Sealskinz not honouring lifetime guarantee

Beatrice_S

I was bought some Sealskinz gloves about two years ago as a gift, however one of them has developed a split in the cuff. Realising they offered a lifetime guarantee I contacted them. They are insisting I provide proof of purchase but I don’t have that, neither does the person who bought them. I told them the shop they were purchased from. They state that my gloves were discontinued a few years ago. What can I do please?

DB1904

Beatrice_S said:

I was bought some Sealskinz gloves about two years ago as a gift, however one of them has developed a split in the cuff. Realising they offered a lifetime guarantee I contacted them. They are insisting I provide proof of purchase but I don’t have that, neither does the person who bought them. I told them the shop they were purchased from. They state that my gloves were discontinued a few years ago. What can I do please?

Any consumer rights lie with the person who bought the gloves. Any warranty is down to their terms so without the receipt or proof of purchase there's nothing you can do. 

DB1904

Beatrice_S said:

I was bought some Sealskinz gloves about two years ago as a gift, however one of them has developed a split in the cuff. Realising they offered a lifetime guarantee I contacted them. They are insisting I provide proof of purchase but I don’t have that, neither does the person who bought them. I told them the shop they were purchased from. They state that my gloves were discontinued a few years ago. What can I do please?

Any consumer rights lie with the person who bought the gloves. Any warranty is down to their terms so without the receipt or proof of purchase there's nothing you can do. 

mattyprice4004

For all they know they could be stolen or 2nd hand - proof of purchase negates this. 
If you have no proof of purchase they don't have to do anything. 

Sandtree

Beatrice_S said:

I was bought some Sealskinz gloves about two years ago as a gift, however one of them has developed a split in the cuff. Realising they offered a lifetime guarantee I contacted them. They are insisting I provide proof of purchase but I don’t have that, neither does the person who bought them. I told them the shop they were purchased from. They state that my gloves were discontinued a few years ago. What can I do please?

If you cannot fulfill the obligations of the warranty, such as providing proof of purchase, then you have no rights against the warranty... you dont have a contract with them and this isnt covered by statutory rights against the manufacturer.

You may have statutory rights against the retailer however given the Consumer Rights Act states its their responsibility to ensure the products they sell are of acceptable quality/durability, correctly described etc. You need to contact them and discuss your issues with the product but be aware that as the item is over 6 months old they can require you to prove that its a defect with the product and not reasonable wear/user damage. If they accept it is a defect then its their choice on if to repair, replace or refund however a refund can be reduced to reflect the use you've had from the item.

No idea what type of gloves these are, material etc so my questions may be irrelevant... has it split or has a seam just become undone? Can it not be stitched/bonded together to repair?

MarvinDay

Sandtree said:

You may have statutory rights against the retailer however given the Consumer Rights Act states its their responsibility to ensure the products they sell are of acceptable quality/durability, correctly described etc. 

In this case, the OP won't have any statutory rights against the retailer because it wasn't the OP who made the original purchase. 

Sandtree

MarvinDay said:

Sandtree said:

You may have statutory rights against the retailer however given the Consumer Rights Act states its their responsibility to ensure the products they sell are of acceptable quality/durability, correctly described etc. 

In this case, the OP won't have any statutory rights against the retailer because it wasn't the OP who made the original purchase. 

Missed the gift part... which could also invalidate the life time warranty as not the original purchaser.

Whilst many people may not like going back to a gift giver to say what they had has broken (ignoring spouses/parents etc where the closeness means they can see its broken anyway) I would suggest of those that do then few would have issues with either the original buyer making the claim or passing over the receipt (if it still exists) if it was a cash purchase and the receiver claiming they bought it.

Manxman_in_exile

Regardless of any questions of statutory rights -v- warranty rights, or whether the OP has any rights at all, I think that is a bit of a disappointing response from Sealskinz if they really do offer a "lifetime guarantee".

By contrast, only a couple of years ago I had a Tilley hat replaced under Tilley's lifetime guarantee.  Yes - I had been the purchaser - but I'd bought it at least 20+ (probably more like 25+) years earlier from Tiso's in Inverness, and I certainly had no proof whatsoever of purchase.

The hat had developed a relatively small hole (<1cm across) in the crown, and if Tilley had put it down to reasonably expected wear and tear and had refused to replace it, I would not have argued with them.  But they replaced it without question and I had a new hat worth £70 within 5 days of returning it to them.  Their customer service was absolutely faultless and first-class.  

