Bought item through 3rd party via Amazon, now faulty?

buel10

Hi all.
I bought a welding helmet through Amazon 8 months ago. The mechanism that allows the shield / visor to drop down has broken as well as the light-reactive mechanism playing up. The 3rd party who I technically bought it from said last week that, only because of warranty, they will repair it but I have to pay to send it back to them. Their latest communication states 'Our interpretation of the consumer rights act, is that you have had the product a while, and the product was not faulty when we sent it to you. Therefore we are not responsible for the return costs. This is because you’ll have benefited from owning the product for a while already.'

Whilst £6 is something, it definitely won't cover the postage but I might bite the bullet as I really need this item. However, I am curious, am I correct to ask for postage reimbursement?

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Aylesbury_Duck

If the warranty terms say that you have to pay for postage, you do.

After eight months, if you wanted to exercise your consumer rights, (different to warranty) you have a few hoops to jump through.  How much was it?  It may not be worth going down this route.

buel10

Thank you for this. It was £600.....

Fosterdog

buel10 said:

Thank you for this. It was £600.....

At that price is this a business purchase? If so you don't have any consumer rights and have to rely on contract law instead, if that means that you have a warranty that requires you to cover postage costs then that is what you have to do.

buel10

Nope, paid for it myself.

Aylesbury_Duck

At that price, I'd go down the consumer rights route.  You'll have to find someone reasonably qualified/experienced to inspect it and (hopefully) determine it's faulty though design or manufacture, as opposed to wear, abuse or misuse.  Then you go back to the seller and say you want their choice of repair, replacement or refund, any refund being tempered by the use you've already had.  They'd have to refund the cost of your inspection as well.

bris

buel10 said:

Nope, paid for it myself.

Makes no difference who paid for it, an DIYER mucking about in their garage doesn't pay £600 for a helmet. 
If weilding is what you do to earn an income then it's a business purchase.

Bradden

bris said:

buel10 said:

Nope, paid for it myself.

Makes no difference who paid for it, an DIYER mucking about in their garage doesn't pay £600 for a helmet. 
If weilding is what you do to earn an income then it's a business purchase.

Interesting... can you explain how that's fits in with consumer law, please. I'm not saying you are wrong.. this distinction between B2B and B2C often crops up here and it would be good to know what the legal position is.  Surely someone could actually pay £600 for their own personal use and be covered under consumer regulations.

buel10

bris said:

buel10 said:

Nope, paid for it myself.

Makes no difference who paid for it, an DIYER mucking about in their garage doesn't pay £600 for a helmet. 
If weilding is what you do to earn an income then it's a business purchase.

Wow, you are so wrong.  I think you need to have a think about what you write before making grand statements like this. You do spend £600 if you don't want to breathe welding fumes in.

MobileSaver

Bradden said:

bris said:

buel10 said:

Nope, paid for it myself.

If weilding is what you do to earn an income then it's a business purchase.

Interesting... can you explain how that's fits in with consumer law, please. Surely someone could actually pay £600 for their own personal use and be covered under consumer regulations.

What someone could do is irrelevant, it's what they actually do that matters.

The law is crystal clear:

Consumer Rights Act 2015

“Consumer” means an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession.

So exactly as @bris said, if you earn an income from welding then you are not a consumer and consumer law does not generally apply.

Bradden

Sure.. I understand the law... but not the application. How does a retailer prove it was a B2B not a B2C purchase. Surely they can't just say that because it's a professional item then all purchases must be for business use and are therefore exempt from consumer law? If that is the case then it's a bit of a loophole. For instance a company sells a drill . if they were to rename them "professional" drill.. then they could just say all purchases are commercial... just trying to understand how the law is applied?

In this case.. how does a seller prove that the buyer earns an income from welding? It is perfectly possible to buy a helmet for personal use regardless of the cost.