refund of an electrical item purchased 19 months ago

melders

I purchased a Tvonics set top recording box from tesco online in April 2012 for just under £160, now 19 months on it has stopped working. Does anybody know my rights or how I can go about getting a refund or replacement? Thanks Michael

lisyloo

You need to talk to the retailer (tescos in this case) and mention the Sales of goods act.
If you purchased with a credit card then the CC company are jointly liable but they will almost certainly tell you to contact the retailer first. You can actually pursue either, but the CC comapny will probably give you a hard time if you haven't tried Tescos first.

You may not be entitled to a full trefund if you've had 19 months use.

wiseshark

After 19 months, unless you took out an extended warranty, there is zero chance of a refund or replacement.

Do you have any home contents insurance? It may be possible if you were to say it was accidentally dropped when cleaning, but not really worth it considering the excess usually starts at £100.

I have not heard of Tvonics. I did buy a couple of cheap items in Tesco in the past, they were Technika and were c**p. Wish I could be of more help. Perhaps others can offer better advice.

Hominu

If you can prove that the box was faulty from new then you may be able to get a refund or replacement. You will have to get an independent report stating that, regardless of who you approach (Tesco's or your CC issuer)

Otherwise the SOGA states "Lasts a reasonable amount of time" and I would suggest that 19 months use is reasonable.

Therefore, unless you have a warranty that states something like "24 months from purchase" (a lot of electrical items do now, so your original paperwork), I'd throw it in the bin and buy a new one.

lisyloo

After 19 months, unless you took out an extended warranty, there is zero chance of a refund or replacement.

I don't entirely agree with this (although I'm not an expert on that piece of equipment).
I've certainly had repairs on out of warranty items and I'm not sure 19 months is reasonable.

It may be possible if you were to say it was accidentally dropped when cleaning

I would advise against insurance fraud.

pinkladyof66

we had a tv that had 12 month warrant toshiba it was 13 months old with no extra warranty and toshiba picked up the tv and repaired it free of charge

wiseshark

It could also be worth having it repaired if you get no joy from Tesco or cc company, but get an estimate and if it's more than £60, you could always buy a second hand replacement of whatever make on Amazon, Ebay etc.

Know how it feels when something packs up when it should have lasted a lot longer.

wiseshark

Yes lisyloo, I take your point. Maybe zero was the wrong choice of word, perhaps small would be more appropriate.

I had no idea that a cc company may refund after 19 months, I presume under certain circumstances.

I also would never ever attempt insurance fraud, I was only making a suggestion, yes bad advice.

grumbler

Hominu wrote: »

Otherwise the SOGA states "Lasts a reasonable amount of time" and I would suggest that 19 months use is reasonable.

I would suggest it isn't and I think any judge in the small claims court will agree.

lisyloo

I had no idea that a cc company may refund after 19 months

I was meaning the retailer.
The liability is joint but the retailer may have a bit more of an interest in offering good customer service.

It depends entirely on what the item is.
I think we'd all agree that if a car was useless after 19 months we would all be unhappy whereas if it was a really cheap watch from china then that's probably par for the course.

I personally would think it worth making enquiries to Tescos in the first instances stating that under the sales of goods act the item doesn't appear to be fit for purpose with this longevity.
It's possible a repair may be cheap for them, it's also possibly they consider it a 50/50 case but are willing to do this because they are a good comapny.
Worth a letter I think and then take it from there.

I've had a TV repaired after 13 months for free out of warranty, but only because I somehow managed to articulately reel of my knowledge of SOGA like a solicitor :-)

Don't ask, don't get.

wiseshark

Fantastic. Had not heard of the Sale of Goods Act. Will study in detail. Cheers for that and the level of detail and the examples. Very well put.