5 year warranty of kitchen tap -- but no receipt - advice?

wallofbeans

Hi All,

My father bought and fitted a kitchen tap for me in Feb 21 from Wickes. It has a 5 year warranty and has just developed a fault (constant dripping, squeaky hot tap) -- I don't have the receipt but we have found the transaction on his credit card.

I emailed all this to Wickes and they said without the actual receipt they can't do anything. It was the only item bought from Wickes in that purchase, and the price of tap is the same today, so it seems quite clear that is it... but I get there point, it doesn't say "tap" or anything.

Should this proof be good enough? Should they have a record of this transaction? Should I push this to get a replacement or refund? 

Thanks!

Aylesbury_Duck

Warranties are in addition to your consumer rights, so they are at liberty to set and stick to whatever conditions they want to, as long as they're not unlawful or discriminatory.

How much was it?  You could look at claiming under your consumer rights, but unless it was a particularly expensive tap it's probably not worth a load of hassle for what would probably result in a partial refund.

wallofbeans

It was £80.

So there is no way to proof that this transaction was for that tap? It's frustrating because I know it was and there seems to be no way to proof it. Keeping receipts for every single item ever purchased is hard to do so I wish there was another way to do this.  

Aylesbury_Duck

wallofbeans said:

It was £80.

So there is no way to proof that this transaction was for that tap? It's frustrating because I know it was and there seems to be no way to proof it. Keeping receipts for every single item ever purchased is hard to do so I wish there was another way to do this.  

What do the warranty terms actually say?  Do they insist on proof of purchase, or the actual receipt?  If the former, then tell them you believe you have it and you expect them to honour the warranty.

Playing devil's advocate, you kept the warranty paperwork for the tap for all this time, so why not the receipt?  I've got a box file with instruction manuals for any item I've bought in recent years, with the receipt stapled to them.  I go through it once a year and chuck out any for products I've binned or which are old enough that if they failed I'd bin them anyway.

To exercise your consumer rights, Wickes will probably ask you to have a plumber check what's wrong and diagnose the cause.  If you're in a hard water area and/or the washer is going, that's not going to be deemed an inherent fault.  If there's a fundamental problem with the design or manufacture then Wickes would have to replace it, repair it or partially refund you taking into account the use you've had of the tap so far.  You might be lucky to get £40, maybe?

Personally, I'd just replace the tap.

Undervalued

wallofbeans said:

It was £80.

So there is no way to proof that this transaction was for that tap? It's frustrating because I know it was and there seems to be no way to proof it. Keeping receipts for every single item ever purchased is hard to do so I wish there was another way to do this.  

It doesn't matter whether you can prove that or not for the reasons @Aylesbury_Duck has explained.

If the terms of the warranty require a receipt then a receipt is required.

If you complain higher up they might make an exception as a gesture of good will  but they don't have to.

born_again

Dripping & squeaky, Ceramic washer.

Should not cost more than a few £ to replace.

MyRealNameToo

wallofbeans said:

It was £80.

So there is no way to proof that this transaction was for that tap? It's frustrating because I know it was and there seems to be no way to proof it. Keeping receipts for every single item ever purchased is hard to do so I wish there was another way to do this.  

Depends on how long Wicks keeps its detailed data for and if they are willing to go looking for you. Have you asked if they can find it and recreate it? There is no legal obligation for them to so go in nicely. 

In principle you could do a Subject Access Request but the chances are there is no Personal Identifiable Information on it and therefore wouldnt be returned. 

Generally it's advisable to keep receipts for anything with a long guarantee or that cost over a certain amount which probably makes it a very small proportion of what you buy. 

wallofbeans

I don't have any of the warranty information. I was just trying to figure out where I bought it from so I could buy an identical replacement - found it still for the same price on the Wickes website and noticed it says it has a 5 year warranty - and luckily I was inside the 5 years (which never happens) so thought I could get them to just replace it. 

My father, who bought and fitted it for me, is a plumber - and he doesn't think that repairing it is an option.

wallofbeans

MyRealNameToo said:

wallofbeans said:

It was £80.

So there is no way to proof that this transaction was for that tap? It's frustrating because I know it was and there seems to be no way to proof it. Keeping receipts for every single item ever purchased is hard to do so I wish there was another way to do this.  

Depends on how long Wicks keeps its detailed data for and if they are willing to go looking for you. Have you asked if they can find it and recreate it? There is no legal obligation for them to so go in nicely. 

In principle you could do a Subject Access Request but the chances are there is no Personal Identifiable Information on it and therefore wouldnt be returned. 

Generally it's advisable to keep receipts for anything with a long guarantee or that cost over a certain amount which probably makes it a very small proportion of what you buy. 

I do this when I purchase things -- even keeping boxes of items in case they need returning during the warranty period. But I didn't buy this, and if I had it would have been online anyway, so no need for a physical receipt. 

I just assumed that showing the bank statement with the single transaction would be enough. Apparently not. 

Isthisforreal99

So your father bought it for you? You personally have no consumer rights here then nor potentially warranty if the warranty isn't transferrable.

Did you pay your father as part of his plumbing business to do the job? 

Aylesbury_Duck

wallofbeans said:

I don't have any of the warranty information. I was just trying to figure out where I bought it from so I could buy an identical replacement - found it still for the same price on the Wickes website and noticed it says it has a 5 year warranty - and luckily I was inside the 5 years (which never happens) so thought I could get them to just replace it. 

My father, who bought and fitted it for me, is a plumber - and he doesn't think that repairing it is an option.

It's your father that has consumer rights, then.  And probably the warranty rights, too.  Wickes don't have to deal with you at all if they choose not to.