John Lewis TV - Streaming not working, saying not covered under Warranty!

hamzab

Hi all

Firstly, if this is in the wrong sub-forum, I apologise, could an admin please move it to the correct sub-forum.

I own a Samsung Smart TV which is around a year and three months old (bought November 2013). Now pretty much a year after I bought the TV, in November 2014, I rang John Lewis technical support as my TV would no longer stream certain things from my Samsung Tablet or my iPhones in the household. Anything that was "live" (in the sense that it wasn't stored on the phone physically and had to be streamed, like netflix) didn't work anymore and gave an error message on the device in question with something along the words of (cannot connect to TV, or device not supported).

However, if the video file was stored on my phone, for an example a tv show that I downloaded, the TV would stream it fine from the tablet. But anything "live" would not work. John Lewis were very quick to send out engineers who came to my property on at least 3 occasions and have even changed the whole motherboard of the TV. The engineer got YouTube working by getting me to sign into both youtube apps on the TV and on the device (iPhone or Samsung Tablet). However netflix and other apps that I used such as showboat didn't work.

John Lewis are now saying that TV is not faulty as the main functionality of the TV works and streaming is not considered a main point. I specifically asked the TV salesman if this tv supported streaming and he said it did. The TV worked fine with my tablet and phone for many months and I suspect a software update has ruined the functionality. John Lewis have also kind of admitted to the problem as the technical support advisers have offered me free chrome casts which I have turned down as I only have 3 HDMI ports which are constantly in use and I also subsequently feel that I do not have to take an extra device to fix a problem which shouldn't be there in the first place.

What rights do I have as when I reported the problem, the TV was only a year old and technically I have a 5 year warranty with John Lewis. My primitive understanding of the law is that the TV no longer works with the functionality that worked before and therefore the goods are "no longer as described".

I am looking into my Credit Card bills to see whether I paid with my credit card as the TV cost nearly £1000. If I did pay with my credit card, can I use section 75? Or can John Lewis turn around and say the TV is not faulty and then take me to court or something if I did use Section 75 protection?

Thanks

cookie365

Can other devices show the streams live from your phone/tablet?

What makes you think it's a fault with the TV, rather than a Netflix issue or something to do with your network?

hamzab

cookie365 wrote: »

Can other devices show the streams live from your phone/tablet?

What makes you think it's a fault with the TV, rather than a Netflix issue or something to do with your network?

Yes other devices work. Sorry I should have been more clearer. I have taken my Samsung Tablet and my iPhone to a relatives who also has a Samsung Smart TV bought a few months after mine and his has no problem.

wealdroam

hamzab wrote: »

I am looking into my Credit Card bills to see whether I paid with my credit card as the TV cost nearly £1000. If I did pay with my credit card, can I use section 75? Or can John Lewis turn around and say the TV is not faulty and then take me to court or something if I did use Section 75 protection?

Section 75 of The Consumer Credit Act only makes the credit supplier equally responsible for performance of the contract.

In other words, you do not have an automatic right to a refund.
If you claim under S75, the CC co are entitled to ask you to confirm that the fault is inherent, or covered by the JL warranty... just as John Lewis are entitled to do.

You suggest that a software update may have caused the problem.
If that is the case, then I believe that the JL warranty may not cover that.
JL say:

We're covering the product to remain in working order for the life of that guarantee – in other words against manufacturing defect causing breakdown.

Is it a manufacturing defect that caused a software update to remove functionality?

I don't know the answer to that, but I am sure that interesting discussion has already taken place... somewhere.

hamzab

wealdroam wrote: »

Is it a manufacturing defect that caused a software update to remove functionality?

I don't know the answer to that, but I am sure that interesting discussion has already taken place... somewhere.

Thanks for clearing up the section 75 bit for me. I've never used it before and is something I have recently read up on.

I'm not sure whether or not it was a manufacturing defect however, surely the Sales of Goods Act still applies as the TV is no longer as described and even fit for purpose as I bought it for the purpose of streaming from my devices to the TV?

