Rights of Big Companies

neeMaidment

An iphone 6S, bought from Tesco just over 2 years ago has a fault, the Touch ID sensor is not working. The local Apple store ran a diagnosis and confirmed it was a fault on the phone, not user error or accident, and recommended contacting Tesco to ask them to rectify the situation. I contacted Tesco, quoted the Consumer Rights Act 2015, that it was of unsatisfactory quality and hadn't lasted the time you would expect for such a product. I told them Apple had confirmed the fault was with the phone not user error. They said that as it was out of the 1 year warranty they could not repair or replace it without charging me. When I kept repeating the consumer rights I have they said I had signed a contract regarding the 1 year warranty and that as that year had passed the warranty, & any action from themselves, is now over. Is this correct? Can they say this? I would have thought such a large company as Tesco would be subject to the Consumer Rights Act or am I misapplying it in this circumstance? Does anyone have any experience or wisdom?

MarvinDay

What you need is a written report stating that the fault is inherent from manufacture. It could be due to something such as poor soldering, poor quality components etc.

Without this written report  Tesco are within their rights to refuse to do anything.

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, get a report from the Apple store to back up what they told you.  Then Tesco have a choice whether to replace, repair or refund you, but be aware that any refund would be reduced to reflect two years' use.

Manxman_in_exile

It'll be interesting if the local Apple store provides a report saying that their product was inherently faulty when the OP purchased it from Tesco(!).

@neeMaidment -  on a more general point, a retailer can't make you "contract" out of your statutory consumer rights, whether you sign anything or not, or whether there is a warranty or not.  You cannot have those rights taken away from you and you can't give them away by signing anything.

But in this case - as @MarvinDay has pointed out - because the 'phone is more than 6 months old you need to produce some sort of evidence that the 'phone was either inherently faulty or had a latent defect when you bought it.

So get a report from the Apple store saying that.   (Good luck, by the way... )

pulliptears

The iPhone 6s will stop being supported shortly. It wont get the iOS 16 update.  
Any resolution that doesn't involve you keeping the handset would be preferable for you.

macman

Any additional retailer or manufacturer's warranty is in addition to CRA 2015, it does not replace it. So try to speak to someone at Tesco who has a clue. This is best done in writing using an LBA, and send your engineer's report with it.
No UK company or trader can opt out of CRA 2015.
In future, buy from somewhere like JL which will give you a 2 year warranty on Apple products.

Grumpy_chap

What time would you expect such a product to last?
Having had the phone for over two-years, and remedy would be reduced by the proportion of time that you had the beneficial use of the phone.
There are some, like me, that consider, especially for the price-point of Apple products, that the life expectancy would be quite a good number of years.
There are some that would consider the life-expectancy of any mobile phone is a couple of years tops and then swap under contract for another shiny new one.
I actually expect the really is nearer to the latter position as all these phones, whether expensive brand or budget brands, are cheaply mass-produced consumer electronics plus they have a tough life being sat on, used in poor weather, etc., etc.

powerful_Rogue

macman said:

Any additional retailer or manufacturer's warranty is in addition to CRA 2015, it does not replace it. So try to speak to someone at Tesco who has a clue. This is best done in writing using an LBA, and send your engineer's report with it.
No UK company or trader can opt out of CRA 2015.
In future, buy from somewhere like JL which will give you a 2 year warranty on Apple products.

As it's over 2 years since purchase, OP would be in the same situation.

eskbanker

neeMaidment said:

I would have thought such a large company as Tesco would be subject to the Consumer Rights Act

As would any other company operating in the UK, so 'size doesn't matter' (even if 'every little helps'....)

macman

powerful_Rogue said:

macman said:

Any additional retailer or manufacturer's warranty is in addition to CRA 2015, it does not replace it. So try to speak to someone at Tesco who has a clue. This is best done in writing using an LBA, and send your engineer's report with it.
No UK company or trader can opt out of CRA 2015.
In future, buy from somewhere like JL which will give you a 2 year warranty on Apple products.

As it's over 2 years since purchase, OP would be in the same situation.

Indeed they would, but they'd have still had a warranty that was twice as long, had the failure occurred just slightly earlier.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP I would advise you write to Tesco head office, they'll hopefully offer you a reduced refund in exchange for the return of the phone.

Whilst you do need to articulate on the balance of probability that the goods did not conform at the time of delivery and this is usually done via an independent inspection, Tesco haven't asked you for this yet, they've merely mislead you about your rights  (assuming correct account of conversation with Tesco).

For the cost of a stamp send a letter Your position is that the goods do not conform to the contract in terms of durability as they have failed before their time and the manufacturer has confirmed this is not due to user error or misuse. 

If they do request you show such see what the Apple store will put in writing for you, anything with their name on it and confirmation you didn't damage the phone will do, the exact cause isn't necessary in my opinion for two reasons, small claims is balance of probability, Tesco are not going to go through the small claims process over an item of such relatively small value.