Faulty 9 month old tablet.

justcallmedave

Hi to one and all. I purchased a tablet from a company called Sweet Tablets in September of last year. All was fine until last month when I could no longer turn it on. I contacted the company and duly sent back the tablet but noted that they no longer sold tablets. I have since received an email stating they can not repair the tablet or replace it as they don't sell them anymore. For my original purchase price of £159.99 they have decided that £39.99 is a fair settlement price which is the unused balance of the 12 month guarantee. Below is an excerpt from their guarantee.....

"If during the guarantee period, SWEET TABLETS receives notification of a material defect that follows the guarantee conditions, SWEET TABLETS will either repair the product using new or refurbished parts, or replace the faulty product with a new product or a product built with new parts that offers equivalent functionalities. In the event that SWEET TABLETS can neither repair nor replace the faulty product, SWEET TABLETS commits to
replacing the product with a comparable product (that will have, at least, the same functionalities and features as the replaced product). When a product or part is replaced by SWEET TABLETS, SWEET TABLETS automatically becomes the owner of the defective object and the client becomes the owner of the replacement object. Additionally, If a tablet develops a fault within the warranty period and the tablet is deemed non-repairable in the sole opinion of the company, the company company is fully entitled to provide you with an alternative tablet of equal or greater specification. If you seek to refuse a replacement product then the company is only required to offer you a cash sum that considers the amount of time you have enjoyed fair usage of the product. The amount is calulated on the exact retail price you paid and the number of full or part months you enjoyed use of the tablet prior to the fault occurring. The amount the company may offer in this circumstance is final and non-negotiable.
In the event that the company is unable to provide an alternative tablet of equal or greater specification as mentioned then the cash sum offer made by the company is applicable equating to the unspent guarrantee period and its offer is final. Furthermore it is deemed the maximum liability of the company under the terms of its guarrantee."

Now I have not turned down a replacement and it is no fault of mine that they are out of the tablet market. My question is, is it worthwhile pursuing them for a full refund of d you think I am fighting a losing battle? Many thanks in advance.

bris

Whilst they are allowed to deduct money for the use you have had £39.99 seems unfair to me. The value should go on the second hand value of the tablet not the remaining warranty time.

You are not entitled to a full refund but my thoughts are about 60% would be fair, of course we will all have different views on the value but for me anyway £39.99 is not fair for a 9 month old device costing £160.

shaun_from_Africa

I'm with bris on this.

I would expect a tablet to last at least 3 years (and possibly longer for a well known branded make) so I would also expect at least 2/3 of the selling price back.

Did you by any chance pay for the tablet by way of credit (either a credit card or finance agreement)?
If so, you have equal rights against the credit supplier and you could claim from them stating that the tablet wasn't of satisfactory quality when supplied.
If you try this, you will probably have to get a report from an independent company stating that the fault was due to dodgy components or a manufacturing defect. (An inherent fault)

forgotmyname

As above tell them you expect the tablet to last between 3 and 5 years. So they need to calculate the deduction based on that.

£120 back to yourself sounds fair.