Panasonic TV broken within 1yr but we've moved out of Europe, do we have any rights?

A36

We bought a 50" LCD Panasonic TV last year, before emigrating to NZ in late 2012. We purchased a 5-year guarantee (at the time we weren't sure that we were moving) and thought no more of it. Now we are in NZ and the TV developed a fault 11 months after the purchase date.

We paid someone to assess it and the panel has broken. They have liaised with Panasonic NZ and UK and neither are willing to accept any responsibility. Panasonic UK says that the guarantee only covers Europe and not further afield. But my point is, with or without the extra 5-yr guarantee, this is still a product that failed within a year of purchase. It's a long shot but do we have any rights at all? We can't afford to lose £1800 for nothing. Any help at all would be really appreciated!

System

What you need to do is fly back to the UK with the TV and then you will be covered by SOGA.

Or the cheaper option, pay to get it repaired in NZ.

A36

Well we already paid to have repair guys assess it here. They've told us a panel is broken and it's too expensive to try to fix (i.e. the TV is a write-off) - the kind of thing that would normally be covered under your guarantee. So there's no cheap option for us to just get it fixed here unfortunately, hence we're trying to find out if we have any rights if we try and battle Panasonic about it.

Hintza

Was it broken in the move?

ThumbRemote

I would assume your warranty is still valid, however you will have to bear the cost of returning the TV to Panasonic in the UK (and, presumably, the return back to yourself). Have you asked them if this is an option?

A36

No it wasn't broken in the move - I wish it had been as we had insurance to cover ourselves for any damage/mechanical failure.

We just had a straight 'no - it's no longer under warrantee outside of Europe' from Panasonic UK when I spoke to them so I didn't suggest that we would pay to ship it back to UK - maybe I will try that and see if it makes any difference..?

Hintza

In the end I very much doubt sending it back to the UK will be cost effective. Have you looked at Panasonic's global website there might be something on there to get your teeth in to.

ThumbRemote

A36 wrote: »

No it wasn't broken in the move - I wish it had been as we had insurance to cover ourselves for any damage/mechanical failure.

We just had a straight 'no - it's no longer under warrantee outside of Europe' from Panasonic UK when I spoke to them so I didn't suggest that we would pay to ship it back to UK - maybe I will try that and see if it makes any difference..?

Failing that, if you have a friend or relative in the UK you can send it to, who can handle the process for you.

(As the warranty may only cover the original owner you might have to be careful here - maybe ask them to pretend to be you in any correspondence)

gayleanne

Have you got household contents insurance there may be a way of claiming from that.

A36

Hi yes we do have contents insurance (although they won't cover breakdown, only accidental damage) so we may have to try and find a way to claim. Am going to look into sending it back to someone in the UK and see what the costs involved are and whether Panasonic are likely then to help. Thanks for your responses, seems like there is no easy answer!