Argos or Kenwood...?

CGG

On 3 December I bought a Kenwood food mixer/processor from Argos, via their ebay store. It was heavily discounted from £189 to £49.99, and stated "This is BRAND NEW stock supplied by Argos.
New products are complete with all standard manufacturers parts and accessories, in original packaging, and all supported by the Argos 12 month warranty.
Please note that some items may have been opened for Quality Assurance purposes.
Our 12 month Argos warranty means that you can purchase with full peace of mind"

I have attempted to set this up today - it has numerous attachments - but the item when plugged in just had a flashing light and would not work. I phoned Kenwood to see if they could talk me through any troubleshooting ideas. It still wouldn't work and they agreed it had a fault. The problem starts here... They said I need to take the matter up with Argos.
I phoned Argos's ebay shop, explained and was told to take the item into any Argos with my receipt and they would exchange it for a new one. I tried to see on Argos's website if there was in deed stock showing for a replacement item, but the item couldn't even be found. (I did this as the Kenwood box is seriously HUGE, weighs 14.5kg and I did not relish the idea of lugging this around...)
I phoned my nearest Argos and explained again. They confirmed that although I only purchased the item two weeks ago, it was no longer a stock item and they could only offer me a £49.99 refund providing I took the faulty machine and my ebay receipt in to them. He stated that they could not arrange a repair for me.
I don't want to accept the refund, I'd like the machine repaired.
I have since emailed Kenwood - their phone lines have closed for the day and hope they will get back to me tomorrow.
I'm sorry this post is so long, but if someone knows for sure, should it be Argos or Kenwood that deal with getting this item to work?
Thanks in advance.

daveyjp

Your contract is with Argos.

They can either refund, replace or repair. They can't replace because they don't have any, they don't want to repair, probabaly because its too much trouble, so they have offered a refund, thus meeting their obligations.

agrinnall

There's no problem with the offer from Argos. If you want to speak to Kenwood again to see if they can offer an alternative that's your prerogative, but if there's no manufacturer's warranty (which seems possible if it was being sold with an Argos warranty) then they can simply decline to do anything.

CGG

Update: Yes, I heard from Argos, they are firm in only offering a refund for the original cost.
But all is not lost - I have just had an email from Kenwood, they are organising a courier to collect the faulty item from me and take it to one of their repair centres for fixing.

agrinnall

Good news, that was a call worth making.

CGG

All's well that ends well! True to their word, Kenwood arranged collection from me of the faulty item just before the Xmas break and it has just been delivered by Parcelforce back to me, all fixed.
Thanks to Kenwood for their speedy service.