Consumer Law Success Story vs. Apple / Argos

jamesnrnimmo

I wanted to share my experience when navigating through the endless writings online that explain Consumer Law in the UK and how I successfully made a claim against the retailer for my faulty MacBook Pro and received money back towards a replacement.

I bought a MacBook Pro 13" from Argos in July 2017 and it lasted just over 3 years before the logic board failed. This unfortunately seems to be quite common with certain Apple products which I can only put down to Apple's desire to gain repeat business on their faulty products, by limiting how long they last. The machine itself was well looked after, always in a hard shell case, complete with screen protector and put into a soft case when not in use. I had the logic board issue confirmed by Apple as requested by Argos, as after owning a product for a year, an independent specialist must provide a service report in order to move forward with the claim. This is to rule out any accidental or water damage, to which there was none on my MacBook and was able to take the claim forward. The best way to simplify your rights as a Consumer in the UK and how that gives you the right to (some) money back against the faulty product, I will briefly explain. Though bear in mind I'm not an expert and this is just my experience.

You are protected by consumer law in the UK for 6 years from the date of purchase of your product against manufacturing faults / defects (not accidental damage/neglect on your part) though you must retain your receipt / proof of purchase to supply as evidence to the retailer. The retailer (if not the manufacturer) is who you must deal with in the event you need to claim. The best way to work out what you're entitled to as a refund against the faulty product is to take the number of months you've owned the product for and subtract it by the number of months in the 6 year period, which is 72 months.

As an example - I paid £1,649 for my MacBook Pro and I'd owned the MacBook for 45 months, leaving 27 months of protection under consumer law. The retailer will take the cost of the product you paid at time of purchase and divide that by 72 months to calculate your refund amount, so in my case that's £1,649 / 72 months which is £22.90 per month x 27 months remaining in the 72 month (6 year) period which left me with £618.38 as a cash refund. Which I was successful in getting back from Argos and paid by BACS transfer.

I found a template letter on the Citizen's Advice website which I customised before sending it to Argos in the mail. They got back to me by email and I was able to start the claim process, send them the service report which confirmed that I wasn't at fault and it was a manufacturing fault / defect. Apple didn't charge me for this service report, though Argos offered to cover the cost if I did have to pay. And in a couple of weeks I received the amount above back in my account. By that time the new MacBook's with the M1 chips were out, so I put the refund amount towards one of those.

Where this consumer law protection doesn't cover you for the full amount you paid, I'd still owned and had use of the MacBook for over 3 years and the money I got back was able to go towards a replacement. These rules apply to most, if not all purchases made in the UK and not just Apple. But wanted to share here if you're faced with a similar issue with your machine. So I hope this helps.

flaneurs_lobster

So Apple act as the independent specialist providing the service report about a faulty Apple product? Seems odd, but just fine if it gave you a satisfactory outcome.

gefnew

The sale of goods act applies.

flaneurs_lobster

gefnew said:

The sale of goods act applies.

,,,replaced by the Consumer Rights Act from 1 October 2015.

Ergates

The Consumer Rights Act doesn't say that a laptop  (or any other product) should last 6 years.
It says that goods must be of "satisfactory" quality, and that one of the aspects of quality is "durability" , however no specific timescales are mentioned as, obviously, different things would be expected to last different lengths of time.   For instance, 6 years would be a long time for a paper plate to last, but would be a very short time for a roof tile to last.  Also, higher quality goods (i.e. could be expected to last longer than cheaper equivalents).

You have 6 years (in England and Wales, 5 years in Scotland) from the date you take ownership, to make a claim against the retailer for faulty goods.  This does *not* mean the goods have to last 6 years, it means you have that long to lodge a case.

GDB2222

Ergates said:

The Consumer Rights Act doesn't say that a laptop  (or any other product) should last 6 years.
It says that goods must be of "satisfactory" quality, and that one of the aspects of quality is "durability" , however no specific timescales are mentioned as, obviously, different things would be expected to last different lengths of time.   For instance, 6 years would be a long time for a paper plate to last, but would be a very short time for a roof tile to last.  Also, higher quality goods (i.e. could be expected to last longer than cheaper equivalents).

You have 6 years (in England and Wales, 5 years in Scotland) from the date you take ownership, to make a claim against the retailer for faulty goods.  This does *not* mean the goods have to last 6 years, it means you have that long to lodge a case.

I entirely agree. It’s good of Argos to pay up with such a faulty argument.

Having said that, a decent laptop should last around six years, and certainly should not break after three, so maybe they reached a fair settlement. 

Ergates

It *does* sound like a fair settlement - I would expect a laptop to last at least 6 years.  By that point it might not be so shiny and the battery won't hold as much charge etc, but the motherboard certainly shouldn't die after 3 years, so a partial refund is the right result.

But it's important to clarify that the Consumer Rights Act does *not* specify any length of time for how long anything should last.

jamesnrnimmo

Thanks for the further definitions that surround Consumer Law / Sale of Goods Act. As I mentioned, I’m no expert and merely posted my experience, sharing my learning to pass on to anyone else who may have this issue.