Breach of Contract

disdilemma

I may be posting this in the wrong place but could not a suitable thread for rights when you have purchased an item and the contract is between businesses. We are a business and ordered a bespoke emergency lightbar for one of our commercial vehicles which is required to be working at all times due to the fact that we work on highways/restricted areas etc. The item developed a fault which was rectified by the manufacturer whereby they travelled to our yard and rectified. The item has since developed a further fault but unlike before the supplier/manufacturer are refusing to come out again to repair. They have informed us that we either need to remove the item and send back to them for repair, this is not feasible as it is all electric parts and we are not electricians and could invalidate the "warranty". They have also suggested that they send us the relevant parts for repair (despite the fact that we do not know what they are)! We have a record of lengthy email exchanges whereby we have offered to pay for the engineer to attend and fix the lightbar which has been rejected. Unfortunately we have reached a stalemate and they are refusing to do anything. We did seek the advice of a solicitor and pay for a solicitor's letter to be sent advising them that they are in breach of contract but they have ignored this letter. We have it confirmed in writing that the item carries a 5 year warranty which obviously isn't the case! As the lightbar has failed twice and they have failed to properly and promptly address the issue on this second occasion we are claiming for a full refund together with any costs we incur removing and replacing the lightbar.

We are talking about quite a lot of money here and wondered if it something that we can pursue via money claim on line. If anybody out there can offer us advice I would be very grateful.

I even have videos showing the failure of the lightbar.

agrinnall

You aren't covered by the legislation that covers consumer contracts, while there is some legislation in place for B2B contracts (perhaps the Sale of Goods Act 1979) in large part the terms of the contract will govern what you are entitled to do. Yes, I believe you can use MCOL, but I'd suggest it might be worth consulting with the solicitor again to get proper advice on what you'd be claiming for.

bris

You need to read the terms of the warranty. As a business the terms are what you have to go on.
If they have broke the terms there is a breach of contract, if it says you need to return it they haven't.

tacpot12

If the lightbar isn't designed to be maintained by the end-user, then you will invalidate the warranty if you fit the parts, so sending you parts for you to fit isn't a sensible approach for the manufacturer to suggest.

If the lightbar has been installed in such a way that it can't easily be dismounted, then you are in a bind. Who installed the lightbar and who specified the method of installation?

Your contract with the manufacturer should specify responsibilities for installing the equipment and to return it in the even you need to make a claim on warranty. It is not uncommon for contracts to state that the cost of sending the item back is the customer's responsiblity, and if the item is repaired under warranty, the cost of returning it to the customer is the responsiblity of the supplier. if the contract is silent on these matters, then it is open for negotiation and a court is unlikely to force the supplier to pay. That said, the manufacturer seems to be on shaky ground as they have previously been to site to fix the issue.

Was the solicitor's letter specific about what part of the contract the manufacturer had broken? And was this letter a "Letter before action"?

Do you have any other potential supplier for a custom lightbar? If so, I would sue this company for a refund as having the unit fail twice means that it is not fit for purpose. Note that the manufacturer may have a defence if whoever installed the lightbar did not do so in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. If there are no other sources, then you have to find a way forward. Modifying the installation so that it is easy to remove and refit the lightbar may be a way forward as it would allow you to return it to them if it needs repairing in future.

disdilemma

Thank you all for your kind replies on this. Bris, with relation to the comment you have made about "if it says you need to return it, they haven't breached the terms of the contract". What is strange in this case is that they have already been out to us and undertaken a service warranty repair (and we have a screenshot of an email message from them with the title of the message called "service warranty repair". As the item has now developed a further fault since the initial repair they are now asking for it to be returned. Surely they cannot change the terms of the warranty when they feel like it?

tacpot12 : You have mentioned about the installation of the lightbar and who installed it. The lightbar was installed by a qualified electrician and is bolted onto the roof of the vehicle and additionally there is only one way to fit a lightbar, with all due respect.

We have had to proceed with the ordering of a new lightbar as we are in breach of our H&S regulations as a company if we do not have working emergency lighting on our vehicles. It is our intention to proceed with a claim on line in an attempt to obtain a full refund for an item that is clearly not fit for purpose. I cannot see how you can be given a five year warranty on an item and be expected to a) dismantle the item when you are not qualified to do so and b) be offered a service warranty repair at your chosen place and then be told that "they do not have an engineer in your area any time soon".

I have since noted that the company in question have a google review obviously posted by a previous customer who claims that their warranties are not worth the paper they are written on. So we are clearly not the only victims.

bris

disdilemma wrote: »

Surely they cannot change the terms of the warranty when they feel like it?
.

No they can't, but the terms will be written down somewhere. You don't just get warranties verbally they will be written somewhere.


Look through the paperwork you got at the time of sale. If it's written down then whether they turned up or not is irrelevant. If they have no terms then that would indeed be strange and go in your favour. But I suspect the warranty will be in writing somewhere.

disdilemma

Morning bris, thank you for your further response. We only obtained the warranty/terms & conditions when we asked for them, following the second fault with the item and when the lengthy exchange of emails were going on. Before asking for them we scoured their website for them and despite on the home page saying that they offer five year warranties on their goods their t&c's/warranty do not appear on their website. So yes we do have a copy but this was only because we asked for them and were sent them to us by email.

TonyMMM

As a business, making sure the the warranty terms and conditions meet your business needs is something that forms part of your due diligence when making your decision to purchase equipment - if you needed an onsite 24/7 servicing/warranty agreement you should have checked that it was part of the contract you were agreeing to.

Sorry- but a useful lesson learnt.

disdilemma

TonyMMM, point taken but in our defence they have clearly changed the goal posts when they have felt like it ie offered a call out service to the initial fault and then clearly refused the second time around saying that they do not offer this. You cannot do this. At the end of the day the item is clearly not fit for purpose as it has failed in such a short period of time.

DoaM

disdilemma wrote: »

changed the goal posts

That is not the expression :mad:
MOVED the goal posts

SuperHan

disdilemma wrote: »

TonyMMM, point taken but in our defence they have clearly changed the goal posts when they have felt like it ie offered a call out service to the initial fault and then clearly refused the second time around saying that they do not offer this. You cannot do this. At the end of the day the item is clearly not fit for purpose as it has failed in such a short period of time.

The terms of the warranty could be that they come out on site for the first repair but subsequent repairs must be done at their premises.


None of us can help you unless you can provide more detailed terms of the sale and the warranty.


If the item is not fit for purpose etc etc under SoGA, the terms of the sale will govern how this can be remedied (and that may be a repair by the manufacturer at their place of business), and they can contract out of being liable for any losses you may incur in getting the item back to them for repair.


You really need to read the terms of the sale and warranty, and you can claim against them if they are breaching these. There previous actions have no bearing on whether they are obliged to come out and fix a second time.


As others have said, in business sales you need to do due diligence to understand what will happen if something goes wrong, particularly if it is something you rely on to do your daily business.


The following link may help: https://www.devonsomersettradingstandards.gov.uk/business/consumer-rights/business-to-business-contracts/