Electronic product breaks after 13 months

GlynO

Hi,

I bought a pair of powerline plugs (the one's that connects the internet around the house via the electrical cabling) in July 2012 for £30. I bought them from Amazon.co.uk and the product came with a 1 year warranty. I live in the UK.

One of the units has stopped working (Aug 2013 so past the warranty period). I feel that a reasonable time for something of this nature to work should be longer than 1 year.

I contacted Amazon and their call centre just said that the warranty has expired, both by telephone and email. I responded by saying that the product must be covered under the Sale of Goods Act - again they just stated that the warranty has run out. I don't think they knew what I was talking about.

I have emailed the manufacturer to ask them what they consider a reasonable amount of time is before the product fails. If it is longer than a year, I feel I have a case under SoGA.

Anyone had the same situation and got a positive response?

Darksun

You would need to prove that the product failed due to an inherent fault

wealdroam

OP, did you buy direct from Amazon, or was it from a Marketplace seller?

neilmcl

I think this is a case of choosing your battles. It's a lot of trouble to go through for a £30 product that you'll find very hard to prove it's inherently faulty.

GlynO

Darksun wrote: »

You would need to prove that the product failed due to an inherent fault

Is that what the SoGA is about though? Isn't it about the expectation of 'reasonable use' to be given by a product? I don't think 13 months is reasonable use.

wealdroam

GlynO wrote: »

Is that what the SoGA is about though?

Yes, that's what SoGA is about.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights article.

GlynO

wealdroam wrote: »

Yes, that's what SoGA is about.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights article.

Many thanks - I will follow up with the manufacturer tomorrow to see what they consider a 'reasonable amount of time' is for their product to function. Interesting enough, literally 2 minutes ago I received an offer from Amazon to give me £10 towards a repair (which they would organise). The cost to me would go over the cost of replacement I suspect so of no use.

The main reason I'm doing this (as the actual product is low cost) is that in the past I'd be one of those people that would just accept it's broken and out of warranty - for goods that should have a longer life. I think retailers assume (probably quite rightly) that the majority of people will just give up. I've started to dig my heels in on a couple of matters recently with retailers and got results. For the cost of a few emails and phone calls it's worth attempting to get what I believe is right and proper.

somethingcorporate

GlynO wrote: »

Many thanks - I will follow up with the manufacturer tomorrow to see what they consider a 'reasonable amount of time' is for their product to function. Interesting enough, literally 2 minutes ago I received an offer from Amazon to give me £10 towards a repair (which they would organise). The cost to me would go over the cost of replacement I suspect so of no use.

The main reason I'm doing this (as the actual product is low cost) is that in the past I'd be one of those people that would just accept it's broken and out of warranty - for goods that should have a longer life. I think retailers assume (probably quite rightly) that the majority of people will just give up. I've started to dig my heels in on a couple of matters recently with retailers and got results. For the cost of a few emails and phone calls it's worth attempting to get what I believe is right and proper.

Well what you believe is "right and proper" is probably not what the law says. If you read the link you will see that you need to prove that a fault is inherent if the product is over 6 months old.

paddyrg

When considering the lifespan of products, price is considered a factor. You can spend £100+ on good powerline kit, so assuming say you'd expect 4-5 years from that, it may be that this is not to far out of line

Anselm

OP, as it is over 6 months you need to prove, through independent reports, that the item was inherently faulty. Once you've got an independent report, you could go through small claims - but is it worth it for £30?

shaun_from_Africa

you could go through small claims - but is it worth it for £30?

And that's not even taking into account that the retailer doesn't have to refund the full £30.
If they feel that a refund is the best option for them, the amount refunded can be reduced from the price originally paid to take into account the use that the purchaser had had from the goods.

If they think that a £30 item should have lasted 3 years, they may only offer a refund of around £20.