Excessive time to repair a blind under warranty. What should I do next?
Philly_G
Forumite 
In September 2019 I ordered two roller blinds for my bedroom from John Lewis. These blinds were fitted later in 2019 and the order was to my current address. The blinds are under a five year warranty. I ordered the blinds just after moving to my new flat.
In July this year, the chain on one of the blinds broke. John Lewis sent out a fitter, but the fitter said the chain was broken and they didn’t have the parts to repair it. John Lewis then posted a replacement chain, but to my old address. After informing John Lewis that I had not received the parts, another chain was subsequently sent to my correct address. I told John Lewis to resolve the issue with the incorrect address being on their system to prevent future mix ups with the address, but never seemed to happen, I suspect this was a case of computer says no.
When I received the new chain, I was expected to fit it myself and was provided with instructions that appeared incorrect and were not easy to understand. I suspect the instructions were intended for the fitters themselves. I attempted to fit the blind but was not able to do so. I called John Lewis again and was told I had received all the correct parts. After another failed attempt to fit the blind, I was sent another part at the start of September. This attempt to fit the blind also failed and John Lewis arranged for a fitter to come round for late October.
The fitter was also given the incorrect address and so did not come round as scheduled. After a couple of calls, I was able to get the fitter to come the next day. The fitter said I was never provided with a bolt to fasten the chain to the bracket and so he was unable to repair the blind.
A couple days later I was incorrectly told by John Lewis that they could not repair the blinds under warranty as the blind was fitted to a different address.
After that I formally escalated the issue through the John Lewis escalation procedure on their website, explaining the situation. I provided a photograph of the original order showing the blind was fitted to my current address. In my message I gave them three weeks to the 18th November to resolve the issue, and said I would demand compensation if it had not been resolved by then, through a small claim if necessary. I received a phone call the next day and was told it would be addressed quickly and that they would request a new set of parts. However the person looking after my case has been on an annual leave for half of these three weeks which probably has not in helped in resolving the issue. When I called yesterday they said they were still waiting for the parts. Therefore I think it is now very unlikely the issue will be resolved by 18th November.
My question is what should I do next. My thoughts are to ask an independent blind repair company for a quote on the cost of the repair and demand the cost of repair, plus the cost of some temporary blinds as compensation. If the independent company says it can’t be repaired, then I demand the full cost of both blinds as compensation. If they refuse compensation or do not provide an answer I will submit a small claim. Is this a reasonable course of action?
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 says if a customer requires a faulty product to be repaired, then the trader must do so within a reasonable timeframe and without significant inconvenience to the customer. I do not think more than four and half months to repair a blind is reasonable and expecting customers to fix the issue themselves to me counts as significant inconvenience. However this act seems to apply to new products and I am not how it relates on repairs requested under a warranty. I suspect John Lewis would know their legal situation so I assume if they think they will lose any small claim case they would provide the compensation without it going to court. Is this a reasonable assumption to make?
Replies
The JL warranty must do what it says in the T&Cs, no more and no less. If the T&Cs say for instance that the warranty only covers the premises where they were first installed then that is that.
The JL warranty can only add to your statutory rights. You always have those rights as long as you own the goods, although be aware that they diminish to nothing over a few years. You claim for them specifically though, they are not part of the warranty.
JL appear to agree that the blinds are faulty. They can choose whether to repair, replace or give you a partial refund depending on the use you have had.
They only have one chance to carry out a repair. They can't keep trying over and over. It sounds as though the repair attempt was unsuccessful so they must now give you a refund for the faulty blind. After 24 months a reasonable offer would be about two thirds of what you paid for the faulty blind. Strictly speaking they could also require you to return the blind (at their expense). Under CRA2915 you are not entitled to a new blind or a full refund of the initial purchase price.
For a claim under CRA all that matters is that the blind is faulty. It does not matter whether you have relocated it (unless that was the cause of the fault) and since it is faulty it makes no difference that it was specially made for you.
Not to suggest you did, but could there be a view the chain broke due to user error/misuse?
Under the Consumer Rights Act after 6 months from delivery it's no longer taken a problem with the goods was present. Currently you appear to be claiming under a warranty which can have it's own terms and you'd have to see what they say about timeframes, etc. Whilst a warranty is in addition to your rights the company still has to abide by it's terms so if JL aren't you may have a claim under this.
Alternatively, JL are probably not questing the cause due the warranty, were you to go to small claims you'd be best positioned with something to show the goods failed due to durability rather than something the user has done, this is typically done by way of an independent inspection, small claims is balance of probability so it;s doesn't have to be 100% but ideally what the issue is and at the least that it wasn't caused by user error/misuse. You'd seek to reclaim the cost of this as part of your claim if the inspection ends up being in your favour.
The difference between losses (costs you have suffered) and compensation (goodwill for the agro) needs to be understood, a small claim would be for actual loses, not compensation (by all means ask JL for compensation but if you make a legal claim don't include it as part of the amount sought).
JL are entitled to reduce the refund to account for usage (under consumer rights, if a warranty promises a full refund in the event of an issue not being resolved then you could instead claim this) or you could claim the cost of arranging repair yourself via another blind fitting company.
Something like temporary blinds isn't a valid claim as you can live without blinds and even if you couldn't you could pin a bed sheet to the window, losses must be mitigated (lessened) and a claim for temporary blinds would be excessive
You are correct JL probably don't want to go to court, the cost of a stamp to send a letter before action (templates on Google) might give them some encouragement to get this sorted for you.