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Lifetime warranty claims from a company that will not honor them?

Hello to you all, I hope you can help guide me, as there is so much information out there that I end up with more questions than answers whilst researching my problem, hence joining the forum. Many thanks in advance. 

I bought a set of Target Darts in 2008, and they came with a lifetime warranty on the darts barrel, of which I am now having to claim upon again. I originally filled in the online registration form when I bought the darts, the company however seems to no longer have a record of it. 

Target darts wanted proof of purchase via a receipt, as the warranty is only valid for the purchaser. The problem is that this was an official darts seller on eBay, whom have long ceased trading. After asking eBay for archival details, they sent me a file showing the purchase date and the product in question with the relevant eBay information on it.

I have had a few generic emails back from darts and differing agents and have submitted the form eBay had sent me as well as I can confirm my address and details that would be linked to my registration, all this has been to no avail as they tend to ignore me or send a generic reply back which does not answer my questions. I can if allowed to redact any sensitive information and post the correspondence on here.
Regards to you all. John
 
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Comments

  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 15,075 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hi, and welcome.

    I suspect you're out of options.  Warranties and guarantees are always additional to your statutory consumer rights, and the company offering them can impose whatever lawful conditions they like.  If they insist on seeing an original receipt rather than some other form of proof of purchase and you can't provide one then that's it I'm afraid, unless you can extract some sort of goodwill from them.
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 16,976 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Wolf78 said:
    Hello to you all, I hope you can help guide me, as there is so much information out there that I end up with more questions than answers whilst researching my problem, hence joining the forum. Many thanks in advance. 

    I bought a set of Target Darts in 2008, and they came with a lifetime warranty on the darts barrel, of which I am now having to claim upon again. I originally filled in the online registration form when I bought the darts, the company however seems to no longer have a record of it. 

    Target darts wanted proof of purchase via a receipt, as the warranty is only valid for the purchaser. The problem is that this was an official darts seller on eBay, whom have long ceased trading. After asking eBay for archival details, they sent me a file showing the purchase date and the product in question with the relevant eBay information on it.

    I have had a few generic emails back from darts and differing agents and have submitted the form eBay had sent me as well as I can confirm my address and details that would be linked to my registration, all this has been to no avail as they tend to ignore me or send a generic reply back which does not answer my questions. I can if allowed to redact any sensitive information and post the correspondence on here.
    Regards to you all. John
     
    What is the lifetime of a set of Target Darts?
    Your darts are 17 years old, so any remedy would be subject to a deduction of the proportion of use you have gained form the darts compared to the lifetime of the set of darts.  I would quite imagine that the deduction could be 100%.
  • Okell
    Okell Posts: 2,085 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Looking at their website they say clearly say (currently at least) that you will need proof of purchase when claiming against the guarantee.

    Did you not keep the receipt or any emails or order confirmation whan you bought the darts?

    They also currently say that they will email you with confirmation when you register the guarantee.  did they email you when you registered?

    Also what does this mean?

    Wolf78 said:

    ... Target darts wanted proof of purchase via a receipt, as the warranty is only valid for the purchaser...

     
    Are you saying somebody else bought them and gave them to you as a gift?
  • Okell
    Okell Posts: 2,085 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Wolf78 said:
    Hello to you all, I hope you can help guide me, as there is so much information out there that I end up with more questions than answers whilst researching my problem, hence joining the forum. Many thanks in advance. 

    I bought a set of Target Darts in 2008, and they came with a lifetime warranty on the darts barrel, of which I am now having to claim upon again. I originally filled in the online registration form when I bought the darts, the company however seems to no longer have a record of it. 

    Target darts wanted proof of purchase via a receipt, as the warranty is only valid for the purchaser. The problem is that this was an official darts seller on eBay, whom have long ceased trading. After asking eBay for archival details, they sent me a file showing the purchase date and the product in question with the relevant eBay information on it.

    I have had a few generic emails back from darts and differing agents and have submitted the form eBay had sent me as well as I can confirm my address and details that would be linked to my registration, all this has been to no avail as they tend to ignore me or send a generic reply back which does not answer my questions. I can if allowed to redact any sensitive information and post the correspondence on here.
    Regards to you all. John
     
    What is the lifetime of a set of Target Darts?
    Your darts are 17 years old, so any remedy would be subject to a deduction of the proportion of use you have gained form the darts compared to the lifetime of the set of darts.  I would quite imagine that the deduction could be 100%.
    Would that apply to a lifetime guarantee?  (Unless the T&Cs said so).

