LG TV advice

mintster

Powered on my sons LG LCD TV yesterday to be greeted with a loud 'pop' and no picture on screen. TV powers up but screen is dead. TV was purchased in December 2012 and has probably had under 300 hours usage.

E-mailed LG and they have said they cannot arrange a warranty repair but if I take it somewhere they may contribute towards the cost.

In my mind the TV has not lasted for a reasonable length of time and they should be sorting this out even though it is out of the initial 12 month warranty. If I take the TV somewhere to be repaired I will probably have to pay for a quote as I cannot find anyone who will quote for free.

Where do I stand if I go back to LG and politely request that they sort this?

wealdroam

mintster wrote: »

Powered on my sons LG LCD TV yesterday to be greeted with a loud 'pop' and no picture on screen. TV powers up but screen is dead. TV was purchased in December 2012 and has probably had under 300 hours usage.

E-mailed LG and they have said they cannot arrange a warranty repair but if I take it somewhere they may contribute towards the cost.

In my mind the TV has not lasted for a reasonable length of time and they should be sorting this out even though it is out of the initial 12 month warranty. If I take the TV somewhere to be repaired I will probably have to pay for a quote as I cannot find anyone who will quote for free.

Where do I stand if I go back to LG and politely request that they sort this?

Your statutory rights are with whoever sold the thing to you.

Unless you bought directly from LG, they owe you nothing beyond their warranty.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights guide for more detail.

In particular, this bit:

Know who's responsible

When returning items, beware shops trying the oldest trick in the book: saying they're not responsible for the shoddy goods and you must call the manufacturer. This is total nonsense!

If a company fobs you off by saying “go to the maker instead”, it's wrong. It's the retailer's job to sort it.

It doesn't matter if it's an iPod from a high street shop or a designer frock from a department store. If something's broken, torn, ripped or faulty, the seller has a legal duty to put it right as your contract is with it.

Aquamania

mintster wrote: »

Powered on my sons LG LCD TV yesterday to be greeted with a loud 'pop' and no picture on screen. TV powers up but screen is dead. TV was purchased in December 2012 and has probably had under 300 hours usage.

E-mailed LG and they have said they cannot arrange a warranty repair but if I take it somewhere they may contribute towards the cost.

In my mind the TV has not lasted for a reasonable length of time and they should be sorting this out even though it is out of the initial 12 month warranty. If I take the TV somewhere to be repaired I will probably have to pay for a quote as I cannot find anyone who will quote for free.

Where do I stand if I go back to LG and politely request that they sort this?

Your rights would be against the seller, not the manufacturer.

As 6 months have passed since you originally purchased the item, you would need to get an independent, expert witness to provide evidence that the item was faulty at point of sale.

As it's almost 2 years old and you say been used for about 300 hours, I guess that will be quite difficult evidence to obtain. Yes you will undoubtedly be charged for someone to check out the item, provide a report and possibly attend court to convince a judge. You may get some or all of this back if you eventually make a successfull claim.

But as the manufacturer has indicated it may offer a goodwill payment if you get the item repaired, then I would accept that.

Whilst most TV repairers do charge to inspect and quote on a repair nowadays (they spent far too much time doing that for free only only for the customer to decide not to get their TV repaired) most will deduct this cost from the repair cost if you do agree to the repair.

ThumbRemote

Aquamania wrote: »

As 6 months have passed since you originally purchased the item, you would need to get an independent, expert witness to provide evidence that the item was faulty at point of sale.

Strictly speaking, OP may need to obtain an independent report. Their first step would be to talk to the retailer and find out what they say.

thunderella

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Strictly speaking, OP may need to obtain an independent report. Their first step would be to talk to the retailer and find out what they say.

As a retailer, if a customer came back to us after almost 2 years and almost 300 hours of admitted use expecting a free repair, replacement or refund, they would soon be shown the door. (unless they could prove the item was faulty at point of sale)

This is a typical example where, if the item was originally purchased by card, we would tell the bank if later contacted by them to not pay a chargeback (and they would agree to not do so)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5062489

shaun_from_Africa

thunderella wrote: »

This is a typical example where, if the item was originally purchased by card, we would tell the bank if later contacted by them to not pay a chargeback (and they would agree to not do so)

The bank wouldn't have to agree to defend a chargeback due to the fact that the purchaser of the TV is well outside the time limit allowed for a chargeback to be initiated.
Most banks and card issuers limit this to 120 days and the maximum is normally 180 days.

mattyprice4004

thunderella wrote: »

As a retailer, if a customer came back to us after almost 2 years and almost 300 hours of admitted use expecting a free repair, replacement or refund, they would soon be shown the door. (unless they could prove the item was faulty at point of sale)

This is a typical example where, if the item was originally purchased by card, we would tell the bank if later contacted by them to not pay a chargeback (and they would agree to not do so)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5062489

So you'll pay for an engineer's report proving the goods were faulty at the time of sale, costing you more money, rather than just helping the customer in an event where the goods are clearly substandard?

I guess this is the difference between good and bad retailers

mintster

The TV was purchased from Amazon. LG have confirmed they will only pay part of the repair - not the full amount. I guess I will be contacting Amazon.

While I understand your point thunderella I would have thought that the principle of an item lasting for a reasonable length of time here? I am being generous when saying 300 hours usage - it is probably way under that amount. Surely you would expect a TV to last far longer than 19 months and 300 hours usage?

frugal_mike

That depends on why it failed. If it failed because of a substandard part then you are due a remedy. If it failed because of misuse or fair wear and tear then you aren't due anything.

Was the item paid for on a Credit Card?

unholyangel

mintster wrote: »

The TV was purchased from Amazon. LG have confirmed they will only pay part of the repair - not the full amount. I guess I will be contacting Amazon.

While I understand your point thunderella I would have thought that the principle of an item lasting for a reasonable length of time here? I am being generous when saying 300 hours usage - it is probably way under that amount. Surely you would expect a TV to last far longer than 19 months and 300 hours usage?

Bear in mind that amazon do not operate under UK law as they are not a UK company (long story short they use a legal loophole to get around it).

However as Luxembourg are part of the EU, they will have legislation that is almost identical to our Sale of Goods Act.

Speak to amazon first and see what they say.

vyle

mintster wrote: »

The TV was purchased from Amazon. LG have confirmed they will only pay part of the repair - not the full amount. I guess I will be contacting Amazon.

While I understand your point thunderella I would have thought that the principle of an item lasting for a reasonable length of time here? I am being generous when saying 300 hours usage - it is probably way under that amount. Surely you would expect a TV to last far longer than 19 months and 300 hours usage?

It's a case of proving whether the TV was indeed faulty.

I've known of power surges to kill TVs, for example. In that case, the TV wouldn't be faulty, it'd just be bad luck. It's rarely as simple as something "clearly" being substandard.