How long should a contract be kept for?

Scarlets_mum

Hello.

I purchased some goods a few years ago that should be subject to a 10 year guarantee. I can't find the contract. Should the supplier be duty bound to retain the contract seeing as they offer a 10 year guarantee?
What are your thoughts please?

Many thanks

Greta_Sharbo

Are you referring to the terms and conditions of the guarantee?

Yes you would expect them to be able to reproduce the contract terms - a guarantee isn't necessarily always from the supplier though. It may have been the manufacturer or another third party so worth checking if this is the case?

Have you made a guarantee claim that was rejected? If so did they say it was because the t&C's didn't cover it?

Scarlets_mum

I am asking them to fix something that I believed was covered under the guarantee. I would hope and it would make sense that they should keep the contract as I should be getting 10 year cover. Just a feeling that I may get fobbed off and they say they destroyed it after 6 years!

Greta_Sharbo

Scarlets_mum wrote: »

I am asking them to fix something that I believed was covered under the guarantee. I would hope and it would make sense that they should keep the contract as I should be getting 10 year cover. Just a feeling that I may get fobbed off and they say they destroyed it after 6 years!

Sounds like they haven't responded yet if I'm reading it correctly then - so there might not even be a problem yet? Let us know.

bris

It's up to you to prove you have a warranty in place, you are the one who should be keeping the details. They need to hold records for 6 years after that they can and usually do destroy everything over that age.

photome

if its windows (guessing as they come with a 10 year gtee)


do you have a FENSA certificate


if its not windows then ignore


I do think it is up to you to keep papers safe for the term of the gtee though.

[Deleted User]

Scarlets_mum wrote: »

I am asking them to fix something that I believed was covered under the guarantee. I would hope and it would make sense that they should keep the contract as I should be getting 10 year cover. Just a feeling that I may get fobbed off and they say they destroyed it after 6 years!

You appear unsure about the terms of the guarantee, can you clarify exactly what the items are which require repair? If it's windows, doors or other such installations then not every provider will offer a ten year warranty, but that does not mean the goods should not last a reasonable amount of time.

I'm not sure any "contract" will have been kept by a retailer, guarantee certificates are given to the customer for exactly that reason. Some manufacturers (mainly of electricals) do encourage customers to "register" their products for guarantee/warranty purposes and certainly records of those registrations will be kept for as long as the guarantee period.

More information is required if we are to help you further...

MobileSaver

Scarlets_mum wrote: »

Should the supplier be duty bound to retain the contract seeing as they offer a 10 year guarantee?

No. It may be wise for them to retain the contract but there's no obligation for them to do so and no obligation to provide you with a copy even if they did.

If you took your claim to court then this would be a civil case and so the onus is on you to prove, on the balance of probability, that the fault was covered by the contract and not for the supplier to prove that it was not.

DoaM

MobileSaver wrote: »

If you took your claim to court then this would be a civil case and so the onus is on you to prove, on the balance of probability, that the fault was covered by the contract and not for the supplier to prove that it was not.

Not quite ... the supplier still needs to submit a defence. If they don't then OP would get a default judgment; If they do then their evidence needs to be more-compelling to the judge than the OPs.

After all, as you said yourself, the claim is judged on the balance of probabilities ... based on the evidence presented.

Scarlets_mum

Morning

Thank you for all your replies. Yes it is windows. The issue is that the company never completed the job and hence I retained 10% as in accordance with the T&C's this would be paid on completion. Time passed they never completed even though asked to do so and I forgot etc. There is now an issue with the windows and they are saying as you didn't clear your account you have no guarantee. As far as I am concerned they never finished the job, they acknowledged in an email that there was work outstanding a few years ago. My argument is that they cannot remove my guarantee if they did not finish the job, and of course I did not pay the last 10% for that reason. Bit of a vicious circle.

Thoughts please?

macman

Any warranty would be dependent on a) the job being completed and certified, and b) payment being made.
So expecting a warranty payout is futile. These type of warranties are usually worthless anyway, as there are so many exclusions (for example, you'll find that the locking and hinging mechanism usually isn't covered).