    This isn't a CRA claim
  • Undervalued
    Undervalued Posts: 9,358 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Wolf78 said:
    Hello to you all, I hope you can help guide me, as there is so much information out there that I end up with more questions than answers whilst researching my problem, hence joining the forum. Many thanks in advance. 

    I bought a set of Target Darts in 2008, and they came with a lifetime warranty on the darts barrel, of which I am now having to claim upon again. I originally filled in the online registration form when I bought the darts, the company however seems to no longer have a record of it. 

    Target darts wanted proof of purchase via a receipt, as the warranty is only valid for the purchaser. The problem is that this was an official darts seller on eBay, whom have long ceased trading. After asking eBay for archival details, they sent me a file showing the purchase date and the product in question with the relevant eBay information on it.

    I have had a few generic emails back from darts and differing agents and have submitted the form eBay had sent me as well as I can confirm my address and details that would be linked to my registration, all this has been to no avail as they tend to ignore me or send a generic reply back which does not answer my questions. I can if allowed to redact any sensitive information and post the correspondence on here.
    Regards to you all. John
     
    What is the lifetime of a set of Target Darts?
    Your darts are 17 years old, so any remedy would be subject to a deduction of the proportion of use you have gained form the darts compared to the lifetime of the set of darts.  I would quite imagine that the deduction could be 100%.
    Strictly speaking that is irrelevant for a warranty unless there are terms and conditions to that effect.

    That said, I do agree that 17 years is a very long while but I have no idea where the line should be drawn. Obviously the actual amount of use for something like this is far more relevant but completely impossible to measure!

    I have no idea if there are any legal precedents regarding so called "lifetime warranties" for any vaguely similar types of product?
  • tedted
    tedted Posts: 417 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    whats wrong with the darts?
  • Ergates
    Ergates Posts: 2,772 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Okell said:
    Are you saying somebody else bought them and gave them to you as a gift?
    I think they're saying they don't have a "proper" receipt as they bought them off ebay.
  • Grumpy_chap
    Grumpy_chap Posts: 16,976 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Ergates said:
    Okell said:
    Are you saying somebody else bought them and gave them to you as a gift?
    I think they're saying they don't have a "proper" receipt as they bought them off ebay.
    The current warranty as per the website states:

    "The lifetime barrel guarantee is only available for darts purchased through Target Darts or stockists. Darts purchased second-hand are not eligible for the lifetime barrel guarantee."

    If that is unchanged since the OP purchased, the first challenge will be whether the supplier via EBay was a "stockist" or whether these are considered a second-hand purchase in terms of the lifetime guarantee.

    Okell said:

    Would that apply to a lifetime guarantee?  (Unless the T&Cs said so).

    This isn't a CRA claim

    I have no idea if there are any legal precedents regarding so called "lifetime warranties" for any vaguely similar types of product?
    What does "lifetime" refer to in a "lifetime" guarantee?
    • The lifetime of the product?  (However that is determined.)
    • The lifetime of the purchaser?
    • The lifetime of the business?
    • The lifecycle of the product?  (So once the product is discontinued and spares are not available, the lifetime is reached - product obsolete)

    It would be good to know if there is some legal precedent that defines "lifetime".  It may be that there is none as "lifetime" expectation can vary wildly between different types of items.  That does not even need to be linked to original purchase price.  I'd expect, for example, the "lifetime" of a gold watch which is to become an heirloom to be far higher than the "lifetime" of a prestige car, yet the car likely has a higher original cost.
  • Wolf78
    Wolf78 Posts: 9 Forumite
    First Post Photogenic
    Okell said:
    Looking at their website they say clearly say (currently at least) that you will need proof of purchase when claiming against the guarantee.

    Did you not keep the receipt or any emails or order confirmation whan you bought the darts?

    They also currently say that they will email you with confirmation when you register the guarantee.  did they email you when you registered?

    Also what does this mean?

    Wolf78 said:

    ... Target darts wanted proof of purchase via a receipt, as the warranty is only valid for the purchaser...

     
    Are you saying somebody else bought them and gave them to you as a gift?

    In that, I meant they will not honour the warranty for secondhand darts. I should have made that a little bit more legible. Many thanks for responding.
  • Wolf78
    Wolf78 Posts: 9 Forumite
    First Post Photogenic
    tedted said:
    whats wrong with the darts?

    The upper part of the barrel where the threads are for the stems has shattered after a bounce out, my titanium shafts have no give, and it shattered the thread on the darts. Thanks for getting back to me.
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