Retailer gone bust whilst product under guarantee - section 75 claim?

tg99

Hi,
A piece of furniture I bought some years ago has become faulty and is within the retailer’s guarantee period. However, I have discovered that the retailer is currently in liquidation. I presume this renders the guarantee worthless and also that it would not be covered under section 75 (I think I bought it with a credit card) but just wanted to clarify if anyone can advise?

Thks

kaMelo

What does your warranty documentation say as to exactly who provided the warranty? 
Rather than being provided by the actual retailer many are provided through a third party, like an insurance policy, which would of course still be valid even if the retailer is no longer trading.

Section 75 is designed to cover things like non performance of a seller or provide cover for a product that was faulty from new. 
Up until six months old it is assumed a product displaying a fault was always faulty, after six months the onus is on you to prove the product was faulty from new. 
What Section 75 is not however is a warranty and wear and tear is not covered under any circumstances.

tg99

Thanks, yes thought as much. Have not located my documentation yet but if I recall correctly the retailer manufactured the furniture and then sold directly to customers so would this mean a third party / insurer is unlikely to be involved? I guess I could check with the liquidator too.

MinuteNoodles

Your first port of call would be the liquidator and then the credit card company. When Comet went bust people were advised to make any warranty claims through the finance company or credit card company if they paid that way.

born_again

Just how long is "Some years ago"? 
What amount?
Don't think if it was on a Credit Card. Find the payment before you do anything.

tg99

born_again said:

Just how long is "Some years ago"? 
What amount?
Don't think if it was on a Credit Card. Find the payment before you do anything.

About 8 years ago (had 10 year guarantee), cost c£1k.

MalMonroe

tg99 said:

born_again said:

Just how long is "Some years ago"? 
What amount?
Don't think if it was on a Credit Card. Find the payment before you do anything.

About 8 years ago (had 10 year guarantee), cost c£1k.

First of all, I think you need to read that guarantee carefully to see what exactly is covered after 8 years use at a cost of only £1k. I'm not sure you're going to get a full refund but you may be entitled to a partial one. Needs checking though. 

garth549

8 years use out of something that only cost 1k...?   If the company's gone bust it's probably not worth the hassle in my opinion.  Do a bit of investigation by all means but I wouldn't spend hours and hours trying to get somewhere with it.

If you have a valid claim and whoever provides the warranty can't honour it for repair or replacement (likely not), then depending on the contract they'll likely offer a cash settlement which will be discounted heavily for 8 year usage.  ie they'd probably offer something like £50.

born_again

tg99 said:

born_again said:

Just how long is "Some years ago"? 
What amount?
Don't think if it was on a Credit Card. Find the payment before you do anything.

About 8 years ago (had 10 year guarantee), cost c£1k.

So you might find that they say No on the basis it was over 6 years ago.

To go back to the CC you need to know the dates of payments.
As many will not search for them for customers as it takes far too long. 

kaMelo

On an 8 year old purchase your going to need that warranty document to prove both things are true;
A. A warranty exists for the product. 
B. The fault is covered.

If you don't try then you'll never succeed but without the warranty document I don't think you will get very far.

tg99

Thanks for comments. Not managed to find paperwork as yet but not even sure there was anything specific re the guarantee other than just a statement on company website saying we guarantee our products for 10 years or something of the like.

Have also now spoken to liquidator. They stated that nobody was taking over any aspects of the company (including the guarantees) and therefore that there was no prospect of achieving anything as the guarantees were provided by the company itself rather than through an insurer / third party. Also suggested that section 75 would not be applicable given how long I have had the product since purchase.