Ebay Seller - Consumer Rights

foolsgold99

Hi Folks,
looking to pick your consumer brains please? I'll bullet point to make for quick reading:

- Purchased a new wiper motor for my car from E-bay seller: carspares-direct

- Motor received and fitted. Didn't work great but stuck with it.

- 6 months later, motor completely faulty, randomly coming on and then failing to work.

- Contacted Carspares-direct via Ebay as not even 12 months old. They replied:

"As this part is covered under warranty, we would require specific information from you to raise a claim. If you believe the part has become faulty we would need a letter from the mechanic who fitted the part, with the business letter head explaining everything so we can file a warranty claim. We need this to show the suppliers, who provide the warranty, that the item was fitted by a qualified mechanic and once we get this letter, we can send out another one out to you free of charge.

We just need to confirm the exact fault before we can send a replacement to avoid the same thing happening again if something else may be causing the problem".

Now the part only cost around £30 (Chinese copy). They obviously know that no one will go to this hassle to claim the warranty, nor would they even attempt to go to manufacturer to claim.

They're now saying that this is stated on the terms of their sale on eBay.However, my question is that even if they do claim that, that's against our statutory rights in that it is a faulty product that they have sold in the UK and is less than 12 months old therefore they are in breach of the statute.

Can anyone confirm that please? I would really appreciate and I will report them to Ebay.

It's not the value that is annoying me but the fact that they are obviously selling cheap rubbish and ripping people off.

Thanks for your help and, Oh, don't buy from Carspares-direct.

LilElvis

foolsgold99 wrote: »

Hi Folks,
looking to pick your consumer brains please? I'll bullet point to make for quick reading:

- Purchased a new wiper motor for my car from E-bay seller: carspares-direct

- Motor received and fitted. Didn't work great but stuck with it.

- 6 months later, motor completely faulty, randomly coming on and then failing to work.

- Contacted Carspares-direct via Ebay as not even 12 months old. They replied:

"As this part is covered under warranty, we would require specific information from you to raise a claim. If you believe the part has become faulty we would need a letter from the mechanic who fitted the part, with the business letter head explaining everything so we can file a warranty claim. We need this to show the suppliers, who provide the warranty, that the item was fitted by a qualified mechanic and once we get this letter, we can send out another one out to you free of charge.

We just need to confirm the exact fault before we can send a replacement to avoid the same thing happening again if something else may be causing the problem".

Now the part only cost around £30 (Chinese copy). They obviously know that no one will go to this hassle to claim the warranty, nor would they even attempt to go to manufacturer to claim.

They're now saying that this is stated on the terms of their sale on eBay.However, my question is that even if they do claim that, that's against our statutory rights in that it is a faulty product that they have sold in the UK and is less than 12 months old therefore they are in breach of the statute.

Can anyone confirm that please? I would really appreciate and I will report them to Ebay.

It's not the value that is annoying me but the fact that they are obviously selling cheap rubbish and ripping people off.

Thanks for your help and, Oh, don't buy from Carspares-direct.

If the item is less than 6 months old then the assumption is that any fault which has arisen was inherent at the point of sale. However, after 6 months the onus shifts to the buyer to prove that there is an inherent fault - possibly by way of providing a professional report to confirm this fact. What the seller is asking for doesn't appear unreasonable as a warranty replacement as this is likely easier than invoking your statutory rights for a relatively cheap item. It all hinges on whether you notified them of the fault before or after the 6 month mark.