Currys - Small Claims Court

Graeme1978uk

Gavin83 said:

It seems pretty clear the guarantee should be with Sony but for whatever reason this wasn't setup with Currys. What are the terms of the guarantee with Sony you should have had? These terms are important as potentially you could hold Currys liable for whatever those terms are. However you can't claim for more than the terms you should have had. For example if the guarantee doesn't allow for a 'like for like' replacement then you can't claim this. I would expect any judge in a court case to ask for this information and if you don't have it they might well throw the case out.

I assume you've told Currys that Sony have stated no such guarantee exists. What did they say?

I don't think I ever received anything in terms of specific warranty information from Currys unfortunately. Some of the people I've spoken to at Currys have said they've never carried out repairs to Sony TV's and it has always been via the manufacturer.

Al_Ross

If you can provide some evidence that Currys sold and were advertising the tv with a 5 year guarantee you will win.Trading Standards might be interested in this case too.

macman

What is the value of your claim? I'd be tempted to risk the fee and go through small claims anyway: for a few hundred it is hardly worth them contesting the claim. You would appear to be able to demonstrate that you purchased this on the understanding that it came with a 5 year warranty. That may be good enough.

pinkshoes

If Sony say (in writing) that Currys were not participating in the 5 year warranty, and the OP cannot provide evidence of the 5 year warranty from the proof of purchase, then I cannot see how this will succeed in court.

BUT... you do have CONSUMER rights rather than going down the warranty route, and have upto 6 years from the point of purchase to claim for any product failures due to inherent faults.

A typical shelf life of a quality TV would be perhaps 8 years? (Our Sony Bravia is still going after 22 years!). So take the TV to an expert to get a written report to show that the fault has occurred due to an inherent fault and not misuse, then go back to CURRYS and claim under the 2015 CRA stating that the TV has failed due to a defect and would like like to repair, replace or refund. The refund will be partial, but you could perhaps get back 40 to 50% if it failed after 4 years. The replacement would be like for like e.g. replace with another 2nd hand set.

Graeme1978uk

pinkshoes said:

If Sony say (in writing) that Currys were not participating in the 5 year warranty, and the OP cannot provide evidence of the 5 year warranty from the proof of purchase, then I cannot see how this will succeed in court.

BUT... you do have CONSUMER rights rather than going down the warranty route, and have upto 6 years from the point of purchase to claim for any product failures due to inherent faults.

A typical shelf life of a quality TV would be perhaps 8 years? (Our Sony Bravia is still going after 22 years!). So take the TV to an expert to get a written report to show that the fault has occurred due to an inherent fault and not misuse, then go back to CURRYS and claim under the 2015 CRA stating that the TV has failed due to a defect and would like like to repair, replace or refund. The refund will be partial, but you could perhaps get back 40 to 50% if it failed after 4 years. The replacement would be like for like e.g. replace with another 2nd hand set.

This was something mentioned to me by the store, but I'm reluctant. If it was advertised with a 5-year guarantee then I'm loathed to accept a partial refund. I expect to have the TV repaired or replaced and don't think I'm being unreasonable there. It's an option though.

Graeme1978uk

macman said:

What is the value of your claim? I'd be tempted to risk the fee and go through small claims anyway: for a few hundred it is hardly worth them contesting the claim. You would appear to be able to demonstrate that you purchased this on the understanding that it came with a 5 year warranty. That may be good enough.

It's hard to say. I'd have to pay to have the TV assessed for repair cost first, then establish if it is economically viable to do so. My conversations with Sony on the matter suggest it would be unlikely a replacement panel for a 4 year old TV would be available.

If we say £100 for a repair assessment, the original TV purchase price was £649 but I would expect a replacement would cost lower as the technology has advanced (It's a 49" 4K HDR).

If I say £450 for a TV and £100 repair assessment so £550 all in? It's a bit guesswork until I've actually had it assessed.

Manxman_in_exile

Graeme1978uk said:

pinkshoes said:

If Sony say (in writing) that Currys were not participating in the 5 year warranty, and the OP cannot provide evidence of the 5 year warranty from the proof of purchase, then I cannot see how this will succeed in court.

BUT... you do have CONSUMER rights rather than going down the warranty route, and have upto 6 years from the point of purchase to claim for any product failures due to inherent faults.

A typical shelf life of a quality TV would be perhaps 8 years? (Our Sony Bravia is still going after 22 years!). So take the TV to an expert to get a written report to show that the fault has occurred due to an inherent fault and not misuse, then go back to CURRYS and claim under the 2015 CRA stating that the TV has failed due to a defect and would like like to repair, replace or refund. The refund will be partial, but you could perhaps get back 40 to 50% if it failed after 4 years. The replacement would be like for like e.g. replace with another 2nd hand set.

