Sonic Megastore

mellula_2

Can anyone please help me ? I purchased a Hotpoint Fridge Freezer in July 2012 for £400 from Sonic Megastore Bradford and it is knackered. I have contacted Trading standards for all the necessary info re my rights. It's ok being told what my rights are, BUT HOW DO WE GET COMPANY'S TO ACT ?? We are told not to buy these insurances, but then if your appliance breaks, what do you do? The sample letters on the Citizens Advice web site say that you have to prove to the company that there was a fault with the item when it was purchased (which is ridiculous), and therefore it is not fit for purpose but when I contacted the CAB direct, they told me that they cannot actually say how long an item should last, but I would have thought longer than 2 years and also they cannot intervene in a Civil matter so I am on my own. So what's this 6 years to complain lark because if you do complain and write a letter to the company, they just ignore it, because they know that it is a lot of hassle for the customer and taking it to small claims court probably won't be worth it for you. Who will act on our behalf?


Basically I contacted Sonic who initially told me I had a 28 day guarantee, but then said 12 months when I asked another staff member, then they said my contract was with Hotpoint, not Sonic !!! I have done the necessary by emailing them, then writing to them sending it recorded delivery, but hence, no reply. They want me to buy an insurance with Domestic and General firstly for £30 a month, then reduced it to £15.49. But then out of the blue, as my appliance is coming up to 2 years old I got a letter asking me to purchase an insurance for £4 from the same company !!! What's going on here with these company's. I have been without a fridge freezer for 2 weeks and basically don't know where to go next. It stinks. I bet if BBC's watchdog got involved they'd soon react.
Has anyone got any other advice, I can't afford to replace it and don't feel I should have to buy a new one.

SuperHan

As the product is over 6 months old, you have to prove to the retailer that it was inherently faulty, as you mention. This doesn't mean that it was broken on the day you bought it, it means that the part that has failed was of substandard quality at that time so the product was always going to fail within a reasonable time.

This means that you have to get an engineer's report (you will need to pay for this) that says the fault is inherent. If it says so, then the retailer will refund this cost.

Then you can go back to the retailer, and present them with this report, and they will have to refund, repair or replace, pretty much at their discretion (remember, a refund can be reduced to take in to account any use you have had, and this doesn't have to be on a linear basis). The SoGA is very woolly about how things should last (and rightly so, you wouldn't expect say a biro to last as long as a car. It's all relative to the purchase, and will factor in cost, brand etc etc) which is why no one can advise you if 2 years is reasonable. It's ultimately down to a judge where there is disagreement.

The point is that the retailer is not responsible for offering a remedy if the fault is through improper usage, for example, and so the report will prove this.

If you do all this and they still don't act, then court is the next option. It rarely gets this far though, at least from experience on these parts. After a bit of a fight, the retailer usually backs down.

So far, there has been no breach of the law or your rights. You NEED to get this report before the retailer has to do anything. Buying the extended warranties/insurance does tend to make life easier, but they are not necessary. That's why you're 'told not to buy them', but sometimes they can be advisable.

Hope that helps!

wealdroam

mellula wrote: »

Can anyone please help me ? I purchased a Hotpoint Fridge Freezer in July 2012 for £400 from Sonic Megastore Bradford and it is knackered. I have contacted Trading standards for all the necessary info re my rights. It's ok being told what my rights are, BUT HOW DO WE GET COMPANY'S TO ACT ?? We are told not to buy these insurances, but then if your appliance breaks, what do you do? The sample letters on the Citizens Advice web site say that you have to prove to the company that there was a fault with the item when it was purchased (which is ridiculous), and therefore it is not fit for purpose but when I contacted the CAB direct, they told me that they cannot actually say how long an item should last, but I would have thought longer than 2 years and also they cannot intervene in a Civil matter so I am on my own. So what's this 6 years to complain lark because if you do complain and write a letter to the company, they just ignore it, because they know that it is a lot of hassle for the customer and taking it to small claims court probably won't be worth it for you. Who will act on our behalf?


Basically I contacted Sonic who initially told me I had a 28 day guarantee, but then said 12 months when I asked another staff member, then they said my contract was with Hotpoint, not Sonic !!! I have done the necessary by emailing them, then writing to them sending it recorded delivery, but hence, no reply. They want me to buy an insurance with Domestic and General firstly for £30 a month, then reduced it to £15.49. But then out of the blue, as my appliance is coming up to 2 years old I got a letter asking me to purchase an insurance for £4 from the same company !!! What's going on here with these company's. I have been without a fridge freezer for 2 weeks and basically don't know where to go next. It stinks. I bet if BBC's watchdog got involved they'd soon react.
Has anyone got any other advice, I can't afford to replace it and don't feel I should have to buy a new one.

You need to fight your own battles.

Start by reading MSE's Consumer Rights guide.

You can find that by scrolling to the top of this page and clicking on Consumer Rights "Give me my money back!".

Then read their How to Complain article. There is a link to that inside that Consumer Rights document.

mellula_2

wealdroam wrote: »

You need to fight your own battles.

Start by reading MSE's Consumer Rights guide.

You can find that by scrolling to the top of this page and clicking on Consumer Rights "Give me my money back!".

Then read their How to Complain article. There is a link to that inside that Consumer Rights document.

Thanks but I am trying to fight my battles, that's why I asked for help and advice, I'm not trying to fob it off on anyone else, but thanks, I'll have a look....

marliepanda

You need to get the report if you want this to go anywhere.