And I don't think I was lucky or it was a one-off.  I only decided to try the lifetime guarantee after one of their local retailers (Gallyons in Norwich) assured me that Tilley would 100% honour the guarantee and gave me their return details.

As I said earlier, I think it's a disappointing response from Sealskinz.  How do they think @Beatrice_S came by the gloves other than by purchasing them or by receiving them as a gift?

Offering a lifetime guarantee - if that's what it is, a lifetime guarantee - and then demanding proof of purchase seems rather unfair to me...

(Of course, if Sealskinz were arguing that the OP had damaged the gloves herself or not looked after them properly, then that might be a different matter.  Tilley could equally have argued the same about my hat - but they never questioned that it was indeed covered by their guarantee)

Sandtree

Manxman_in_exile said:

As I said earlier, I think it's a disappointing response from Sealskinz.  How do they think @Beatrice_S came by the gloves other than by purchasing them or by receiving them as a gift?

Offering a lifetime guarantee - if that's what it is, a lifetime guarantee - and then demanding proof of purchase seems rather unfair to me...

Gifts are not necessarily covered but its harsh not to... there are a host of other options that could mean something falls outside of a "life time guarantee":

* Bought/gifted as secondhand
* Stolen
* Not bought from an authorised dealer - some wont cover those buying "grey imports" etc
* Not bought in the UK - some times the country specific distributor provides the warranty not the manufacturer

We've looked at transporting our ceramic BBQ (and other things) overseas and despite it having a lifetime guarantee on the ceramics in every country they're sold you have to return it to the country of purchase not its current location.

Offering lifetime guarantees is a complex thing to do from an accounting perspective, you should hold an accrual for future claims on that guarantee on your balance sheet (though not as complex as insurance reserves)... having a number of restrictions like needing a receipt, not covering secondhand items etc are all ways to stop that number simply escalating each year

Ergates

Manxman_in_exile said:

By contrast, only a couple of years ago I had a Tilley hat replaced under Tilley's lifetime guarantee.  Yes - I had been the purchaser - but I'd bought it at least 20+ (probably more like 25+) years earlier from Tiso's in Inverness, and I certainly had no proof whatsoever of purchase.

The hat had developed a relatively small hole (<1cm across) in the crown, and if Tilley had put it down to reasonably expected wear and tear and had refused to replace it, I would not have argued with them.  But they replaced it without question and I had a new hat worth £70 within 5 days of returning it to them.  Their customer service was absolutely faultless and first-class.  

And I don't think I was lucky or it was a one-off.  I only decided to try the lifetime guarantee after one of their local retailers (Gallyons in Norwich) assured me that Tilley would 100% honour the guarantee and gave me their return details.

Next time try feeding it to an elephant.   Twice.

Manxman_in_exile

Ergates said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

By contrast, only a couple of years ago I had a Tilley hat replaced under Tilley's lifetime guarantee.  Yes - I had been the purchaser - but I'd bought it at least 20+ (probably more like 25+) years earlier from Tiso's in Inverness, and I certainly had no proof whatsoever of purchase.

The hat had developed a relatively small hole (<1cm across) in the crown, and if Tilley had put it down to reasonably expected wear and tear and had refused to replace it, I would not have argued with them.  But they replaced it without question and I had a new hat worth £70 within 5 days of returning it to them.  Their customer service was absolutely faultless and first-class.  

And I don't think I was lucky or it was a one-off.  I only decided to try the lifetime guarantee after one of their local retailers (Gallyons in Norwich) assured me that Tilley would 100% honour the guarantee and gave me their return details.

Next time try feeding it to an elephant.   Twice.

I did that several times to test their claims - and they were right!   

It was only 20+ years of wear and tear against my forehead (admittedly not a continuous 20 years but I have a very big head and it also saw a lot of use and elephant tracts over those years) that wore out a relatively small hole in the front face of the crown.  

Seriously though, I was very impressed by their customer service and it literally turned out to be a "no quibble" process.  I contacted them, explained that I'd bought it at least 20 years previously from Tiso's in Inverness but - obviously - no longer had any proof that I'd purchased it.  (Indeed there was no proof that anybody at all had purchased it - it could just have been nicked from any of their retailers).  There were no questions asked - they just asked me to return it and 5 days later I had a brand new £70 hat.

That's what I call a lifetime guarantee.  Anything less ain't.

(PS - What convinced me to return it for replacement was when I asked at a local retailer.  I explained that I hadn't bought it from them etc etc and they just said send it back to Tilley.  I said "Will they replace it after all these years with no receipt?" and the local retailer said "Of course they will.  It's a lifetime guarantee and, so far as I know, they always honour it".)