Item under warranty keeps breaking

TheCartoonCommando_(CC)

Hi,

In May 2017 I purchased a mountain bike seat post from an online German company Bike-Discount.de (BD) It has since failed twice rendering the bike unusable. The first time was on holiday and BD told me to contact the manufacturer which I did, and they told me the only thing I could do was send it back. I had to buy another seat post to be able to continue with the holiday. I sent it back to BD asking for a refund as I believe the seat post is not fit for purpose, but they sent it to the manufacturer for repair and then back to me. Am I entitled to a refund? I have read the guide on the new rules.
Many thanks in advance. CC

boo_star

TheCartoonCommando_(CC) wrote: »

Hi,

In May 2017 I purchased a mountain bike seat post from an online German company Bike-Discount.de (BD) It has since failed twice rendering the bike unusable. The first time was on holiday and BD told me to contact the manufacturer which I did, and they told me the only thing I could do was send it back. I had to buy another seat post to be able to continue with the holiday. I sent it back to BD asking for a refund as I believe the seat post is not fit for purpose, but they sent it to the manufacturer for repair and then back to me. Am I entitled to a refund? I have read the guide on the new rules.
Many thanks in advance. CC

It’s not the UK rules that apply here. You need to find out what your rights are under German law.

Keep_pedalling

How can a bike seatpost fail twice? I've never had one fail but if I did it would never be able to be put back in service.

It could work lose, but that would be down to not being tight enough in the first place, and would be fixable with the tool every cyclist should carry with then.

KeithP

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

How can a bike seatpost fail twice? I've never had one fail but if I did it would never be able to be put back in service.

It could work lose, but that would be down to not being tight enough in the first place, and would be fixable with the tool every cyclist should carry with then.

Google dropper seat post.

Some are a lot more complicated that what you are thinking of.

boo_star

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

How can a bike seatpost fail twice? I've never had one fail but if I did it would never be able to be put back in service.

It could work lose, but that would be down to not being tight enough in the first place, and would be fixable with the tool every cyclist should carry with then.

Carbon fibre?

It tends to fail in a fairly unpleasant way (for your backside.)

TheCartoonCommando_(CC)

What about this line on the MSE consumer rights page?
"However, it does apply to everything bought in the UK regardless of where the retailer is based (though if you bought something from, say, Outer Mongolia, it might prove tricky to enforce)."

TheCartoonCommando_(CC)

boo_star wrote: »

It’s not the UK rules that apply here. You need to find out what your rights are under German law.

What about this line on the MSE consumer rights page?
"However, it does apply to everything bought in the UK regardless of where the retailer is based (though if you bought something from, say, Outer Mongolia, it might prove tricky to enforce)."

TheCartoonCommando_(CC)

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

How can a bike seatpost fail twice? I've never had one fail but if I did it would never be able to be put back in service.

It could work lose, but that would be down to not being tight enough in the first place, and would be fixable with the tool every cyclist should carry with then.

The seat post is a Magura wireless dropper post. The first time it failed fault meant it wouldn't go down, the second time it wouldn't stay up or down so just acted like a pogo stick.

DoaM

TheCartoonCommando_(CC) wrote: »

What about this line on the MSE consumer rights page?
"However, it does apply to everything bought in the UK regardless of where the retailer is based (though if you bought something from, say, Outer Mongolia, it might prove tricky to enforce)."

I wouldn't take the MSE consumer rights page as gospel.

Check the website you bought from ... in the T&Cs/Legal bit it will probably say that the contract is subject to German law. Regardless of whether you're in the UK or Germany, German law applies and thus you can only enforce your rights through the German courts.

In theory you can make an out of jurisdiction claim through the UK courts but this can be very expensive.

unholyangel

DoaM wrote: »

I wouldn't take the MSE consumer rights page as gospel.

Check the website you bought from ... in the T&Cs/Legal bit it will probably say that the contract is subject to German law. Regardless of whether you're in the UK or Germany, German law applies and thus you can only enforce your rights through the German courts.

In theory you can make an out of jurisdiction claim through the UK courts but this can be very expensive.

If they're in the EU, they need to allow you to bring proceedings in the court of the country you are domiciled in - although not necessarily under the governing law of the country you are domiciled in.

unforeseen

So you just need to find a judge and possibly other legal bods who are conversant with German civil law.

I can't see any problems there.