Additional charge on Sony camera repair

xJonny

I have received the following email after asking for clarification.

Thank you for your query but as the lens has damaged the cost of the repair has exceeded the fixed cost charge and so an estimate has been sent to cover this cost.

This excerpt should have been on your paperwork :

Repairs to Products Outside of the Guarantee Period

Out of guarantee repairs will be carried out at a fixed cost price. This cost includes labour, parts, and carriage costs. All prices are inclusive of VAT and are displayed on the Repair Delivery Note below.

If a product is found to have failed due to physical damage or abuse an estimate for the repair cost will be provided. Should you decide not to proceed with the repair at the estimated cost a handling fee will be applied and the product will be returned unrepaired. details of the handling fee will be indicated on the estimate paperwork

Of course, this was not how it was stated on my paperwork, as posted above. Also, a problem with the lens extending/retracting is surely a mechanical one, not physical damage/abuse. I have stated this and will ask to be referred to someone more senior if they disagree.

unholyangel wrote: »

From what OP has said, the retailer has not complied with consumer contract regulations either which make it mandatory for retailers (in distance or off-premise contracts) to provide certain information to the customer before the customer is bound by the contract.

Part of the information they need to include is:


The meaning of the first two should be obvious. The last one...regulation 36(1) basically orders the retailer not to begin provision of the service before the 14 day cooling period is over unless the consumer has made an express request. Where the consumer makes such a request, the can be liable for services provided up until they cancel. If they didn't make such a request or if the trader failed to supply the consumer with the information in paragraphs (l) and (n) above, then the consumer can cancel within the cancellation period without liability.

Thank you, I was looking for something like this. I have a question about the 14 day cancellation period. Since 14 days have passed since receiving the email, am I deemed to have started the contract at the arrival of that email (which I could have ignored), when I sent the camera back to them, or when they received it? This is due to, for instance, about 11 days between sending it and them notifying me of their receipt and also the back and forth about payment as well as the fact that I couldn't get to a post office to post it for a few days.

unholyangel

I should have maybe covered this also. But:

Cancellation period extended for breach of information requirement

31.—(1) This regulation applies if the trader does not provide the consumer with the information on the right to cancel required by paragraph (l) of Schedule 2, in accordance with Part 2.

(2) If the trader provides the consumer with that information in the period of 12 months beginning with the first day of the 14 days mentioned in regulation 30(2) to (6), but otherwise in accordance with Part 2, the cancellation period ends at the end of 14 days after the consumer receives the information.

(3) Otherwise the cancellation period ends at the end of 12 months after the day on which it would have ended under regulation 30.

Basically you have 14 days from the day after you receive the information on your right to cancel. If they dont provide you with the info at all then you have 12 months & 14 days to cancel.

xJonny

After being put in contact with a manager and everyone in the chain asserting that it was explained properly in the "paperwork", I have been offered a refund and for it to be returned out of "goodwill".

This has been an unnecessary inconvenience for me which could have been easily avoided.

xJonny

Sony got in touch after I mentioned this on Twitter and looked like they would bring a better resolution, but instead they just parrotted whatever the repair centre told them until I showed them they were wrong (after several phone calls, emails, Twitter messages). Then absolute silence from them. What a waste of time.

The repair centre eventually contacted me and asked me to take that refund, which I ended up accepting.

If they are like this when I am out of guarantee and willing to pay them, I can't imagine what they would be like under guarantee. This has been a bad experience and I will avoid Sony products in the future.