Seller trying to blame me for malfunctioning equipment

LiquidStool

Hi

What are my rights here before I reply to the seller's accusatory email?

Bought a large garden gazebo with a sliding canopy roof a couple of months ago online.
Permanently installed onto house, with corners squarer than a pyramid.
Over the last couple of weeks the canopy was getting harder to retract, often jamming on the right hand side - only when retracting/closing.

Further investigation revealed that two of the plastic pulley wheels had melted due to what i consider to be friction.  The wheels had obviously stopped turning and unbeknownst to me, when pulling the cord, the additional friction had melted the groove to the point that the wheel no longer turns.

When opening, it slides downward like a hot knife through butter.  I checked all the runners (the bars that go from the post to the back wall and there were no obstructions)  I sprayed the right hand runner (looking back to the house) which is the one that sticks with WD40.  WD40 is safe with just about every type of plastic, that said, the runners are made of metal.  There is also no string or pulley on the right hand side so his argument that i happened to get a plastic safe lubricant onto the string which runs down the centre bar and left bar only - and is 2m meters away - which then transferred to the pulley wheel doesn't stand up.

Contacted the seller two weeks ago, he rightly requested pictures then i got this response...

"Thank you for providing the photos.

We have sold thousands of retractable gazebos with pulleys over the years and nobody here has ever seen a wheel like this before (some of us have been here for over 30 years). Yet your gazebo has two wheels which appear to be "melting". This puzzled us so we have investigated potential reasons and discussed how this could have occurred and possible solutions to the problem.

The melting point of the materials used in the wheels is over 200 degrees centigrade. For this reason the cause is unlikely to be due to friction or melting in the heat although it does look like it. The highest local air temperature during this period was around 32.5 degrees. However, it looks like the kind of damage we would expect to see as a result of a chemical reaction with the plastic. We can think of no other factor which could cause similar damage.

We think the most obvious cause of the "melting" would be a lubricant or spray containing petroleum based compounds. These lubricants and sprays do not react well with plastics. It is difficult to lubricate the channel in the roof bars without getting some of the lubricant on the cord which could then transfer to the pulley. We suspect you may have used one of these lubricants.  We would recommend cleaning the cord to remove any lubricant. We would also recommend cleaning the wheels and removing the plastic debris to restore the shape of the wheel. Failing that we have found 18mm diameter pulley wheels less than 10mm thick with a V or U groove online for only a few pounds.

It should not be necessary to lubricate the pulleys or hangers in the track as long as everything is correctly aligned and tensioned and as long as there is no debris in the track itself. The cord should not be under any undue tension unless there is an obstruction somewhere which should be quickly removed.

Our warehouse have informed us the only way we could help with parts would be to break into a new gazebo as we do not have spare pulleys. If you need us to quote for these parts we would be happy to do so. If we can assist in any other way please don't hesitate to contact us again."

1.  REALLY don't like the accusatory tone

2.  I don't want to buy extra bits that aren't supplied by either the seller or the manufacturer thus further invalidating any guarantee

3.  Shouldn't have to buy extra bits at all, already paid plenty for it!

4.  Can't use the gazebo as using the pulley will only cause more friction, thus melting

5.  Paid on credit card, could i section 75 as a last resort?

6.  Doubt they've sold literally thousands of these, nor that they were even in production "30 years ago"  The fact that they've never seen a wheel like this before to my mind is neither here nor there - they're seeing one now!

Many thanks all

 

PHK

I don't think they are accusatory, merely factual regarding the wheels.

From a consumer rights point of view, if they think that they have proof of no inherent fault (I must be honest, what they say makes sense but I'm not a gazebo expert) then you'd need an independent report that says the gazebo is inherently faulty and what that fault is.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Sorry to hear of your troubles I can't verify the sources but from a quick Google WD-40 does contain petroleum base oil and it would appear amorphous plastics don't mix well with WD-40 as it tries to "melt" them. 

For the sake of a couple of ££s for some replacement wheels I would personally forgo the headache and swap them over.

Given the likely cost of the goods vs the cost of wheels I would have thought the company would just order some to be posted to you, and they might if you ask.

If the problem persists with new wheels and no WD-40 then the company would need to sort something out. 

Within the first 6 months it is taken the goods do not conform unless demonstrated otherwise so the ball is in their court to prove (as far as 50/50) but their response and the info on Google does appear to match  

RefluentBeans

The first question I have is what do you want as a resolution to this complaint? They have said they’re happy to help with parts (I.e. a repair). If you want a refund, then I doubt that they’re going to offer it to you. And they can opt to repair or replace if it’s under the CRA. If you want a repair, you can certainly ask them for assistance in fitting the components. Potentially you could ask them to do it for you if you feel that’s the best solution, but that may require taking it off the wall, and shipping it back to them. If this under the CRA;
that should be free to send and free to return. 

To clarify - WD40 is not ‘safe for all plastics’ it’s safe for most, but not for polycarbonate and clear polystyrene. I doubt that’s a pertinent point - as the plastic doesn’t look to be composed of that, but better to be clear about these things. 

If that’s the only lubricant used, then I think it should be fine. But their logic does make sense. I don’t know if it amounts to the burden to show the product was not faulty when it left them, I think that’s a high burden to prove. 

I also agree with PHK - email wasn’t overly accusatory. Just factual based on their investigation and experience, but without inspecting the product I’m not sure how valid their conclusion is. 

I would Go back to them, and say that you didn’t use any lubricant on the wheels. You feel it may just be a ‘bad manufacturing batch’ and that you were really looking forward to using it in the summer. Ask for the parts from them, and ask for guidance on installation. In all honesty, they’ll likely just buy the parts for you (2 wheels are only going to cost a few quid) and send you a short manual on how to do it yourself. I say this is the quick way because if they do buy it for you, then it’llbe resolved in a week. 

It depends if you want a replacement or refund though. If you want either, I think you’ll have a harder battle for yourself. 

LiquidStool

Thank you all.  To clarify, I was only looking for them to replace the brackets with the wheels and did make this clear.  It would be a royal pain in the !!!!!! to wait for the whole thing to be investigated further, it's already been four week, thankfully it's rained for 3.5 of them so it wasn't needed.

Maybe i was being too sensitive, it's hard to tell a tone in an email but i certainly felt like they were accusing me of sabotaging a couple of £2 bits.

Thanks all, i'll go back to them and accept generic replacements at their cost.