Amazon: TV failing after 3 years is reasonable!

Martnal

3 years ago I bought a Sony television from Amazon. At the end of last month it failed severely. It had been supplied with a one year warranty. I contacted Amazon to negotiate either a goodwill repair, or a partial Credit or refund. Cutting a very long story short, in which I dealt with 11 different people in their complaints process, they twice told me that 3 years meant I had exceeded the reasonable life of the Sony television. I challenge This, saying that a TV these days would become technologically obsolete before it would fail, the specific failure was an LED screen, which are reasonably expected to last 50000 hours. I also pointed out that many companies would sell a Sony television with a 5-year warranty. I reported this statement to Sony at the beginning of the week and I have still not had a reply or acknowledgement from Sony. Does anyone have any advice for me, apart from avoiding Amazon?

JJ_Egan

Nothing to do wirh Sony your rights are against the vendor.


Basics are after 6 months the vendor can ask you .
To prove your claim via an independant report .( see multiple identical posts )



this failed TV was not 'FIT-FOR-PURPOSE' in regards to usage time


Then the law says you prove it as above.



Refund would take into account the 3 years usage and may not be worth you paying for an independant report .

Martnal

I looked into this extensively over the last two or 3 weeks. That might be the law, but how can a company get away with saying that a Sony television won't last more than 3 years?

neilmcl

Martnal wrote: »

I looked into this extensively over the last two or 3 weeks. That might be the law, but how can a company get away with saying that a Sony television won't last more than 3 years?

They can say what ever they want, it'll be up to you prove otherwise and if necessary take them to court, backed by your statutory rights to show otherwise.

Right now if you want any sort of remedy you need to firstly get an independent engineers report to show that the fault is down to manufacture rather than excess wear & tear, accident or misuse. Armed with that you can go back to Amazon to seek a remedy, you may also need to write a Letter Before Action (LBA) outlining your legal position and what you require, you can google for suitable templates. You final course of action of course is taking out a small claims against them, having said that it's still unclear what jurisdiction is applicable to Amazon these days.

comeandgo

Amazon have done nothing wrong. You need to prove the tv had this fault when you received it. If it had then the remedy would take into account you have had three years use out of it.

DoaM

The above posts are correct. One additional point - how did you pay originally? (Paypal? Debit card? Credit card?)

If the report confirms an inherent fault and Amazon are still unwilling to offer a remedy, then if you paid by credit card you could raise a Section 75 claim instead of (or as well as) raising a small claim against Amazon.

JJ_Egan

Was it from Amazon or a market place seller.

Martnal

Thanks for all the replies and your interest. Firstly I didn't use a credit card, I paid using a debit card. I've extensively read the legal position, and I'm aware that it is a very grey area and it is almost shameful that it is like this. It is ridiculous that they say that a Sony television should only be expected to use reusable for 3 years. I think Amazon should be expecting to hear from Sony about that. I've looked into the whole process I'm going ahead with a small claim, I think it is obvious that a television which hasn't been moved from where I put it 3 years ago must have had something intrinsically wrong with it at the time of manufacture for it to fail. I have a broad purple band across the lower quarter of the screen. I will keep you updated. I just hope that whoever administers my small claim has just bought a television and that they quite reasonably expect it to become obsolete before it breaks down.

DoaM

Make sure you file your claim against the correct legal entity ... companies like Amazon deliberately make this difficult.

neilmcl

Martnal wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies and your interest. Firstly I didn't use a credit card, I paid using a debit card. I've extensively read the legal position, and I'm aware that it is a very grey area and it is almost shameful that it is like this. It is ridiculous that they say that a Sony television should only be expected to use reusable for 3 years. I think Amazon should be expecting to hear from Sony about that. I've looked into the whole process I'm going ahead with a small claim, I think it is obvious that a television which hasn't been moved from where I put it 3 years ago must have had something intrinsically wrong with it at the time of manufacture for it to fail. I have a broad purple band across the lower quarter of the screen. I will keep you updated. I just hope that whoever administers my small claim has just bought a television and that they quite reasonably expect it to become obsolete before it breaks down.

It's not a "grey area" in the slightest. After 6 months the onus is on you to prove that any fault is inherent to manufacture and the item does not conform to contract.

There's some important steps to take before you consider small claims. As I've already mentioned you need proof, not just your opinion, that the TV does not conform to contract and you need to formally send an LBA and give the retailer a chance to respond.

JJ_Egan

Once upon a time somebody did give a far longer warranty on electrical stuff . No quibble just changed refunded .
Result many many customers just returned fully working items to get a new one .


<, I think it is obvious that a television which hasn't been moved from where I put it 3 years ago must have had something intrinsically wrong with it at the time of manufacture for it to fail>>
Then your independant report is going to prove your point .