Currys monitor

hrawlins

Hi MSE forumers,

I bought from Currys online an LG computer monitor for £749 on 26/Oct/2020.  LG offers a 2 year manufacturer warranty on these.

The monitor worked wonderfully for 2 years and 3 months. It has been used well, up to 12 hours a day continuously.

Then, in January 2023 the display started going wrong with, now, 3 vertical lines of 'dead pixels'.   Currys won't help with it because it's out of warranty.  

Currys won't help with it because it's out of warranty.  Worse, they can not repair it anyway since *they do not offer a monitor repair service at all anyway* even if their original buyer (me) is willing to pay them for the repair.

I don't think that, for this price, a monitor should last only 2 years and 3 months before visibly degrading like that.  I don't think it's fair for Currys to totally limit their support to the manufacturer warranty period for a monitor at this price.  Am I wrong?

SiliconChip

You say twice "Currys won't help with it because it's out of warranty.", should one of those statements actually refer to LG (who offered the 2 year warranty)?

Currys do have a legal responsibility under the Consumer Rights Act (2015), but I'm not sure it's going to help you in this case. Because you've owned the monitor for more than 6 months you will need to show to Currys that the fault was present at the time you made the purchase, which given that it's worked perfectly for 2 years 3 months may be difficult to achieve. It's normally done by obtaining an independent report, for instance from a repair shop, that explicitly states that the fault has been present since purchase, you pay for that report but if it confirms your position that's repaid by the retailer. Currys would then have the choice to repair (which sounds like it's not going to happen), replace or refund. Even if you were successful I'd expect them to choose to refund as they can reduce the amount to take into account the use you've had from the product.

To be honest I think getting a report will be throwing money away, I'd suggest that you take it to a repair shop to establish whether a repair is in fact possible at all, and if it is ask them how much they'll charge to do it. If it can't be repaired you'll have to decide whether to live with the dead pixels or buy a replacement - generally Currys are not recommended for such high end purchases but I don't actually think you'd get a different result wherever you bought it in this case.

DullGreyGuy

SiliconChip said:

 Because you've owned the monitor for more than 6 months you will need to show to Currys that the fault was present at the time you made the purchase, which given that it's worked perfectly for 2 years 3 months may be difficult to achieve. 

This isnt 100% true. The Consumer Rights Act states:

(2) The quality of goods is satisfactory if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would consider satisfactory, taking account of—

    (a) any description of the goods,

    (b) the price or other consideration for the goods (if relevant), and

    (c) all the other relevant circumstances (see subsection (5)).

(3) The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

    (a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;

    (b) appearance and finish;

    (c) freedom from minor defects;

    (d) safety;

    (e) durability.

The report therefore doesnt need to show that it was faulty at the time of purchase/that the fault was inherent but can instead show that the durability was insufficient for this type of item given its price, description etc. The report would also need to cover the cause of the issue, namely that its not caused by misuse or reasonable wear and tear. 

hrawlins

Thanks!

 I understand that I need to get it independently assessed.  I am not going to pretend the fault was there earlier.

Firstly then, to see if I stand any chance with Currys following such a report, I shoujd establish if a reasonable person thinks that a £749 monitor's durability of 2 years and 3 months is satisfactory. 

To add another complexity: it does still work in the degraded form, and is therefore useable, so I expect some will say it's to be expected. Regular screen wear and tear etc.

zoob

Is the monitor mainly used for gaming, surfing, working? 

hrawlins

zoob said:

Is the monitor mainly used for gaming, surfing, working? 

Mostly for working.  The kids then use it on some evenings, and most weekends, for gaming.

zoob

Unfortunately the Consumer Rights Act 2015 won't apply as its mainly got for business purposes 

hrawlins

I don't see why the consumer rights act wouldn't apply.  I bought it as a consumer for my.kids to play on, but choose now to use it in the day whilst they are out since I recently started working from home.  My company didn't pay for it at all.

Aylesbury_Duck

You seemed to suggest that most of that 12 hours a day for 2 years was business use. Perhaps just over 2 years for that amount of daily use isn't an unreasonable lifespan? A monitor used solely for "home" purposes might be expected to last longer, but yours has been used extensively. It may not be faulty, but has simply lasted the number of hours such a product might be expected to.

That's why the business question is pertinent.  It doesn't matter that it wasn't bought by your employer.  

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

zoob said:

Unfortunately the Consumer Rights Act 2015 won't apply as its mainly got for business purposes 

It's not as clear cut as that, if the OP was an LTD then the card should be in the LTD name so Currys would know it was B2B.

If OP is self employed they can only claim equipment as an expense if it's solely for the business, it's perfectly normal for people to use their personal possessions as part of their day to day business requirements as well as for personal reasons. 

If OP was an employee I think from a previous thread it was shown that could be classed as not being a consumer but again the OP hasn't purchased specifically for work as it's used for other things.

Ultimately Currys have no idea what the OP uses the monitor for, I'm not suggesting they should be dishonest but unless they claimed it as an expense for self assessment, if the kids are using it as well then consumer rights should apply.

DullGreyGuy

hrawlins said:

I don't see why the consumer rights act wouldn't apply.  I bought it as a consumer for my.kids to play on, but choose now to use it in the day whilst they are out since I recently started working from home.  My company didn't pay for it at all.

The Consumer Rights Act defines a consumer as:

“Consumer” means an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession.

Therefore if you are using it notably for business you fail to meet the definition of a consumer and fall outside of the consumer rights act however you may fall inside the remaining bits of the Sales of Goods Act which still requires items sold to be of reasonable durability but the resolutions under the act have mainly been removed since the CRA came about.