Amazon refuses to replace cross-trainer

actually_a_llama

So I purchased an RFE/Reebok cross trainer ages ago and when the original warranty was coming to a close I was experiencing issues with it. I spoke to the manufacturer who told me it needed to be replaced and they also extended the warranty by 5 months as a courtesy (due to issues with sourcing spare parts during the pandemic).

Now the manufacturer (RFE) gave me what they call an 'uplift code' / 'reference code' to give to Amazon and said it's up to Amazon to replace it. Amazon refuse to accept this code; they do not know what it is and also say the original warranty is up.

There's been a ping-pong match of me being passed back and forth between the manufacturer and the retailer. Neither of which will take responsibility for replacing it.

Manufacturer -
I am afraid that under the Sale of Goods Act, and as per our agreement with Amazon, only Amazon are permitted to exchange the machine. If, for whatever reason, they are refusing to do this, despite having been advised that this is the only course of action via our uplift code, I would suggest speaking to Trading Standards or possibly seeking legal advice at this stage.

Amazon's stance is that it's out of warranty. I've emailed Trading Standards who have been absolutely hopeless and not helped whatsoever. Where do I go from here? Am I at a dead end?

marcia_

 How long is 'ages ago'? 

Sandtree

Sales of Goods Act for consumers was replaced in 2015 and even when it applied to consumers it only specifies what the consumers rights were against the seller... that doesn't stop the seller, distributor or manufacturer going beyond what those rights are. 

What does your warranty state? It is in addition to your statutory rights but based on the devices presumable age is probably the best option here.

Uplift codes are used in these kinds of circumstances between the manufacture and seller but the seller has to be setup to deal with them and Amazon (and their customer service) are sometimes just a bit too global in nature. The issue with dealing with Amazon is that they could decide that rather than replacing the machine under your statutory rights that they will make a refund however the current consumer protection (Consumer Rights Act) allows them to reduce that refund to reflect the use you've received from the item before the fault... so depending on exactly how old the device is it could be 10% or less of its original purchase price.

The fact the manufacturer/distributor is quoting out of date legislation is worrying in the first instance but your warranty docs are what to check

actually_a_llama

marcia_ said:

 How long is 'ages ago'? 

Purchased 2020, January. Had a warranty of 24 months - which was extended to mid-May 2022. Amazon just kept saying "it's out of warranty". I've actually been going back and forth between Amazon and RFE since about March I'd say and that extension ran out during the communication ping-pong.

powerful_Rogue

actually_a_llama said:

marcia_ said:

 How long is 'ages ago'? 

Purchased 2020, January. Had a warranty of 24 months - which was extended to mid-May 2022. Amazon just kept saying "it's out of warranty". I've actually been going back and forth between Amazon and RFE since about March I'd say and that extension ran out during the communication ping-pong.

Theres a lot of terminology confusion going on here.

Warranty  = What the manufacturer offers and usually has conditions attached.

Consumer Rights = Laid down in law and are against the retailer.

Sales of Goods Act was what you claimed against the retailer under on all purchased before the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force in, well 2015!

So are you claiming against your warranty with Reebok, or with your consumer rights against Amazon? What do the terms of the warranty actually state? Did you actually purchase from Amazon, or a marketplace seller?

actually_a_llama

powerful_Rogue said:

actually_a_llama said:

marcia_ said:

 How long is 'ages ago'? 

Purchased 2020, January. Had a warranty of 24 months - which was extended to mid-May 2022. Amazon just kept saying "it's out of warranty". I've actually been going back and forth between Amazon and RFE since about March I'd say and that extension ran out during the communication ping-pong.

Theres a lot of termonlogy confusion going on here.

Warranty  = What the manufacturer offers and usually has conditions attached.

Consumer Rights = Laid down in law and are against the retailer.

Sales of Goods Act was what you claimed against the retailer under on all purchased before the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force in, well 2015!

So are you claiming against your warranty with Reebok, or with your consumer rights against Amazon? What do the terms of the warranty actually state?

The warranty states

"Reebok Quality products are warranted to the original purchases for two years against possible defects in material and workmanship. Excluded from your warranty are wearing parts and damage caused by misuse of the product. In the case of claim please contact your local technical service support team in order to organize a repair. The warranty period starts from the date the product was delivered so please carefully retain your sales receipt. Please note the sales receipt will be required in order to process the warranty claim. The warranty extends only to the original purchaser".

(and that's about it apart from some stuff about European NORM standards EN 957-1.. the warranty is basically a paragraph in the manual)

Sandtree

actually_a_llama said:

powerful_Rogue said:

actually_a_llama said:

marcia_ said:

 How long is 'ages ago'? 

Purchased 2020, January. Had a warranty of 24 months - which was extended to mid-May 2022. Amazon just kept saying "it's out of warranty". I've actually been going back and forth between Amazon and RFE since about March I'd say and that extension ran out during the communication ping-pong.

Theres a lot of termonlogy confusion going on here.

Warranty  = What the manufacturer offers and usually has conditions attached.

Consumer Rights = Laid down in law and are against the retailer.

Sales of Goods Act was what you claimed against the retailer under on all purchased before the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force in, well 2015!

