AO Returns

Confused_of_Swinton

I've read the sticky but I can't find anything I haven't already seen and it's not definitive enough.
Bought a Philips TV from AO less than a fortnight ago, since it arrived its been a litany of problems, if I turn over on the Virgin box the sound goes out of sync and the TV has to be turned off and on, 7 times out of 10 when I turn the TV on it won't recognise a signal from the HDMI ports so the screen will be black or flash static, the other 3 times out of 10 it won't output sound at all either from the sound bar or the internal speakers. The signal from a DVD player on the home screen is a flickering mess and some of the preloaded apps just don't work. I've tried every kind of setting on all my devices, all the cables are under 6 months old and worked perfectly well with my old TV set.

In my view the TV just isn't right or of sufficient quality and as I read the Consumer Rights act its AO's responsibility to sort it out, I've told them I'm happy to take a refund or exchange it for a different TV even if it means me paying a bit more, but they keep saying I need to speak to Philips to get them to say the TV is faulty, I don't believe a) Philips would say a TV is faulty that they've not seen and b) That isn't what the law says, and it's AO that needs to sort it out because I reported the problem within 30 days. I've been arguing this back and forth with AO for 5 emails now.

Am I wrong, or does anyone have a magic phrase t can put in an email to finally stop this circular email argument?

DoaM

The law is the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Check out about the Initial Right To Reject (within the first 30 days) and then the Final Right To Reject. These will advise you as to your (and their) rights and responsibilities.

Confused_of_Swinton

Thanks for the response, and I accept my query should've been clearer.

I've read the act, AO claim they accept I am asserting my right of return, but they are asserting their "right to have the fault confirmed". I can't see in the act where they have any such right if a customer is saying the problems mean the goods aren't of sufficient quality.

Am I wrong?

zoob

All there looking for is confirmation from manufacture that the tv is faulty before it’s returned, it’s probably quicker doing it there way rather than sending it back and then AO arranging a engineer inspecting tv
Possibility it’s not a tv fault and could be a lead fault or virgin box issue
That’s why it’s better for engineer to inspect in home first
Obviously if it’s faulty you’ll be untitled to money back or replacement

shaun_from_Africa

Confused_of_Swinton wrote: »

I've read the act, AO claim they accept I am asserting my right of return, but they are asserting their "right to have the fault confirmed". I can't see in the act where they have any such right if a customer is saying the problems mean the goods aren't of sufficient quality.

Am I wrong?

When rejecting goods for a refund within the first 30 days following purchase, the retailer has the legal right to insist that the consumer proves that the goods are faulty and that this fault existed at the time of purchase and is not due to something that the consumer did to those goods.
Probably the quickest and easiest way to get your refund will be to contact Philips and arrange for one of their service engineers to call and inspect the set.

Confused_of_Swinton

Really? As I read the act within 30 days any fault is deemed to have existed at sale unless the retailer can prove otherwise, plus I don't believe the issues are faults, I believe the problem (particularly the sound sync issue) is in the TV's firmware, it is an issue of flawed design, the TV does not work in a way I'd have a right to expect a TV to work, there is no way on Earth Philips are going to agree that assessment, it would kill their business.

shaun_from_Africa

Confused_of_Swinton wrote: »

Really? As I read the act within 30 days any fault is deemed to have existed at sale unless the retailer can prove otherwise,

Any fault within the first 6 months is deemed to have been there at the time of sale unless the dealer can prove otherwise except when a consumer is using their short term (30 day) right of rejection.
When this happens, the onus is then on the consumer to prove that the fault was there at the time of sale.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/19/enacted

14)For the purposes of subsections (3)(b) and (c) and (4), goods which do not conform to the contract at any time within the period of six months beginning with the day on which the goods were delivered to the consumer must be taken not to have conformed to it on that day.

3b is when you want a repair or replacement &
3c is when you want a price reduction.
3a (right of rejection) is exempted from the above.

This is stated better in the guidance notes for the CRA:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/notes/division/3/1/3/4/1

97.
Subsections (14) and (15) provide that, if a breach of the statutory rights – for example a fault - arises in the first 6 months from delivery, it is presumed to have been present at the time of delivery unless the trader proves otherwise or this presumption is incompatible with the nature of the goods or the particular breach or fault. This applies where the consumer exercises their right to a repair or replacement or their right to a price reduction or the final right to reject. This does not apply where the consumer exercises the short-term right to reject. These subsections correspond to section 48A(3) and (4) of the SGA and section 11M(3) and (4) of the SGSA.

pulliptears

Is this a 65" Philips Ambilight with Alexa TV per chance?

You describe almost identical issues to the ones I had when I bought one in November. Sound output repeatedly failed and the TV needed a hard reset to restore, added to this there was no power to one of the USB inputs.

Fortunately I purchased it from Amazon who immediately arranged it's collection. I replaced it with another model Ambilight which is working as it should.

eddddy

Confused_of_Swinton wrote: »

I've read the act, AO claim they accept I am asserting my right of return, but they are asserting their "right to have the fault confirmed". I can't see in the act where they have any such right if a customer is saying the problems mean the goods aren't of sufficient quality.

Reading your posts, you do sound a bit like you're being unreasonably difficult.

I imagine an AO customer service agent is trying to say something like...

You are describing a problem you're having with a Philips TV. Lots of people tell us that their new TVs are faulty, but it turns out that they are doing something wrong. I am a customer service agent, I am not a Philips TV expert, so I can't tell if what you're describing is a fault or whether you're doing something wrong.

Or perhaps there could be a simple setting that needs to be changed to fix the problem.

So can you speak to Philips, because they will have Philips TV experts, who may be able to identify the problem and advise you how to correct it. Or they may confirm that it's a fault.

If they confirm that it is a fault, then get back in touch with us.