SECTION 75 - runaround

am2512

Hi I am hoping for some advice.  I bought blinds for our new in April 2019 which came with 3 year warranty. The warranty is mentioned on the only paperwork given to us, the invoice. We paid the deposit of £400 on a credit card.  We noticed the cord for one the main bay windows starting to fray badly that it’s no longer possible to lift the 20kg blind. However when trying to report this to the company we realised they have gone bust and now liquidated.

Subsequently I asked Nationwide to explicitly raise a Section 75, which they didn’t do and started trying to do a chargeback, this is despite it being more than 120 days!  After insisting 4 times they have started a Section 75.  They said they can’t establish where Nationwide’s Liabilities lie and need to establish this.  They are now asking for an independent report to potentially repair it and have said if any further faults happen i need to raise a new S75.  They said if it’s wear and tear they won’t cover it. The blinds when I went to report this were less than a year old!

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed with this as they seem to be avoiding S75 and trying all methods to claim they are not liable?

Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks

Sandtree

Under the consumer rights act 2015 you have to prove the issue for items over 6 months old and it does exclude fair wear and tear.

The terms of the 3 year warranty may have been different but it sounds like you don’t have a copy of those terms to check.

am2512

So to be clear the company which manufacturers and installs the blinds went into liquidation in early April 2020. The fault with the blinds is quite categorically not fair wear and tear as the fault appeared around 9 months after installation. The company if they still existed would have fixed these under their 3 year warranty. A number of similar companies offer this as standard also. 

Do you believe that I am unable to claim under section 75 for a faulty product?

Any further advice would be much appreciate folks

[Deleted User]

If the warranty specifically includes the cord, send Nationwide a copy.

Sandtree

am2512 said:

The fault with the blinds is quite categorically not fair wear and tear as the fault appeared around 9 months after installation. The company if they still existed would have fixed these under their 3 year warranty. A number of similar companies offer this as standard also. 

Do you believe that I am unable to claim under section 75 for a faulty product?

So S75 makes the credit provider jointly liable for anything the merchant was liable for. It sounds like the bank are therefore treating this as a claim under the Consumer Rights Act which does state that after 6 months it is your responsibility to prove the fault and that it isnt fair wear and tear. This is normally done by commissioning a report and the cost of the report can be added to the value of the claim (assuming it supports your view that its not fair wear and tear or misuse).

To claim under the warranty you'd really have to be able to provide what the terms of the warranty were otherwise your banks view that its up to you to prove the fault is as valid as your view that they have to disprove it. Have you double checked that you didn't keep a set of the T&Cs somewhere?

So you can certainly claim under the CRA and against the creditor with S75 but you need to follow the process of the CRA