Cordless Vacs / Trading Standards?

dannymccann

I bought an AEG Ergorapido cordless vacuum in January 16 from Amazon. It's used everyday, kept charged, cleaned, emptied etc as it is intended for. Last week, suddenly, the battery life dropped from the normal 15-20 minutes to 1 minute. I have complained to AEG who want me to take it at my own cost to their certified repair centre, which I would imagine I might as well buy a replacement vacuum for the same money. I have pushed back to them expressing my disappointment that a £150 vacuum (sale price as well) should fail so catastrophically at less than a year old.

If I get nowhere with AEG is it the sort of thing I could complain to Trading Standards about? Or am I just out of luck with it?

Thanks

wealdroam

dannymccann wrote: »

I bought an AEG Ergorapido cordless vacuum in January 16 from Amazon. It's used everyday, kept charged, cleaned, emptied etc as it is intended for. Last week, suddenly, the battery life dropped from the normal 15-20 minutes to 1 minute. I have complained to AEG who want me to take it at my own cost to their certified repair centre, which I would imagine I might as well buy a replacement vacuum for the same money. I have pushed back to them expressing my disappointment that a £150 vacuum (sale price as well) should fail so catastrophically at less than a year old.

If I get nowhere with AEG is it the sort of thing I could complain to Trading Standards about? Or am I just out of luck with it?

Thanks

Now that you have been visiting MSE forums for over eight years it is time for you to read MSE's Consumer Rights guide.

In there you will find:

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.

Have AEG actually said they expect you to cover the cost of the repair?

A manufacturer's warranty is in addition to your statutory rights and as such can include conditions - like "the consumer must cover the cost of returning the goods".

Trading Standards won't be interested. AEG have done nothing wrong.

forgotmyname

Your assuming its the battery, but it maybe the charger.

Or the voltage may have got too low and damaged the battery, or it got too hot.

Used everyday and kept charged could be the issue also. Typically upto 500 recharges but keeping the battery at 100% can actually decrease its lifespan.

photome

forgotmyname wrote: »

Your assuming its the battery, but it maybe the charger.

Or the voltage may have got too low and damaged the battery, or it got too hot.

Used everyday and kept charged could be the issue also. Typically upto 500 recharges but keeping the battery at 100% can actually decrease its lifespan.

It is designed to be left on charge permanently so IMO none of the above should matter to the OP in regards getting a resolution

peachyprice

How far away is their repair centre that it's going to cost you £150 to get there? Could you not post it instead?

I don't really know what you expect AEG to do without being given the chance to inspect the vac.

As it's less than a year old, have you tried contacting Amazon about it? They may just replace it for you.

dannymccann

I have now tried amazon, they have directed me to AEG, so I've told them what AEG said and just waiting to hear back. I must admit I didn't go to straight to Amazon as I figured it would be too long after the order date for them to care about, I've never had to return anything apart from DOA before...

Forgotmyname: It has a trickle charge feature like you have for automotive batteries, the manual does say to leave it on its charging unit at all times when not in use, and lithium batteries don't suffer from the old school 'battery memory' issues like ni-cd etc

Peachy: what I mean is they've already said I will have to pay for whatever repair is required, they don't appear to be interested in replacing and given a new equivalent unit is probably £80 - £100 these days there seems little value in paying for a repair to the used unit, which I can't feasibly see coming in less than that when you factor in parts, a few hours of labour, postage and vat?

Cheers

wealdroam

dannymccann wrote: »

I must admit I didn't go to straight to Amazon as I figured it would be too long after the order date for them to care about, I've never had to return anything apart from DOA before...

You have a statutory right to seek a remedy from the seller for up to six years following the sale.

unholyangel

wealdroam wrote: »

You have a statutory right to seek a remedy from the seller for up to six years following the sale.

Not when buying from amazon you dont Luxembourg limit it to 2 years.

wealdroam

unholyangel wrote: »

Not when buying from amazon you dont Luxembourg limit it to 2 years.

Do you know, I almost put a line in my earlier post along the lines of "expect Unholyangel to disagree with this", but I thought that might upset some.

I'm still not convinced you're right, but we digress.

dannymccann

I bow to your wisdom, Amazon have offered me a full refund, even paying the postage to send it back :beer:. Unbelievable, you can't knock that for customer service. Thanks for the input in this thread, as I put before I never would've thought to go to the seller after this length of time.

At the same time can't help feel 6 years is a bit one sided for the customer!

lincroft1710

dannymccann wrote: »

At the same time can't help feel 6 years is a bit one sided for the customer!

Bear in mind that after 6 months, if the seller won't do immediate repair/exchange/refund, the customer has to at his expense obtain an independent report to ascertain if there is an inherent fault or not. If inherent fault found then seller should re-imburse customer for cost of report.

Also if seller offers refund it can take account of usage and age of product. So if a TV goes wrong after 5 years, its value if it had been a 5 yr old working item would probably be negligible.