Section 75 claim for car audio

rev_henry

Wasn't sure whether to put this in credit cards or here but anyway....

Bought a piece of car audio equipment costing several hundred pounds around 3 years ago.
Over the past year or so it has been crashing at increasing frequencies such that it is now virtually unuseable.
Retailer is very little help other than saying the chip inside it is probably failing and there is no solution.
I have approached my credit card company and sent them evidence of the retailer suggesting this fault, however credit card company are now wanting me to procure an independent expert report on the cause of the fault etc.

The problem is I cannot find anyone to provide such a service!

I am therefore inclined to make a formal complaint to the credit card company stating that they are failing in their duty to treat me fairly by asking me to do the impossible and failing to consider the retailer's own suggestions as to the fault.

Or even just send the company a letter before action then moneyclaim.

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions or advice? Or even know where I could procure an expert report?

TIA

born_again

Any 3rd party audio co should be able to give you a report for a fee. Which is refundable if your S75 claim is successful.
What about the company that made the equipment? Can they help you? 

Complaint to CC will just come back saying that they require this as part of the investigation. As it is up to you to prove your case.

rev_henry

born_again said:

Any 3rd party audio co should be able to give you a report for a fee. Which is refundable if your S75 claim is successful.
What about the company that made the equipment? Can they help you? 

Complaint to CC will just come back saying that they require this as part of the investigation. As it is up to you to prove your case.

Cheers. Only complication is its not really a normal car audio system, its basically an android tablet that talks to the existing car audio system if that makes sense! So someone who inspects mobile phones or tablets would prob be more appropriate if I can find someone!

born_again

So where is the issue?
Tablet or Car audio system?

Was this all bought as a package, or in separate purchases from various companies?

DullGreyGuy

The consumer rights act puts the obligation on the customer to prove the item was inherently faulty after 6 months of ownership. A retailer saying it's probably X alone doesn't prove that that is even the problem let alone that it was an inherent problem. The fact they've not then dealt with it as a fault item speaks volumes too.

The standard way of proving a fault is to get an independent engineers report which should not only identify the cause of the problem, state if its inherent or caused by mis-use or is reasonable wear & tear and say what the cost of repair is (or declare it beyond economical repair).

Remember that the CRA also allows the retailer, and so also the bank, to deduct the use received from the goods prior to the fault from the refund. As such if it's 3 years old a 50% refund is probably going to be good going. 

rev_henry

born_again said:

So where is the issue?
Tablet or Car audio system?

Was this all bought as a package, or in separate purchases from various companies?

The tablet effectively, which was bought on its own and retrofitted to the car. The car's own audio system is absolutely fine (you can switch between the two) its when I use the stuff on the tablet that the problems arise. I should add this is a purpose built aftermarket system sold for my model of car, not some bodge job.

rev_henry

DullGreyGuy said:

The consumer rights act puts the obligation on the customer to prove the item was inherently faulty after 6 months of ownership. A retailer saying it's probably X alone doesn't prove that that is even the problem let alone that it was an inherent problem. The fact they've not then dealt with it as a fault item speaks volumes too.

The standard way of proving a fault is to get an independent engineers report which should not only identify the cause of the problem, state if its inherent or caused by mis-use or is reasonable wear & tear and say what the cost of repair is (or declare it beyond economical repair).

Remember that the CRA also allows the retailer, and so also the bank, to deduct the use received from the goods prior to the fault from the refund. As such if it's 3 years old a 50% refund is probably going to be good going. 

Thanks.  I'm certainly not going to get annoyed at being told what I don't want to hear

Alderbank

Your piece of audio equipment is about 3 years old.

Consumer law says that the retailer or CC would only have an obligation to do anything if the fault was present when you bought it.
ICE (in car electrical) stuff is pretty robust but incorrect mounting leading to excessive vibration or inadequate ventilation leading to overheating are fairly common reasons for failure over time and neither of these would be covered. Same goes for electrical noise such as voltage spikes or dropouts of the vehicle power system which play havoc with digital stuff.
 After 6 months old the law says the onus of proof that the fault was (probably) inherent when you bought it is up to you, hence your need for a report saying so.

Is the equipment a mainstream brand such as Sony or is it of from the likes of BangGood or AliExpress? If it's of unknown pedigree that could be why no-one is willing to open it up

I am surprised you can't find anyone to look at it though.
I live in Fife, not the most populous part of Scotland, but a quick search on Google and Yell brings up several auto electricians, ICE engineers, etc. locally. 

If you are near the Midlands, as an example this firm http://www.blackiceaudio.co.uk/ say they will go anywhere 75 miles from Birmingham and there are many more.

Where are you?