New car key fob not working properly.

Okell

mrcactus said:

Right, so I bought the key through my local Renault dealer, which they ordered from France (presumably Renault as it has the embedded renault logo on the key itself)

When the Key arrived at the dealership, I booked my car in with the dealer to have that key programmed to the car. It was their in-house tech team/garage people who did the programming.

I have a receipt for the key purchase and a receipt for the programming. The reciept for the programming has a warranty number on it and the date on the reciept is 02/05/2023.

The guy who called me back after submitting the online query form was from my Renault dealer and all other persons I've spoke to were from the local dealer.

Sorry if my posts have made no sense, I'm not very good at explaining things very well (as you can probably tell)

OK - so you've dealt through the same local dealer all along.  That's good. 

Then try what I suggested yesterday.  (I'll cut and paste the relevant bit below for reference)

"... If you and the woman from the dealer are both agreed that the key you paid £300 for isn't working properly, I can't for the life of me see why she thinks it's your problem if they can't get it to work properly and that you should pay another £300 for another key(!).

Get back on the 'phone to them tomorrow.  If she won't listen to you ask to speak to a manager.  If you get their agreement to re-programme it for free, send them an email straight afterwards confirming what was said and ask them for their confirmation by reply.  Remember, this isn't about whether the key is under warranty or not - although it might help.  This is about the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) which says that goods must be of satisfactory quality, must be fit for a particular pupose (in your case remote locking and unlocking your car), and must be as described.

If you can't get them to agree tomorrow to fix it for free, come back to this thread tomorrow for further ideas.

As the car is 14 years old, would you be happy to accept that the remote buttons wouldn't work in return for a partial refund?  Say between 50% and 75%.  You might want to think that over... or you might not...  Just a thought..."

The only potential complication I can see is that it appears you have made two transactions.  One to purchase the key itself, and a second to programme it.  Presumably you similarly paid two amounts of money - as evidenced on two separate receipts - totalling £300?  Do you know if the key itself is OK, or is it only the programming that is a problem?

As suggested above, you need to go back to the dealer and sort this out with them.  You've paid £300 for a fully functioning key and that is what you want.

Tell them that under consumer legislation they are obliged either to repair or replace the key so that you have a fully working key, and you aren't paying them any more money.  Failing that you want a partial refund in respect of those functions on the key that don't work.

You might have a right to reject the key outright for a full refund, but that would leave you with no key!

So you'll have to go back and talk to them.  And I know I've pushed you along the Consumer Rights Act route, but it would seem your receipt for the programming does give you some warranty cover as a backup.

Wait and see if anybody else here can come up with any better ideas