Sale of goods act: Faults that develop after two years

vtc6

I have a mobile phone, the two year warranty ended three months ago, and the phone has now failed.

I remember reading that the sale of goods act said that goods must last a reasonable amount of time, but now that I've re-read (on the Which.co.uk website, and a few other online publications), the advice seems to mention very little about the goods lasting reasonable time.

I've spoken with the retailer, Carphone Warehouse, and they have said that the fault must have been inherent at the time of purchase and that I need to provide them with an engineers report (the latter I knew already).

I've had a cursive read of the act itself, and I also can't find anything explicit about the goods lasting reasonable time.

Is there potential for a claim here, should a mobile phone last longer than 28 months? Which section of the act deals with this because I can't find it.

Many thanks
Philip

vuvuzela

vtc6 wrote: »

I have a mobile phone, the two year warranty ended three months ago, and the phone has now failed.

I remember reading that the sale of goods act said that goods must last a reasonable amount of time, but now that I've re-read (on the Which.co.uk website, and a few other online publications), the advice seems to mention very little about the goods lasting reasonable time.

I've spoken with the retailer, Carphone Warehouse, and they have said that the fault must have been inherent at the time of purchase and that I need to provide them with an engineers report (the latter I knew already).

I've had a cursive read of the act itself, and I also can't find anything explicit about the goods lasting reasonable time.

Is there potential for a claim here, should a mobile phone last longer than 28 months? Which section of the act deals with this because I can't find it.

Many thanks
Philip

There's nothing legally explicit in terms of timescale for the expected lifespan of purchased goods. The thing is, how long would you deem reasonable for a mobile to last ? I guess partly that would come down to cost - a 30 quid mobile could be seen as pretty much disposable after 28 months, but you'd hope that a £600 one would still be working well. What mobile was it ? That for me would decide whether to go for the initial expense of an engineer's report (although if it concludes the fault was inherent at purchase you should get the cost refunded by the retailer). I think personally I'd be reasonably happy to get over 2 years from a mobile, particularly as I use mine heavily every day for work and leisure purposes.

vtc6

The phone is a sim-free Samsung S4, cost £580 when purchased!

cono1717

Would this not still fall under the "you need to prove its an inherent fault" bit - you might expect a phone to last more than 2 years at almost £600 but certainly not if you throw it at the wall on a nightly basis. Presumably proving its a manufacturing defect (which you'd need to do anyway) supersedes this as you'd then have the 6 years of cover?

vuvuzela

cono1717 wrote: »

Would this not still fall under the "you need to prove its an inherent fault" bit - you might expect a phone to last more than 2 years at almost £600 but certainly not if you throw it at the wall on a nightly basis. Presumably proving its a manufacturing defect (which you'd need to do anyway) supersedes this as you'd then have the 6 years of cover?

It would, however there is no such thing as '6 years of cover'.

daytona0

vtc6 wrote: »

The phone is a sim-free Samsung S4, cost £580 when purchased!

You're generally fine for up to 6 years with items... although that isn't necessarily a "reasonable amount of time" depending on the item in question. Phones can last for years, so a fault after 2 years isn't too good.

Generally it is just a case of getting the fault report and getting either a repair, replacement or [partial] refund to take into account usage. From the sounds of it the retailer are being very helpful with the situation too.

CPW mentioned that it must be an inherent fault? Can you actually get that in writing from them, as it may come in hand in the future?

Aside from that, CPW seem to be dealing with it for you so you don't need to do much more than what they tell you to do at this stage!

JJ_Egan

vtc6 wrote: »

The phone is a sim-free Samsung S4, cost £580 when purchased!

The 2 year warranty is Samsungs limited warranty and nothing to do with your rights under SOGA .
independent engineers report should hopefully identify the problem .

theEnd

Are modern phones expected to last much over 2 years?

As a minimum, you'd be replacing the battery by then.

cono1717

vuvuzela wrote: »

It would, however there is no such thing as '6 years of cover'.

You have 6 years to claim though right? (That's what I meant)

tomtontom

cono1717 wrote: »

You have 6 years to claim though right? (That's what I meant)

Six years to claim but how long a smartphone should last is arguable, I'd say two or three years, others would argue otherwise.

What is the problem you are having OP? Have you looked at the cost of repair against the cost of a report? Also keep in mind that you can get a reconditioned S4 for £115, phones depreciate in value very quickly.

vuvuzela

daytona0 wrote: »

You're generally fine for up to 6 years with items... although that isn't necessarily a "reasonable amount of time" depending on the item in question. Phones can last for years, so a fault after 2 years isn't too good.

Generally it is just a case of getting the fault report and getting either a repair, replacement or [partial] refund to take into account usage. From the sounds of it the retailer are being very helpful with the situation too.

CPW mentioned that it must be an inherent fault? Can you actually get that in writing from them, as it may come in hand in the future?

Aside from that, CPW seem to be dealing with it for you so you don't need to do much more than what they tell you to do at this stage!

The first bit in bold should be ignored as it has no basis in anything resembling consumer law.
The second bit in bold shows that daytona0 didn't read your post very carefully...