturer existed.

When you say, I haven't proved, may I ask who can give such an opinion (I doubt experts exist for such a situation). I have sent it to the authorized repair center who are not charging for the parts but only charging labour (£210) which in my humble opinion shows acceptance of partial liability.

I am resting my request and future case on lack of durability of a costly item.

30% reduction is just to put an alternate argument as the retailer is asking me to contribute to repair without a reasonable argument.

You still haven't properly read or understood the guides, articles and sticky threads. It's all explained there.

I'll summarise, you need to prove to the retailer that the projector is inherently faulty (usually with an independent report) . The retailer can then choose a remedy; this could be a repair exchange or partial refund. You need evidence to back up your assertion that the item is not of satisfactory quality.

TonyMMM

nirvikalp78 wrote: »

Hi,

Response from Seller: Accepted only limited liability and offered as a gesture of goodwill- If I contribute approx. 46 percent to the cost of the repair (£80 +VAT), the retailer will organize the repairs (saves me £114 from the original quoted cost). Also the seller has asked me to pay the money to the seller and not the repair center.
.

That sounds like a reasonable offer.

You can ask for anything you want, but ultimately if they don't agree, you will have to pursue a claim through the small claims process - and to do that you will require evidence to support the claim...i.e. an independent report on the fault.

nirvikalp78

TonyMMM wrote: »

That sounds like a reasonable offer.

You can ask for anything you want, but ultimately if they don't agree, you will have to pursue a claim through the small claims process - and to do that you will require evidence to support the claim...i.e. an independent report on the fault.

I am also considering the offer and thanks for your suggestion.
Since you have mentioned that onus of providing the fault report is on me, wouldn't repair cost quote be sufficient along with the argument that the product isn't durable.

wealdroam

nirvikalp78 wrote: »

Since you have mentioned that onus of providing the fault report is on me, wouldn't repair cost quote be sufficient along with the argument that the product isn't durable.

Certainly not.

It is entirely possible that in some way you have damaged the thing.
I am not saying you have bounced it down the stairs, but just pointing out that faults can occur in other ways than 'not durable'.

neilmcl

OP, have you actually got any report from the repair centre outlining precisely what the "fault" is?

You don't have to get an independent report that specifically states "this fault is inherent to manufacture", although that would be ideal, it would be enough to show a specific fault that would be unlikely to be caused by any external influence, either by misuse or wear and tear.