Warranty claim product now discontinued

docmarkh

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Aylesbury_Duck

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Yes, it's legal.  I presume the extra battery isn't covered by the warranty, but you'll need to check the warranty terms to make sure they (the manufacturer) are acting in accordance with it.

Your consumer rights lie with the retailer, whereas your warranty rights lie with the manufacturer.  If you've already accepted a warranty refund, I think you've lost the chance to exercise consumer rights.

Can you sell the battery to at least recover some of the cost?

Grumpy_chap

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Does the manufacturer of the EcoFlow now offer a successor model?  Does that successor model use the same battery?

DullGreyGuy

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Its not 100% clear

We had a similar issue, we bought two matching items that even came with a kit to connect the two together to look like they were a single item. One failed, the manufacturer advised they no longer made the same model and offered an alternative but it would no look like a single item. The retailer accepted the manufacturers view it was dead but didnt have an alternative in stock so simply offered a reduced refund.

We discussed the matter with our Legal Expenses provider who were a little uncertain but said they believed we could reject the complete order not just the item. Retailer said no. Tried speaking to a couple solicitors but mainly got what their hourly rate would be. Seemed to managed to peak the interest of one firm who said I could rescind the whole contract seeing as both items were on the same purchase. 

Seller refused, I sent letter before action, they didnt improve offer, litigated, their law firm asked for more time to respond, offered 75% of what I'd asked for, I said no, they offered 100% of what I'd claimed for, I said yes, they paid up, I cancelled the litigation. 

Without having had a court judgement following a hearing it still leaves uncertainty on exactly what the position is as they may have just decided that £4k was cheaper to pay than to pay to go to court but I certainly argued the case and got what I wanted.

Alderbank

Aylesbury_Duck said:

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Your consumer rights lie with the retailer, whereas your warranty rights lie with the manufacturer.  If you've already accepted a warranty refund, I think you've lost the chance to exercise consumer rights.

I don't agree.

Consumer rights are statutory and can't be removed or overridden by anything the warranty says or does.

Regarding the add-on battery:
The OP bought the a/c unit and the add-on battery together as a single purchase. The add-on battery is useless without the a/c unit.
The goods therefore comprise a 'commercial unit' as defined in CRA2015 s21, which says:
A unit is a “commercial unit” if division of the unit would materially impair the value of the goods or the character of the unit.

Plainly the value of the add-on battery is materially impaired if the a/c unit is no longer present, so the OP is entitled to reject the commercial unit, which comprises the a/c unit and the add-on battery, in its entirety.

PHK

Alderbank said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Your consumer rights lie with the retailer, whereas your warranty rights lie with the manufacturer.  If you've already accepted a warranty refund, I think you've lost the chance to exercise consumer rights.

I don't agree.

Consumer rights are statutory and can't be removed or overridden by anything the warranty says or does.

Regarding the add-on battery:
The OP bought the a/c unit and the add-on battery together as a single purchase. The add-on battery is useless without the a/c unit.
The goods therefore comprise a 'commercial unit' as defined in CRA2015 s21, which says:
A unit is a “commercial unit” if division of the unit would materially impair the value of the goods or the character of the unit.

Plainly the value of the add-on battery is materially impaired if the a/c unit is no longer present, so the OP is entitled to reject the commercial unit, which comprises the a/c unit and the add-on battery, in its entirety.

If I was to accept your commercial unit argument there is still a problem. They've already received a refund for the air con, they couldn't legally receive a second refund (betterment principle) 

Batteries wouldn't normally be considered part of a  commercial unit as they are by definition a consumable and replaceable. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Above is correct that where you reject goods you may either reject the goods that do not conform or the whole lot under the same contract.

There isn't mention of timeframes or price, if before 6 months then full refund due but if after 6 months a deduction for use can be applied so worth doing the maths and figuring out if a deduction for use (if any) would likely be more than the battery. 

This is of course consumer rights, the warranty complicates the matter, if any conversation about the battery with the retailer then not advising about consumer rights could be a misleading omission but even with a warranty refund on the unit I don't see why there can't be a consumer rights claim on the battery. 

With that in mind another factor is burden of proof if after 6 months, whether the manufacturer has given enough to demonstrate the goods (the unit) did not conform hasn't been said.

OP can you advise how much the unit was, how much the battery was and how long it's been since they were originally delivered please?   

Jumblebumble

PHK said:

Alderbank said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Your consumer rights lie with the retailer, whereas your warranty rights lie with the manufacturer.  If you've already accepted a warranty refund, I think you've lost the chance to exercise consumer rights.

I don't agree.

Consumer rights are statutory and can't be removed or overridden by anything the warranty says or does.

Regarding the add-on battery:
The OP bought the a/c unit and the add-on battery together as a single purchase. The add-on battery is useless without the a/c unit.
The goods therefore comprise a 'commercial unit' as defined in CRA2015 s21, which says:
A unit is a “commercial unit” if division of the unit would materially impair the value of the goods or the character of the unit.

Plainly the value of the add-on battery is materially impaired if the a/c unit is no longer present, so the OP is entitled to reject the commercial unit, which comprises the a/c unit and the add-on battery, in its entirety.

If I was to accept your commercial unit argument there is still a problem. They've already received a refund for the air con, they couldn't legally receive a second refund (betterment principle) 

Batteries wouldn't normally be considered part of a  commercial unit as they are by definition a consumable and replaceable. 

Are we sure that the op has either agreed or received a refund?
(I can see Ecoflow have offered a refund)

born_again

docmarkh said:

I hope for some advice. We bought an EcoFlow portable air conditioner and add on battery. The unit has failed under warranty and EcoFlow via the dealer have agreed to refund the cost as they no longer make it. However, they are not going to reimburse me for the battery which was bought as part of the original purchase and which is completely useless without the a/c unit. So my question is whether this is acceptable legally as it’s not a great outcome. 

Does this battery work with the new uints?