AEG say vacuum warranty not valid because it was purchased on Ebay.

Jubudz

I bought a brand new sealed box AEG vacuum from a private seller on Ebay in December 2022.  Upon delivery it was exactly as described-new sealed box & once opened I subsequently registered it with AEG for the 2 year warranty.  Today a fault has developed & so I signed into my AEG account & opened a chat box to make a claim.  I uploaded screen shots of the Ebay orders & these show comprehensive transaction information-probably far more than a standard invoice or receipt.  AEG say that because I bought the product from a private seller this is not proof of when it was sold to him by the original outlet & this is when the warranty begins.  The only way I can claim on my warranty is by obtaining an original invoice/receipt given to the Ebay seller by the original outlet.  I said surely the warranty commences when the product is removed from the new sealed packaging & registered by that end user & not by persons simply in posession of an unopened box ie the Ebay seller.  AEG would not entertain it at all.  Are they correct in what they say?  Please advise.  Thank you.

DullGreyGuy

Warranties are above and beyond your statutory rights and so manufacturers are free to put whatever clauses in there that they want. Many are non-transferable and so the fact they are entertaining the idea of giving you a warranty is better than what most people find. 

Having the warranty commence from date of purchase is fairly normal because that's easy to prove what it was (in most other circumstances). It it was date of opening the box you could claim in 5 years time that you'd only just opened the box and there would be no way for either party to prove that to be correct and having to financially account for the warranty for an indefinite period would be a nightmare. 

As you bought from a private seller rather than sole trader you dont have statutory rights either. Have you contacted the seller to see if they can provide their original purchase receipt?

tightauldgit

Manufacturers can really set their own terms on their warranties and often they aren't transferrable so I generally assume any private sale on Ebay would not have a valid warranty. Generally warranties start from the date of original purchase - they don't reset if resold. 

outtatune

Did the ebay seller list the item as coming with a warranty? If so you may have a claim against them for 'not as described' though how'd you go about enforcing that is another question.

RefluentBeans

Warranties are written by the manufacturer so they can put in what they want. If the seller was not an authorised seller (like a Currys or Argos) than the warranty began when the reseller bought the item. They are entitled to ask for the original purchase receipt (it states it on their terms of warranty). Some also state that they only deal with the retailers and not end users so to go back to the retailer. All of this is legal as it doesn’t a impact your statutory rights.

If you purchased from a company on eBay you have consumer rights. If you purchased from a private seller who was selling a new one because they didn’t want it anymore, you don’t have consumer rights. If the former you can go back through them, and ask for the warranty through them or to claim your consumer rights. If bought from a private seller, then you’re hoping they bought it from a retailer and not a chain of private sellers. But can ask them for the receipt. 

Warranties don’t start from the date you ‘opened the box’ as there is no certain date you ‘opened the box’. You could buy a computer from an authorised dealer and they inspect the item and your warranty clock is ticking down, even if sits on a warehouse shelf for 6 months. 

Equally with registering - registering can be a step to prevent users claiming (having a term like ‘product must be registered within 6 weeks of purchase’) but most warranty registrations are just a form of data collection. In fact AEG don’t require you register your product - just recommend it to make service easier, get manuals, and for special offers. It’s just a data collection mechanism for them. 

My advice would be to determine if the seller was private (equivalent to a car boot sale) or a company/trader. If the latter then go back to them and explain the situation, and potentially attempt to claim under CRA (but as it’s over 6 months you need to show the fault is there) but if not ask for the warranty process - they might’ve offered their own warranty process and request that you send it to them for further investigation. If a private seller - can ask for the original purchase and hope that they still have it. Otherwise might be worth seeing if a local repair person can help, or if AEG can repair for a charge (that you may be able to get them goodwill down a bit). 

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, you have two options.  Get the original purchase receipt from the seller and hope that AEG help, or exercise your consumer rights against the seller.  The former is easily asked for, the latter will be harder to exercise.

Undervalued

Jubudz said:

I bought a brand new sealed box AEG vacuum from a private seller on Ebay in December 2022.  Upon delivery it was exactly as described-new sealed box & once opened I subsequently registered it with AEG for the 2 year warranty.  Today a fault has developed & so I signed into my AEG account & opened a chat box to make a claim.  I uploaded screen shots of the Ebay orders & these show comprehensive transaction information-probably far more than a standard invoice or receipt.  AEG say that because I bought the product from a private seller this is not proof of when it was sold to him by the original outlet & this is when the warranty begins.  The only way I can claim on my warranty is by obtaining an original invoice/receipt given to the Ebay seller by the original outlet.  I said surely the warranty commences when the product is removed from the new sealed packaging & registered by that end user & not by persons simply in posession of an unopened box ie the Ebay seller.  AEG would not entertain it at all.  Are they correct in what they say?  Please advise.  Thank you.

If that is their terms and conditions then yes.

As others have suggested, there is no legal right to a manufacturer's warranty. Any warrant they offer is over an above your statutory rights and strictly on whatever terms and conditions they have set.

If the seller will give you the original purchase receipt and if (as it seems is the case) that is transferable to a new owner and you are it time then, and only then, AEG must honour it.

zoob

The cleaner might have being new, unused and still in sealed box but it's second hand and unless the manufacturer guarantee states otherwise the guarantee started the moment the private buyer bought it and not transferable unless manufactur says otherwise