Help on rights with faulty garden hose sprayer

boots_babe

Hi,

I bought a garden hose spray head from Amazon, just under one year ago (it'll be one year next week). Over recent months it's become intermittent and now won't work at all. 

I tried contacting Amazon customer services, they said I must message the seller directly, which I have done. Their default response was that I had to take it up with the manufacturer not them, which I know is incorrect.

I reminded them of their responsibility under the SOGA and they have now said I can return it at my own cost, and they will send to the manufacturer to 'test for misuse and faults'.  They also say that  'As the Warranty is with the manufacturer it is down to them to decide if this can be repaired, replaced or has been misused.'

I just wanted to check please whether

(a) it's correct that I must pay return postage - I suspect it is, but just want to check, and 
(b) whether their process of sending to manufacturer is correct.

If it's all as expected that's fine, I'll pay to post back and wait. But I'm just wary given that they started out trying to avoid their responsibility, and have now only grudgingly offered this approach after I've persisted. So I don't really trust them to do the right thing.

Many thanks.

Ergates

As it's over 6 months old, it is no longer the default position that the item is assumed to be faulty.  It is therefore not unreasonable to ask you to pay for postage initially.  If the item is found to be faulty (as in, a manufacturing/design fault, not broken through use), then they should refund the postage (and then fix/replace/refund them item)

The sending it to the manufacturer is a bit less clear.  In theory it's the retailers responsibility to deal the the manufacturer.  However, if all they're going to do is send it to the manufacturer anyway, then all you'll get by insisting on sending it to them is further delay.

Grumpy_chap

How much did the garden hose spray head cost?

What is the expected life of the product?

Is it worth pursuing?

boots_babe

Ergates said:

As it's over 6 months old, it is no longer the default position that the item is assumed to be faulty.  It is therefore not unreasonable to ask you to pay for postage initially.  If the item is found to be faulty (as in, a manufacturing/design fault, not broken through use), then they should refund the postage (and then fix/replace/refund them item)

The sending it to the manufacturer is a bit less clear.  In theory it's the retailers responsibility to deal the the manufacturer.  However, if all they're going to do is send it to the manufacturer anyway, then all you'll get by insisting on sending it to them is further delay.

Hi Ergates, thanks for replying. I'm aware of the change at the 6 month mark and have no issues with them inspecting the item before confirming what they'll do. But your post kind of sums up my concern - if the supplier is just going to send it to the manufacturer, surely that's just adding extra layers and delays in, and I'd be best off just going direct to the manufacturer myself? Even though I shouldn't need to - that's why I was wondering if it was right that the supplier must send to manufacturer, if they were inspecting it themselves it would be worth continuing directly with the supplier.

The more I think about it, I fear that the supplier is simply being awkward in the hope that I come to the conclusion that it's easier and less hassle to go direct to the manufacturer :-(

boots_babe

Grumpy_chap said:

How much did the garden hose spray head cost?

What is the expected life of the product?

Is it worth pursuing?

Hi Grumpty_chap, a very fair question. It was £25 and is a branded item not a cheap version (Draper). So yes I would very definitely expect it to last more than a year - substantially more than a year.

Flight3287462

Sounds like you bought via Amazon Marketplace and not Amazon?  If so your contract is with the seller and not Amazon.

boots_babe

Flight3287462 said:

Sounds like you bought via Amazon Marketplace and not Amazon?  If so your contract is with the seller and not Amazon.

Yes correct, it was a Marketplace item. It's the seller that I'm dealing with, not Amazon.

greyteam1959

What is the fault with the item ??

Korkyb

Spray heads regularly give up the ghost in my experience.

Its usually because they don't like being outside when the temperature drops & its frosty. They freeze up & the expansion of the water turning to ice knackers the unit.

Is it possible that could have happened to yours?

If yes then its time to splash out on a new one (see what I did there....   ) 

If no then I would try getting in touch with the manufacturer.

If I hit a brick wall there too then I guess I would then have to weigh up if its worth wasting more of my time for £25?

Grumpy_chap

I get that it's annoying to spend £25 on a spray head, but they are not really durable items.  In fact, the more expensive ones probably have more to break, as per @Korkyb.

I have really concluded that the life of anything small for the garden is one season and anything into second season or beyond is a bonus.

When it comes to spray heads, the best we found was £2 in Tesco.  Not a great coverage range for the lawn but simple and nothing to go wrong.

boots_babe

Hmm fair enough. My own experience is that I can't actually remember the last time I bought a new spray head, as our old ones we've had for years and years. We only bought this one because we moved house and had an additional hosepipe and tap, so needed another head.

But if people are saying they don't last, perhaps we have been lucky until now. I would still say it's very disappointing if you spend £25 on an item and it doesn't even last a year though.