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

Alderbank

Silentnight say it is in small print on page 8 of the 9 page booklet 'Sleep peacefully with our full manufacturer’s guarantee' which was included somewhere inside your sealed box.

In fact it is there twice on that page,
'You must be able to provide proof of purchase/delivery to be able to register a claim. Your purchase must have been made through an authorised retailer of Silentnight products within the UK and Republic of Ireland'
and later
'13. This guarantee only applies to Silentnight products that have been purchased from an authorised retailer in the UK and Republic of Ireland.'

Since that contract term was unavailable to you until after you had made the purchase I think it is a textbook example of an unfair contract term.
Anyone agree?

Sandtree

Alderbank said:

Silentnight say it is in small print on page 8 of the 9 page booklet 'Sleep peacefully with our full manufacturer’s guarantee' which was included somewhere inside your sealed box.

In fact it is there twice on that page,
'You must be able to provide proof of purchase/delivery to be able to register a claim. Your purchase must have been made through an authorised retailer of Silentnight products within the UK and Republic of Ireland'
and later
'13. This guarantee only applies to Silentnight products that have been purchased from an authorised retailer in the UK and Republic of Ireland.'

Since that contract term was unavailable to you until after you had made the purchase I think it is a textbook example of an unfair contract term.
Anyone agree?

Its not a contract... there has been no consideration between Silentnight and the OP

skinflint_me

Is this included with an electric blanket?  My booklet is 6 pages with instructions to email comfygroup.co.uk if a fault develops between 28 days and 36 months.  The only exclusions  are accidental use, negligence, misuse, incorrect voltage supply and if it's been tampered with by an unqualified person.   There are no references to authorised retailers.

I ordered a replacement yesterday (product B09NRRPRHY on Amazon UK) and again the terms are the same with no mention of authorised retailer.  There are other reviews referring to probably the same fault.

LaDerniereSemaine

skinflint_me said:

Is this included with an electric blanket?  My booklet is 6 pages with instructions to email comfygroup.co.uk if a fault develops between 28 days and 36 months.  The only exclusions  are accidental use, negligence, misuse, incorrect voltage supply and if it's been tampered with by an unqualified person.   There are no references to authorised retailers.

I ordered a replacement yesterday (product B09NRRPRHY on Amazon UK) and again the terms are the same with no mention of authorised retailer.  There are other reviews referring to probably the same fault.

Then you should email Comfy Quilts, as they appear to be the guaranteeing party here.

They seem to have simply licensed the Silentnight name which seems a bit odd, given Silentight have a UK presence.

skinflint_me

I did - and they, as licensee of Silentnight argued that I'd bought from a non-authorised retailer so would not be honouring the guarantee which only covered items bought from an authorised retailer. 

I argued there was no practical way for a typical consumer to know which retailers were authorised or otherwise, that the product was sold with a manufacturer's warranty and that there was no reference to retailers needing to be 'authorised' in the guarantee terms.  They won't budge and referred me back to the retailer who didn't want to know. 

The guarantee is clear however, email comfygroup with proof of purchase.... as I did.

Alderbank

LaDerniereSemaine said:

skinflint_me said:

Is this included with an electric blanket?  My booklet is 6 pages with instructions to email comfygroup.co.uk if a fault develops between 28 days and 36 months.  The only exclusions  are accidental use, negligence, misuse, incorrect voltage supply and if it's been tampered with by an unqualified person.   There are no references to authorised retailers.

I ordered a replacement yesterday (product B09NRRPRHY on Amazon UK) and again the terms are the same with no mention of authorised retailer.  There are other reviews referring to probably the same fault.

Then you should email Comfy Quilts, as they appear to be the guaranteeing party here.

You could try but it might not be much use.
On the page to register your guarantee Comfy Quilts say:

Exclusions: Comfy Quilts Limited shall not be liable to replace the goods under the terms of the guarantee in the following cases:
If the product has been purchased from an unauthorised seller.

LaDerniereSemaine

skinflint_me said:

I did - and they, as licensee of Silentnight argued that I'd bought from a non-authorised retailer so would not be honouring the guarantee which only covered items bought from an authorised retailer. 

I argued there was no practical way for a typical consumer to know which retailers were authorised or otherwise, that the product was sold with a manufacturer's warranty and that there was no reference to retailers needing to be 'authorised' in the guarantee terms.  They won't budge and referred me back to the retailer who didn't want to know. 

The guarantee is clear however, email comfygroup with proof of purchase.... as I did.

To be fair there is typically an easy way to check if the manufacturers warranty requires it to be purchased from an authorised retailer, check the manufacturers website.  Silentnights does for example.

It's also not particularly unheard of to have this stipulation, I've seen it a fair few times over the decades.

Clearly their guarantee doesn't have this stipulation, but I think you're going to throw good money after bad trying to extract a remedy from Comfy Quilts, to be honest.

Alderbank

skinflint_me said:

The guarantee is clear however, email comfygroup with proof of purchase.... as I did.

Well your picture does not say that. It says:
'Your Guarantee:
To validate your guarantee please register your product online at www.silentnightguarantee.co.uk'

On that validation page you have to choose from a drop down list called Place of Purchase.
I assume you chose the first item in the list - Amazon.

Amazon website was the place where you purchased it. Very misleading.

Manxman_in_exile

Apologies if I've missed this - but when did the OP register their product at www.silentnightguarantee.co.uk?

All I recall the OP saying is that they emailed Comfy Quilts with proof of purchase etc after( is that right?) the fault developed - which presumably was nearly 3 years after purchase.

Don't guarantee registrations normally have to be done within a limited time (eg 28 days) of purchase?

LaDerniereSemaine

Manxman_in_exile said:

Apologies if I've missed this - but when did the OP register their product at www.silentnightguarantee.co.uk?

All I recall the OP saying is that they emailed Comfy Quilts with proof of purchase etc after( is that right?) the fault developed - which presumably was nearly 3 years after purchase.

Don't guarantee registrations normally have to be done within a limited time (eg 28 days) of purchase?

Probably, which adds another layer to it.

I think it's fair to say that the guarantee element is a non-starter.