This was something mentioned to me by the store, but I'm reluctant. If it was advertised with a 5-year guarantee then I'm loathed to accept a partial refund. I expect to have the TV repaired or replaced and don't think I'm being unreasonable there. It's an option though.

You might be being unreasonable in your expectations because you don't seem to know what the 5 year guarantee covers because you don't have any paperwork for it.

For example, you seem to be assuming that if your TV becomes unrepairable then you are entitled to a like for like replacement.  But that's only an assumption on your part because you've got no documentation to point to to support that claim.

Is there any way you can get confirmation from currys or Sony as to what the guarantee should cover?

In terms of evidence that you do have, you say you have a text message or something from Currys confirming that your purchase included a 5 year gurantee?  Well that's good evidence.  Do you also have a copy of that printout from Currys showing that your TV was sold with a 5 year warranty?  

I'd say that's all good evidence but might not be enough to win you a court claim.  Up to you whether it's worth pursuing further.  I think I'd want to find out what the terms of this guarantee would have entitled you to.

I'm not sure you've answered this question, but was it a condition of the guarantee that you register it with Sony (or Currys) and did you do so?  Or don't you know if it was a condition because you didn't have any paperwork?

Graeme1978uk

Manxman_in_exile said:

You might be being unreasonable in your expectations because you don't seem to know what the 5 year guarantee covers because you don't have any paperwork for it.

For example, you seem to be assuming that if your TV becomes unrepairable then you are entitled to a like for like replacement.  But that's only an assumption on your part because you've got no documentation to point to to support that claim.

Is there any way you can get confirmation from currys or Sony as to what the guarantee should cover?

In terms of evidence that you do have, you say you have a text message or something from Currys confirming that your purchase included a 5 year gurantee?  Well that's good evidence.  Do you also have a copy of that printout from Currys showing that your TV was sold with a 5 year warranty?  

I'd say that's all good evidence but might not be enough to win you a court claim.  Up to you whether it's worth pursuing further.  I think I'd want to find out what the terms of this guarantee would have entitled you to.

I'm not sure you've answered this question, but was it a condition of the guarantee that you register it with Sony (or Currys) and did you do so?  Or don't you know if it was a condition because you didn't have any paperwork?

I have 2 messages from Currys, one on Facebook the other on Twitter confirming the 5-year guarantee and I do have the printout from store that states the model was sold with a 5-year guarantee. It's all good evidence but not brilliant I suppose.

You are right that the 'like for like' is an assumption on my part because you are correct that I don't have the paperwork to confirm what it does or doesn't include which is where my case potentially has a flaw. I just know that it was sold with a guarantee that I can get neither Sony nor Currys to honour and my legal options seem to be limited.

I can confirm the TV was registered with Sony upon purchase.

Alderbank

Manxman_in_exile said:

 I think I'd want to find out what the terms of this guarantee would have entitled you to.

I'm not sure you've answered this question, but was it a condition of the guarantee that you register it with Sony (or Currys) and did you do so?  Or don't you know if it was a condition because you didn't have any paperwork?

We don't know the terms and conditions of the exact guarantee which the OP believes they were given but one I have found online
https://api.my-samsung.com/UploadImages/terms/TermsConditionsLegal_8921.pdf
includes these important conditions:

To activate your promotional 5 Year warranty: 

• The 5 Year Warranty must be registered no later than 90 days from the invoice date to validate any claim(s).
• Upon registration the claimant will be sent an email confirmation with notification of registration and a related reference number.
• A copy of your receipt, invoice or lease agreement MUST be retained by you as proof of purchase. 

CLAIM(S) FOR WARRANTY SERVICE / TECHNICAL SUPPORT

To obtain a warranty service:

• Contact the Samsung Support hotline on UK: 0330 726 7864 (SAMSUNG)

• Provide the product code and serial number.

• Provide proof of activated extended warranty, as per the e-mail confirmation sent at the time of online warranty registration(s). 

OP, is this the same guarantee which you have?

Gavin83

It seems like most of us agree on this thread as to your situation. Given they advertised it as coming with a 5 year guarantee you should be entitled to it. However unless you have the terms of that guarantee and can therefore prove what you've lost out on I think you might struggle.

I still suspect this guarantee was never with Currys but with Sony and there's been a breakdown in the link between the two somewhere. If you speak to Sony they may well be able to provide the terms of that guarantee even if you aren't entitled to it. If you make it clear you don't think they're liable in any way, butter them up a bit and tell them you want to use it as evidence against Currys they might be a bit more helpful.