Faulty 3 Year old TV

treasach

Hi, just after abit of advice please, sorry for rambling

Basically I bought a Samsung 55 inch TV 3 years ago from Crampton and Moore, we now have a black line across the middle of it which occurred before it was 3 years old. I’ve paid for an engineer to come out and he’s advised that this is a faulty LED light, will need a new screen and completed a report which has been submitted to the retailer.

Crampton and Moore have point blank refused to help and on three occasions told me to contact Samsung directly, but they are the retailer??? They’ve tried a few excuses not to help on different occasions, firstly I didn’t have extended warranty and then they wouldn’t cover faulty pixels (this was before they even saw the report) their final response via email was contact Samsung and here’s their number. I sent over a complaint letter requesting they contact me back in 7 days on the 23rd of May but they haven’t replied.

I’ve now been told Trading Standards no longer will get involved with this type of thing and I need to take this to a small claims court, I suppose I just want to know am I wasting my time??

900 quid for something that isn't even going to last three years isn't great

Thanks
Si

Oakdene

After a certain period, I believe 12 months but someone will be here to confirm, the liabilty lies with the manufacturer

naedanger

treasach wrote: »

Hi, just after abit of advice please, sorry for rambling

Basically I bought a Samsung 55 inch TV 3 years ago from Crampton and Moore, we now have a black line across the middle of it which occurred before it was 3 years old. I’ve paid for an engineer to come out and he’s advised that this is a faulty LED light, will need a new screen and completed a report which has been submitted to the retailer.

Crampton and Moore have point blank refused to help and on three occasions told me to contact Samsung directly, but they are the retailer??? They’ve tried a few excuses not to help on different occasions, firstly I didn’t have extended warranty and then they wouldn’t cover faulty pixels (this was before they even saw the report) their final response via email was contact Samsung and here’s their number. I sent over a complaint letter requesting they contact me back in 7 days on the 23rd of May but they haven’t replied.

I’ve now been told Trading Standards no longer will get involved with this type of thing and I need to take this to a small claims court, I suppose I just want to know am I wasting my time??

900 quid for something that isn't even going to last three years isn't great

Thanks
Si

Did you buy the tv using a credit card?

If not then you probably will need to go to the small claims court. You will then need to prove on the balance of probability that the tv was inherently faulty i.e. the fault existed at purchase, even if it did not manifest itself until later. So lack of durability is probably what you would allege as the fault. (I am not sure if the retailer could reasonably argue the faulty LED could easily have arisen through misuse. If they could then you need to be aware that you might need to counter this point.)

If you win you should get a partial refund plus a refund of any court fees. The refund will be reduced to account for the usage you have already had so you may only get around 50% [just my guess] of the original price returned.

(Also be aware if the retailer does not pay the onus is on you to take recovery action at your risk. This can be an important consideration in some cases.)

treasach

Oh man. not sounding good for me then!! I thought under the Sales of Goods act the retailer had a responsibility for the goods up to a maximum of 6 years.

I just bought it outright using my current account

I just find this crazy, definitely wouldn't spend the money on something this expensive again

marliepanda

treasach wrote: »

Oh man. not sounding good for me then!! I thought under the Sales of Goods act the retailer had a responsibility for the goods up to a maximum of 6 years.

I just bought it outright using my current account

I just find this crazy, definitely wouldn't spend the money on something this expensive again

For inherent faults, yes.

Sounds like your report just says it's faulty, which after three years could have been caused by many different things.

No report saying the fault is 'inherent' = no responsibility to fix it by anyone

DoaM

The report doesn't need to state absolutely that the fault was inherent, merely that in the engineer's opinion the fault was not due to damage and would not be expected in a product of that age and purchase price.

What's important is what exactly the report said.

treasach

The report states "Developed a fault in that a line has appeared across the LED screen. This is a manufacturing failure"

naedanger

treasach wrote: »

Oh man. not sounding good for me then!! I thought under the Sales of Goods act the retailer had a responsibility for the goods up to a maximum of 6 years

They do but only for inherent faults - you would not expect them to be responsible if, for example, you smashed it.

Personally I would have thought you could, without too much difficulty, convince a court, on the balance of probability (which is not a high standard of proof), that the tv was inherently faulty, especially given that your report says it was a manufacturing failure.

However there will be work in making a small claim.

treasach

naedanger wrote: »

They do but only for inherent faults - you would not expect them to be responsible if, for example, you smashed it.

And I completely agree there, but the TV has sat in the corner of the room for 3 years and popped it's clogs, the most annoying thing is how appalling the customer service has been

Now John Lewis are offering 5 year warranties on items like this, I can't see how these will stay in business

angryparcel

why not contact Samsung and see what they say as you have a report which you state says 'This is a manufacturing failure'

unholyangel

OP can always send a letter before action now (including a copy of the report) and decide afterwards whether they want to take court action or not.

With a little bit of luck, the retailer wont want to take the risk of being responsible for additional costs.

OP in future, when buying anything costing over £100, pay on credit card. Its not a magic wand but it does give you another two avenues for redress should things go wrong - with the card company who are jointly & severally liable and if they reject your claim, you can appeal to the financial ombudsman (and can still take court action even if the ombudsman reject your claim). In contrast, visa & mastercard debit cards only give 120 days to make a claim and only for limited reasons.