Exile_geordie

hamzab wrote: »

Thanks for clearing up the section 75 bit for me. I've never used it before and is something I have recently read up on.

I'm not sure whether or not it was a manufacturing defect however, surely the Sales of Goods Act still applies as the TV is no longer as described and even fit for purpose as I bought it for the purpose of streaming from my devices to the TV?

Well the main point of a telly is to watch the channels - streaming is just a feature.


However can Samsung confirm when the last update was to yoru telly and what may be causing the issue?

Hintza

Have you tried updating the software on the TV?

wealdroam

hamzab wrote: »

Thanks for clearing up the section 75 bit for me. I've never used it before and is something I have recently read up on.

I should've mentioned MSE's Section 75 article in my earlier reply.
It explains things in greater detail.

hamzab wrote: »

I'm not sure whether or not it was a manufacturing defect however, surely the Sales of Goods Act still applies as the TV is no longer as described and even fit for purpose as I bought it for the purpose of streaming from my devices to the TV?

The Sale of Goods Act entitles you to a remedy if the problem is caused by an inherent fault. An inherent fault is one that was present at the time of sale, but not necessarily apparent at that time.

SoGA also allows the seller to get you to prove that the fault is inherent. This is often done by getting an independent report stating that. Not just stating that there is a problem, but stating that the problem is inherent.

Once that is done, then JL (or your CC co if you are going via S75) must provide a remedy.

Now that JL have effectively said that 'there is not an inherent fault', the ball is in your court to convince them otherwise.

hamzab

wealdroam wrote: »

The Sale of Goods Act entitles you to a remedy if the problem is caused by an inherent fault. An inherent fault is one that was present at the time of sale, but not necessarily apparent at that time.

SoGA also allows the seller to get you to prove that the fault is inherent. This is often done by getting an independent report stating that. Not just stating that there is a problem, but stating that the problem is inherent.

Once that is done, then JL (or your CC co if you are going via S75) must provide a remedy.

Now that JL have effectively said that 'there is not an inherent fault', the ball is in your court to convince them otherwise.

Thanks for all your replies.

I have updated the TV's software.

John Lewis have now told me that the spec of the TV simply states that the TV can "stream films from a tablet to a television" therefore it is not covered under the warranty.

If I can prove that my Samsung S5 can stream netflix and other apps fine to the TV but that my Galaxy Tab Pro tablet and my iPhone can't, can that prove that there is an inherent fault with the TV?

Also, as I went into a John Lewis store to purchase the TV but they didn't have it in stock, I had to purchase it online whilst in the store. Therefore the John Lewis lady is now asking me for proof as to where it states that the TV could stream things from Netflix and other apps. I was clearly told by the Sales Colleague that the TV could do these things (and they worked perfectly until November last year) but for some reason, my Galaxy Tab Pro tablet won't do it (and neither will my iPhone) but my Samsung S5 will.

I feel as If I've been robbed. What kind of choices do I have now?

andycris3107

You mention apps such as Netflix which I assume are not integrated into the TV itself.

In such cases the TV would be merely the recipient of content streamed from your tablet / mobile. In such cases I would imagine that there is no warranty which governs the extent to which content may be streamed nor guarantee that all content types would be compatible either now or in the future. Therefore there is no real cause to assume that something that worked previously would continue to do so.

I would imagine that if the TV were incapable of receiving content of any type then that would constitute a fault, whereas since it appears that non live streams are still working then that would be caused by a restriction rather than a fault.

SeduLOUs

hamzab wrote: »

If I can prove that my Samsung S5 can stream netflix and other apps fine to the TV but that my Galaxy Tab Pro tablet and my iPhone can't, can that prove that there is an inherent fault with the TV?

If this is the case, then all it proves is that the TV WILL stream Netflix, so there must be a problem with the settings on your Tab and iPhone.

Does the TV not have a Netflix app built in rather than streaming from phone?

This may or may not be helpful: http://help.unotelly.com/support/articles/179890-netflix-app-not-working-on-samsung-smart-tv