Self employed Battle with Apple

Slewis1

Hi, I have a 18 month old MacBook Pro with no extended warranty that has a faulty screen . Apple quoted £700 for the repair .... I asked if there was anything we could do given how new the machine was. Despite Apple emailing me several times to say this shouldn’t happen  Apple said I didn’t have any consumer rights because I had purchased the MacBook on my business debit card, but there might be an ombudsman I could go to. I’m no longer self employed and have gone back to NHS as a photographer so now the MacBook is my personal one but I know this doesn’t change original purchase . This just feels wrong and would love some advice...

[Deleted User]

Slewis1 said:

Hi, I have a 18 month old MacBook Pro with no extended warranty that has a faulty screen . Apple quoted £700 for the repair .... I asked if there was anything we could do given how new the machine was. Despite Apple emailing me several times to say this shouldn’t happen  Apple said I didn’t have any consumer rights because I had purchased the MacBook on my business debit card, but there might be an ombudsman I could go to. I’m no longer self employed and have gone back to NHS as a photographer so now the MacBook is my personal one but I know this doesn’t change original purchase . This just feels wrong and would love some advice...

 You bought it as a business. Irrelevant what you are now. 

 Businesses do not have consumer rights. 

steampowered

Sometimes people are mistaken into thinking that they have no rights on business purchase.

That is not true. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies to business purchases. That requires (among other things) that goods must be of a satisfactory quality and fit for their purpose - including for B2B purchases.

If the goods were not of satisfactory quality or not fit for purpose, you are entitled to a repair or a refund.

However you would need to show the product was faulty when you bought it (i.e. that the problem does not arise because of damage in your care).

Slewis1

I’d assume that showing that could difficult... I have emails saying it shouldn’t happen and the MacBook is in mint condition without single scratch on it . I suppose my point is , if it’s been that well looked after could that be route? 

JJ_Egan

Did you buy from Apple if so go down the SOGA route .

[Deleted User]

steampowered said:

Sometimes people are mistaken into thinking that they have no rights on business purchase.

That is not true. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies to business purchases. That requires (among other things) that goods must be of a satisfactory quality and fit for their purpose - including for B2B purchases.

If the goods were not of satisfactory quality or not fit for purpose, you are entitled to a repair or a refund.

However you would need to show the product was faulty when you bought it (i.e. that the problem does not arise because of damage in your care).

 Thanks for that x
odd that this is not what is most often quoted on mse. Posts generally say no rights bar what was in the sales contact? 

Slewis1

I’m not sure what part of SOGA I could use ... 

[Deleted User]

Slewis1 said:

I’m not sure what part of SOGA I could use ... 

There is no such act. This was replaced in 2015 with the Consumers right act 2015

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl

The problem still lies that for whatever reason you choose to buy the laptop as a business rather than a consumer so the consumer rights act should not apply to you.

Hopefully someone can give a better answer but the SOGA is not the answer to your problem. 

Ectophile

Deleted_User said:

Slewis1 said:

I’m not sure what part of SOGA I could use ... 

There is no such act. This was replaced in 2015 with the Consumers right act 2015

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl

The problem still lies that for whatever reason you choose to buy the laptop as a business rather than a consumer so the consumer rights act should not apply to you.

Hopefully someone can give a better answer but the SOGA is not the answer to your problem. 

The Sale of Goods Act still exists; it was not repealed.  It still applies to business contracts where the Consumer Rights Act is not relevant.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

[Deleted User]

 Ok found this link

https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/unfair-contract-terms-act

So you might be able to use the consumers act but if Apple are not going to fix the laptop free of charge then you will have to do this (taken from the link for the consumers act)

Six months or more

If a fault develops after the first six months, the burden is on you to prove that the product was faulty at the time you took ownership of it. 

In practice, this may require some form of expert report, opinion or evidence of similar problems across the product range. 

Find out more about how to return a faulty item and claim a refund, repair or replacement from a retailer.

You have six years to take a claim to the small claims court for faulty goods in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and five years in Scotland. 

This doesn't mean that a product has to last six years - just that you have this length of time in which to make a claim if a retailer refuses to repair or replace a faulty product. 

The only other option I would suggest is once the shops open up is take the laptop in person to a Apple Store. Sometimes just speaking in person and them having the product to see first hand could make them repair the device free of charge. Remember Apple is made up of individuals and there is some wiggle room in how faults are dealt with.

neilmcl

Deleted_User said:

Slewis1 said:

I’m not sure what part of SOGA I could use ... 

There is no such act. This was replaced in 2015 with the Consumers right act 2015

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl

The problem still lies that for whatever reason you choose to buy the laptop as a business rather than a consumer so the consumer rights act should not apply to you.

Hopefully someone can give a better answer but the SOGA is not the answer to your problem. 

Sorry, but you are totally incorrect. SOGA still exists and does apply to business purchases.