URGENT - baby monitor - Just under 1 year old and faulty

tamsworld

Help!
We purchased a tommee tippee baby video monitor at their stall at the baby exhibition at the NEC last May. We have the receipt.


It has been boxed and unused (tested briefly to make sure it was working) until last Friday when our four month old moved into her own room.


Each night after having been on for a few hours it loses the link between the camera unit and the mobile unit/LCD screen. With this loss of link it emits a really loud beeping, which goes on and off over half an hour or so. It doesn't matter which rooms we are in, it still happens.


We have spoken to Tomme Tippee and they have told us how to do a "hard reset" which also hasn't worked.


They have now said to us that we need to return the unit at our cost, before they will send out another.


The receipt is dated May 2014 so we are just within a year of purchase.


My question is, do they need to cover the return postage seeing as the unit is faulty? Secondly, shouldn't they provide us with a replacement first otherwise we will be left without a baby monitor completely? I thought there was something somewhere about goods needing to be fit for purpose for a certain period, but because of the time we have had it for I'm not sure where we stand.


Any advice would be gratefully received - thanks in advance.

NotRichAtAll

I have never been so fortunate as to have a company send out a replacement without first receiving the faulty item first, mind you my only experience of this was with a logitec mouse and a seagate hard drive.
returning the unit at your cost seems pretty standard practice, is the unit faulty? they only have your word for that are you a baby monitor engineer? just send it off to them and await your replacement

LilElvis

Legally the onus is with the seller to prove that the item is faulty in the first 6 months since purchase and after that point it is up to the buyer. It doesn't just have to be faulty, as it appears to be, but that the fault is inherent, which means that the fault was there (though not necessarily obvious) at the time of purchase. They could ask you to provide proof of this fault by way of you providing a technical report in support of your claim in order for them to be legally obliged to remedy the problem. This would cost you (though they would have to reimburse you for the cost of the report if it found in your favour) and take even more time. It might be irksome to pay for the postage but this sounds like the quickest way to a resolution. Try asking them to loan you a monitor whilst they look at yours to repair/replace it. Hopefully it won't take too long and as your child is still very young, and has only recently moved into their own room, it shouldn't be to much of a hardship, especially as the recommendation is that babies should share a room with parents for the first 6 months. Hopefully they will offer a loan unit and get your one working soon.

stevemLS

The other thing to remember is, did you buy it direct from the manufacturer or from a stall holder at the exhibition?

It is the stall holder who owes you legal obligations, if any.

They may, of course, be one and the same.

ThumbRemote

tamsworld wrote: »

My question is, do they need to cover the return postage seeing as the unit is faulty? Secondly, shouldn't they provide us with a replacement first otherwise we will be left without a baby monitor completely? I thought there was something somewhere about goods needing to be fit for purpose for a certain period, but because of the time we have had it for I'm not sure where we stand.

Yes, they should cover return postage. However they don't need to do this until they verify there is a fault.

Strictly the law says any remedy must not cause 'significant inconvenience'. Now you could argue that being without a baby monitor for more than a couple of days would cause this, but you may be better of just moving him back to your room for a week or so to until it's sorted out.

tamsworld

@Notrichatall - yes its faulty, its apparently a known fault in some batches I wasn't sure about the returning before receiving a replacement as I know that's the case with the distance selling regs (I know this instance was not distance selling, but wondered if the same thing applied).


@StevemLS - it was the manufacturers themselves, at a stall at the baby show last year.


Thanks all, much appreciated.

stevemLS

Fair enough - I did acknowledge that they may have been selling direct.

wealdroam

While you bought direct from the manufacturer, did you make that point clear to them?

I ask because if they assumed you have bought elsewhere, and were looking for a remedy under the manufacturer's warranty, they can state that goods are returned at the customer's expense... and any other reasonable conditions.

When the manufacturer is also the seller, it is important to be clear whether you are seeking a remedy under The Sale of Goods Act or the manufacturer's warranty.

SimonSays

So let me get this straight

Baby monitor goes wrong. You contact company and they say "Sorry! Send it to us and we will send a replacement"

and you are on here complaining because.....

Do you want them to send City Sprint to collect and drop off the new one in an hour? As others have said they only have your word its faulty.

Country_Cousin

Sounds like they are doing all that they need to. If it was me I would be packing it off and sending it off quickly, so that I could get another one back as soon as possible. You say you don't want to be without a monitor but as the one you have does not work reliably that is the situation you are in at the present.


If it is found to be faulty then they should refund the postage - however to be perfectly honest I would always suck up the postage cost rather than get into a fight over the principle of it if it meant my situation was going to be resolved satisfactorily

ThumbRemote

SimonSays wrote: »

and you are on here complaining because.....

Do you want them to send City Sprint to collect and drop off the new one in an hour? As others have said they only have your word its faulty.

They weren't complaining. They asked two questions about their consumer rights, which have been answered.