Item failed during guarantee period - neither retailer nor manufacturer will help

skinflint_me

I purchased a Silentnight electric blanket with a 3 year guarantee and it has failed just within this guarantee period.  I bought it via Amazon from a UK-retailer but, although the product has a 3 year guarantee, the retailer is saying they only offer a 12 month guarantee and for a longer guarantee, I need to pursue this via the manufacturer, ie Silentnight.  Alas, although Silentnight have confirmed the blanket is covered by their warranty, they are refusing to honour it because the seller is not an authorised seller of Silentnight products.  I bought it in good faith, attracted by the long guarantee and reputable brand name and can't believe Silentnight would expect customers to be aware of who they authorise to sell their products.  Also, I thought retailers simply returned defective products to the manufacturer for guarantee claims?

Where do I stand, please?  It's not the end of the world if I can't obtain a warranty repair but considering it failed during the warranty period, it feels worth at least trying.

Sandtree

Warranties are above and beyond your statutory rights and as such a manufacturer can apply whatever T&Cs it wants like it having to be sold by an authorised dealer.

Your statutory rights are always with the seller and under those you effectively have a right to respect a reasonable life (capped at 6 years) from what you buy... unfortunately the law doesnt define what a reasonable life is for an electric blanket. So you need to approach the retailer not under the guarantee but under your statutory rights of the Consumer Rights Act. As the item is over 6 months old however they can insist that you prove the item had an inherent fault (the cost of an engineers report can be added to the claim) and its failed before its time. 

You dont say how old it is but I am guessing close to 3 years old... if it is confirmed as died to early its up to the retailer if they repair, replace or refund and a refund can be reduced to reflect the use you got from the item before it failed.

Depending on how much the item cost and given you'd probably be getting less than half its value back even if you can prove it there may be a question on how much effort its worth going into.

jon81uk

Does the retailer make out they are an authorised dealer and advertise they offer the guarentee?

If so you could ask the retailer to honour it as they mis-sold you the guarentee.

Or if you assumed it was the case from the packaging that would be different and you will need to follow up under consumer rights.

skinflint_me

@jon81uk It was specifically stated to have a 3 year guarantee as a selling feature.  Photos of the packaging also included this.

The seller didn't claim to be an authorised dealer - but I've never seen any seller claim to be for such a small item.  The retailer didn't make any reference to their own guarantee but simply stated the electric blanket has a 3 year guarantee.  TBH  I never gave this a second thought but just assumed that if it failed then it would be honoured.

skinflint_me

@Sandtree It failed in its 35th month of 36 and it was just pure coincidence that I noticed this so contacted both the retailer and manufacturer (the guarantee terms state that in the event of failure - send an email together with photos and proof of purchase).

I couldn't prove any inherent fault but several reviews have referred to similar failures, ie a possible fault on the control unit.

Of course, I won't waste hours on this and have had nearly 3 years use but I was curious to know where I stand, having never heard the 'authorised seller' response previously.  

Sandtree

skinflint_me said:

Of course, I won't waste hours on this and have had nearly 3 years use but I was curious to know where I stand, having never heard the 'authorised seller' response previously.  

Do you have any screenshot of the advertising when you bought it? As others have said, you could have a complaint on misadvertising if the copy talked about it having a warranty... if its just a picture of the box I think it would put it in a greyer area 

Authorised Sellers are fairly common within more costly items, depending on exactly what the item is etc and it is often a way to try to maintain prices (some brands dont want to see their products discounted and potentially devalued). Authorised sellers agree not to sell on Amazon etc and in exchange their customers get warranties etc. People manage to get supplies without being authorised such as bankrupt stock and flog it off wherever. 

skinflint_me

@Sandtree - No screenshot, alas, but it was stated in both the heading ie

"Silentnight Teddy Fleece Electric Blanket King 3 Year Guarantee"

and the description.  Providing it could be another matter if the listing has changed in the meantime, although I don't think it has.

This must be an issue on so many Amazon products sold via Marketplace if warranties are not honoured via these retailers.  It's not something I've encountered previously, or even considered.

TELLIT01

How many people would ask if the vendor is an 'Authorised Retailer' of a product?  It's not something that I would ever think to do if purchasing in the UK.

Sandtree

skinflint_me said:

This must be an issue on so many Amazon products sold via Marketplace if warranties are not honoured via these retailers.  It's not something I've encountered previously, or even considered.

Unfortunately these kinds of places are awash with unauthorised sellers, sellers of fakes etc because it takes minutes to set up your seller account and put items up. Once complaints rack up the seller is taken down but how many people realise the SD card in their camera is fake? How many are sold by the time they start failing or you get the more knowledgable people who can see its not working at the correct speed and arent fobbed off with statements it must be your computer/camera that cant handle the speed.

Have to admit I generally avoid market place sales where possible unless its intentionally buying used items at which point you already know guarantees are often not transferable etc

Alderbank

It is sneaky and it must be annoying for the OP, particularly since if you dig down (and you do have to dig) to find Silentnight's list of authorised retailers it prominently includes Amazon. I know Amazon are not the retailer in this case but we know these sorts of things are misleading and cause confusion. There was a similar thread this week where the poster was disappointed to miss out on a mobile phone promotion for the same reason.

skinflint_me

@Alderbank Indeed it is annoying and feels sneaky and underhand on the part of Silentnight considering their guarantee terms request the purchaser to email them with specific photos and proof of purchase rather than claiming from the retailer.

Mine is a genuine Silentnight product, arrived sealed, factory fresh and new from a UK VAT registered seller who is still trading.  Thankfully it is a relatively cheap product which I've had nearly 3 years use from so in itself isn't a big issue for me.  Mostly the reason I'm asking opinions is to know where I stand in the event this was a more expensive item, eg a camera bought from a UK seller who turned out to not be an 'authorised seller'.  I wouldn't normally buy anything expensive from a Marketplace seller (Amazon is an authorised seller...) but I had never previously considered the guarantee situation when buying products with a long manufacturer guarantee.  Surely a manufacturer should state in the guarantee terms that products must be purchased from an authorised seller in order for the guarantee to be valid.  Thinking back, I have occasionally seen this in the past, but it isn't stated on the Silentnight leccy blanket.  Perhaps it should be.