Sale of Goods Act and Amazon.co.uk/Amazon EU S.a.r.L.

AlAlbert

Short question: Are purchases from Amazon itself (i.e. from Amazon EU S.a.r.L. via the Amazon.co.uk website) covered by the Sale of Goods Act (or equivalent legislation, either national or EU)?

Longer background:-

In July I purchased a piece of computer equipment via Amazon.co.uk (the actual seller was Amazon EU S.a.r.L.). I finally had a chance to set it up in the last week and found it was faulty. I spoke to the manufacturer's tech support and the conclusion is that the unit is definitely faulty (and would have been faulty from the time of manufacture) and needs to be replaced. The unit is under manufacturer's warranty.

The manufacturer said that I could either return the faulty unit directly to them or return it to the dealer (Amazon in this case). Unfortunately returning the unit to the manufacturer will cost a small fortune as the item is very heavy and they are not in the UK. I'd much rather return it to Amazon at a more reasonable postage cost.

I have contacted Amazon to see if they will replace the unit under warranty. Amazon are an authorised dealer for the manufacturer in question so they certainly should be willing to replace it, even though it is outside of their normal 30 day return window. I rather suspect, however, that Amazon is going to tell me to go away and get a warranty replacement direct from the manufacturer.

And this brings me to my question: If Amazon tell me to get lost and go direct to the manufacturer then, assuming Amazon was a UK company, they (Amazon) would be responsible for replacing the unit under the provisions of Sale of Goods Act since it has gone wrong within six months (actually within four months) of sale. The presumption would be that it was sold in a faulty state (which it was). And so the question is: Are sales from Amazon themselves via the Amazon.co.uk site covered by Sale of Goods Act or any equivalent legislation?

benten69

Short answer, yes you are covered by the Sales of Goods Act and they are obligated under UK law to adhere to the act as they are selling within the UK.

First contact them and see what they say, they might be helpful, but legally, it is there obligation to resolve this issue.

jacques_chirac

Amazon tend to be very good in terms of customer service. I would speak to them on live chat before mentioning SoGA etc. One point to note though, they can offer a repair or refund rather than a replacement. However in my experience they will offer a replacement if the item is in stock.

tinkerbell28

Amazon are great at returns in the first year.

Chill out, speak to them on chat, don't pre empt problems and you'll be fine.

wealdroam

AlAlbert wrote: »

I'd much rather return it to Amazon at a more reasonable postage cost.

Not only that, but under SoGA, if the goods are faulty, then the seller is responsible for those postage costs too.

earthstorm

AlAlbert wrote: »

I'd much rather return it to Amazon at a more reasonable postage cost.

Amazon will most likely provide you with a pre paid returns label. Depending on goods it will either be to return via PO or Collect+

deanos

May be relevant , not sure

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/may/01/amazon-luxembourg-improved-consumer-rights

artbaron

This was my experience with Amazon for a computer-related product that developed a fault after 5 months -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4432831

AlAlbert

Many thanks to everyone who replied. As suggested by most replies, Amazon were extremely helpful (and very promptly too). A free return label was provided for the faulty unit and a new unit was shipped out by overnight delivery. I could not want for better customer service. Most impressive.

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Chill out, speak to them on chat, don't pre empt problems and you'll be fine.

Indeed but forewarned is forearmed, as they say. In other words, it is better to know the exact situation in advance (hence my thread here) in the hope that one will not actually need to use the information. In this case, Amazon were genuinely superb. It's not often that a retailer nowadays is this helpful.

Thanks once again for everyone's comments.

unholyangel

benten69 wrote: »

Short answer, yes you are covered by the Sales of Goods Act and they are obligated under UK law to adhere to the act as they are selling within the UK.

First contact them and see what they say, they might be helpful, but legally, it is there obligation to resolve this issue.

Simply not true.

Companies selling in the uk are not bound by uk law and if memory serves, amazon sales are governed by luxembourg law.

However they're own SoGA is probably very similar to our own.

neilmcl

unholyangel wrote: »

Simply not true.

Companies selling in the uk are not bound by uk law and if memory serves, amazon sales are governed by luxembourg law.

However they're own SoGA is probably very similar to our own.

Wrong. Amazon UK operate within the UK and are subject to UK laws, regardless of where their European HQ is.