Only 3 months warranty on brand new products!?

CrippsCorner

Hi guys, I had a Nest Hello (video doorbell) installed by a company in December, which now isn't working. At first it seemed like a Goggle component was at fault (the chime) but after a replacement chime didn't fix it, investigation continued.

I contacted the install company who stated their installs only come with 3 month warranty. Annoying but fair enough... however eventually, Goggle support came to the conclusion that the transformer is faulty (it's measuring 3v constant, but it needs at least 8-12v)

I got back to the install company explaining this and that their component has failed (they supplied and installed the transformer) but they're still saying this new part only has 3 months warranty, and want to charge me £110 to install a new one! I had a quick look online before posting this, and it seems I at least have some rights up until 6 months... could anyone confirm or offer further advise?

Many thanks! Olly

ThisnotThat

Warranties are in addition to your statutory rights.  They could offer no warranty if they wanted, but you'd still (potentially) have legal rights to repair/replacement/refund.

£110 to install a transformer that'll cost about a tenner and take less than 15 minutes to install for a professional is daylight robbery.

You're getting perilously close to 6 months where they could ask for an independent report to confirm the part was inherently faulty so I'd be informing them of their obligations under the Consumer Rights Act.  Either than or buy a transformer online and fit it yourself, it's not particularly difficult especially if you're replacing an existing one.

JJ_Egan

As above warranty  any terms they want .

The law your Consumer Rights against the vendor ,technically up to 6 years to take to court .

CrippsCorner

Thanks. Would it seem like a reasonable starting point to simply point them towards this:
Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Which?
30 days - six months you must give the retailer one opportunity to repair or replace it before you can claim a refund

If they refuse, Which? States it's time for Trading Standards and possibly Ombudsmen.

JJ_Egan

Trading standards will do little to nothing .Ombudsmen sure their is not a doorbell ombudsman .

Normal route would be LBA letter before action/ claim followed by small claims court .

ThisnotThat

CrippsCorner said:

Thanks. Would it seem like a reasonable starting point to simply point them towards this:
Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Which?
30 days - six months you must give the retailer one opportunity to repair or replace it before you can claim a refund

If they refuse, Which? States it's time for Trading Standards and possibly Ombudsmen.

Perhaps, but as I said, this is about £10 and 20 minutes work, even for the inexperienced.  If they push back hard enough it might be more sensible not to waste significant amounts of time, energy and potentially money just to prove a point.

Sandtree

CrippsCorner said:

I contacted the install company who stated their installs only come with 3 month warranty. Annoying but fair enough... however eventually, Goggle support came to the conclusion that the transformer is faulty (it's measuring 3v constant, but it needs at least 8-12v)

I got back to the install company explaining this and that their component has failed (they supplied and installed the transformer) but they're still saying this new part only has 3 months warranty, and want to charge me £110 to install a new one! I had a quick look online before posting this, and it seems I at least have some rights up until 6 months... could anyone confirm or offer further advise?

Presumably the Transformer does state its 8VA or higher, which is the minimum requirement for the EU/UK version of the Hello (USA version has a higher power requirement).

CrippsCorner said:

If they refuse, Which? States it's time for Trading Standards and possibly Ombudsmen.

Trading Standards dont take direct customer complaints any more but push you to CAB who'll filter and only end the relevant items to TS. As others have said, no doorbell ombudsman unfortunately.

CrippsCorner

Contacted the company last night, quoting the Consumers Right Act link from Which?

They're now coming to 'inspect and performance maintenance' free of charge... looks like a win so far!