Sale of goods Act - Where do I stand

bashmore75

Hi
I have a mobile phone contract with a provider, the original handset developed a fault and they replaced it with a refurbished phone in February. The refurbished phone has now developed a fault and they are refusing to repair it stating that the case has been opened. I know for a fact that this is not the case and I am trying to get them to repiar it. The sales of goods act states

"If your claim is about a problem that arises within six months of buying the product, it's up to the retailer to prove that the goods were of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described when it sold them."

The question is does the 6 months start from the replacement phone or from when I took out the contract originally?

bris

When you took out the original contract, otherwise your rights would be infinite.

It wouldn't help anyway because they believe you have voided any warranty by opening the case. Even if the 6 months was still valid the key is "if they can prove otherwise" they believe they have proved otherwise by the opening of the case.

earthstorm

bris wrote: »

When you took out the original contract, otherwise your rights would be infinite.

That is not always true, some may give you a 3 month warranty on the replacement and some may even give you 12 months on the replacement but with refurbs this would most likely by upto 3 months if they give you any.

Have they looked at the faulty refurbished phone to come to the conclusion of stating that the case has been opened

frugal_mike

Well the question was about the 6 month period provided by the sale of goods act in which the goods are assumed to be inherently faulty unless proven otherwise. Bris is correct, this is always taken from the point of purchase/delivery etc.

They are refusing to honour any warranty it may have because the case has been (allegedly) opened, and they're allowed to do that if the warranty terms and conditions say they can. The warranty is not a statutory right like the sale of goods act is.

However would they be able to do that for a claim under the sale of gods act? If the fault wasn't caused by opening the case then would they be able to get out of their legal obligations?

bashmore75

Hi, thanks for the replies.
Yes I sent the phone in for repair as it is a 2 year warranty. When I booked the phone in they said it was in warranty however I noticed that after a day the repiar tracking was showing out of warranty. On querying this I was informed the phone had unauthorised rework and screen damage. When I challenged this they said they had no details as to the screen damage (there was none when I sent it) and the unauthorised rework had changed to PCB damage. I have asked on numerous occaisions for a detailed description of what I am being quoted for but they have just been ignored. At the moment this is with the complaints department but I just wondered if this was another way I could force them into repairing the phone as per the warranty. I have never had any work done on the phone and the only explanation for the unauthorised rework must have been when they refurbished the phone.