So are you claiming against your warranty with Reebok, or with your consumer rights against Amazon? What do the terms of the warranty actually state?

The warranty states

"Reebok Quality products are warranted to the original purchases for two years against possible defects in material and workmanship. Excluded from your warranty are wearing parts and damage caused by misuse of the product. In the case of claim please contact your local technical service support team in order to organize a repair. The warranty period starts from the date the product was delivered so please carefully retain your sales receipt. Please note the sales receipt will be required in order to process the warranty claim. The warranty extends only to the original purchaser".

(and that's about it apart from some stuff about European NORM standards EN 957-1.. the warranty is basically a paragraph in the manual)

So have you contacted your local technical service support team?

Does the warranty not cover what happens if a repair is impossible/not economical?

actually_a_llama

Sandtree said:

actually_a_llama said:

powerful_Rogue said:

actually_a_llama said:

marcia_ said:

 How long is 'ages ago'? 

Purchased 2020, January. Had a warranty of 24 months - which was extended to mid-May 2022. Amazon just kept saying "it's out of warranty". I've actually been going back and forth between Amazon and RFE since about March I'd say and that extension ran out during the communication ping-pong.

Theres a lot of termonlogy confusion going on here.

Warranty  = What the manufacturer offers and usually has conditions attached.

Consumer Rights = Laid down in law and are against the retailer.

Sales of Goods Act was what you claimed against the retailer under on all purchased before the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force in, well 2015!

So are you claiming against your warranty with Reebok, or with your consumer rights against Amazon? What do the terms of the warranty actually state?

The warranty states

"Reebok Quality products are warranted to the original purchases for two years against possible defects in material and workmanship. Excluded from your warranty are wearing parts and damage caused by misuse of the product. In the case of claim please contact your local technical service support team in order to organize a repair. The warranty period starts from the date the product was delivered so please carefully retain your sales receipt. Please note the sales receipt will be required in order to process the warranty claim. The warranty extends only to the original purchaser".

(and that's about it apart from some stuff about European NORM standards EN 957-1.. the warranty is basically a paragraph in the manual)

So have you contacted your local technical service support team?

Does the warranty not cover what happens if a repair is impossible/not economical?

Yeah, they told me it was irreparable and that's why they gave me the "uplift code" to get a replacement from Amazon - but Amazon says it's out of warranty and the responses are as if they have not even read what I've said. I tried phoning them and they said they have no way to process references codes - just that their system cannot put through a replacement because it's not possible as it's out of warranty.

I've even tried emailing "Jeff Bezos" (there's an actual email for him which is essentially a sort of escalation/complaint email - Jeff Bezos doesn't actually respond; there's a team handling emails on his behalf).

Sandtree

actually_a_llama said:
I've even tried emailing "Jeff Bezos" (there's an actual email for him which is essentially a sort of escalation/complaint email - Jeff Bezos doesn't actually respond; there's a team handling emails on his behalf).

Same as every exec out there... in better companies there are specialist teams that deal with them. Dont have the qualifications at all to do his job but saw the salary for the CEO & Chairman Complaint Handler at one large insurance company and it made me seriously question my career choice given it started with 1 and wasn't in the teens. 

Your warranty is provided by the manufacturer and so I'd be more likely to be emailing their CEO than Amazon's who isn't party to the warranty. 

actually_a_llama

I'm going to try and see where I can get with RFE. Amazon keeps saying the same thing over and over - it doesn't  even acknowledge that I've mentioned the uplift code and merely states I've had satisfactory use of the item.

The one thing I have is that the fault first occurred within the 24 month warranty and I have the paper-trail (or emails) to back that up. That is, I informed RFE (the manufacturer) of this within the 24 month warranty (regardless if it was extended until May '22 as a courtesy); it just took them a while to get someone out (February '22; partly my own fault as I cancelled an engineer appointment) ... and since then I've been back and forth between their CS and Amazon's CS.

Does the fault occurring within the warranty mean anything? I think Amazon is basically a dead-end, I don't think they're even reading my messages at this point - just returning the same spiel of satisfactory use.

MattMattMattUK

actually_a_llama said:

I'm going to try and see where I can get with RFE. Amazon keeps saying the same thing over and over - it doesn't  even acknowledge that I've mentioned the uplift code and merely states I've had satisfactory use of the item.

The one thing I have is that the fault first occurred within the 24 month warranty and I have the paper-trail (or emails) to back that up. That is, I informed RFE (the manufacturer) of this within the 24 month warranty (regardless if it was extended until May '22 as a courtesy); it just took them a while to get someone out (February '22; partly my own fault as I cancelled an engineer appointment) ... and since then I've been back and forth between their CS and Amazon's CS.

Does the fault occurring within the warranty mean anything? I think Amazon is basically a dead-end, I don't think they're even reading my messages at this point - just returning the same spiel of satisfactory use.

The warranty is nothing to do with Amazon, so Amazon will not care about that. You have Consumer Rights against Amazon, the warranty is an additional provision offered by the manufacturer. Also, can you confirm, did you actually buy from Amazon, or from a third-party seller on Amazon?