Argos breach of Consumer Credit act?

gwynfryn

I purchased a Vax carpet cleaner from Argos and got the usual hard sell to buy their after care insurance. I replied I don't need it as there is a 2 year warranty. Their reply was that the guarantee is with Vax so I'd have to return it to Vax and not Argos.
I replied that I have bought the cleaner from Argos and my contract of sale is with Argos and not Vax, so will be returning it to Argos if faults occur.
This is not the first time Argos have taken this line, I previously purchased a Kodak printer that had an issue and when I tried to return it to Argos they said I needed to Kodak. I stated that my contract of sale was with Argos and I refused to contact Kodak, eventually I got my money back.

Can Argos absolve all their responsibility as the seller or hundreds of products under the Consumer Credit act for goods they sell with a warranty (manufacturers)?

Are Argos correct that I would need to contact Vax if a fault occurs and they have no responsibility for the goods they sell when they break?

PHK

You are confusing two things. Your consumer rights and The manufacturer guarantee. Consumer Credit Act is completely the wrong legislation. I'm afraid you're mistaken  on all counts. 

If you want to claim under the manufacturer's guarantee then Argos are right, you'd need to contact Vax. 

If you are using your consumer rights then you'd approach Argos. Argos are allowed to use the manufacturer as their repair agent. If something goes wrong in 30 days you are entitled to a refund. If there's a fault between 30days and six months then it's assumed to be inherent, Argos can repair or replace. They are entitled to examine the goods and can use the manufacturer to do this. After six months you have to prove the fault was there at time of purchase or that it should have lasted longer.  If you can prove this then the retailer can choose to repair, replace it give a partial refund. 

fatbelly

Your rights are as given in the Consumer Rights Act

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents

Exodi

Perfectly articulated by PHK.

And as to their final point, that after six months the burden of proof that the fault was inherent falls to the consumer, in this situation most consumers might prefer to fall back on the manufacturers warranty, which might last for several years and requires relatively little proof, than pay out of pocket to commission a third party specialist inspection for the retailer.

The warranty is separate to your rights and is offered by the manufacturer. You would exercise (and register) the warranty with the manufacturer directly. If you are exercising your consumer rights under the Consumer Rights Act, you would do so with Argos. Argos are correct.

gwynfryn said:

I stated that my contract of sale was with Argos and I refused to contact Kodak, eventually I got my money back.

This doesn't mean you were right - more so that you probably wasted so many customer service peoples time and energy that the decision was made to issue a goodwill refund to make you go away (perhaps they told the manufacturer behind the scenes that they had an awkward customer and worked out the details between them).

I work as a Sales Director myself, it happens all the time. It's not worth our customer service quibbling with a difficult customer ad infinitum, when the customer is misinformed and/or refuses to listen. The cost of remedying it can be less than the time spent paying staff to argue the toss or the impact from negative reviews.

MyRealNameToo

gwynfryn said:

I purchased a Vax carpet cleaner from Argos and got the usual hard sell to buy their after care insurance. I replied I don't need it as there is a 2 year warranty. Their reply was that the guarantee is with Vax so I'd have to return it to Vax and not Argos.
I replied that I have bought the cleaner from Argos and my contract of sale is with Argos and not Vax, so will be returning it to Argos if faults occur.
This is not the first time Argos have taken this line, I previously purchased a Kodak printer that had an issue and when I tried to return it to Argos they said I needed to Kodak. I stated that my contract of sale was with Argos and I refused to contact Kodak, eventually I got my money back.

Can Argos absolve all their responsibility as the seller or hundreds of products under the Consumer Credit act for goods they sell with a warranty (manufacturers)?

Are Argos correct that I would need to contact Vax if a fault occurs and they have no responsibility for the goods they sell when they break?

Your statutory rights are with the retailer under the Consumer Rights Act, but for example, once the goods are more than 6 months old they are no longer obliged to give a full refund. 

What you and Argos are talking about is a manufacturers guarantee which is with the manufacturer not the retailer and so any claim under it would be with the manufacturer. These are not statutory rights and the manufacturer can add any terms and conditions it wants to them - some require you register the product within 14 days of purchase and you must be able to show the original receipt at the time of claim so many people miss the date or lose the receipt (or it goes black as its on thermal paper) and so cannot claim on the warranty. 

I personally dont buy warranties but they can be better than both the CRA and manufacturers warranty. I got a free warranty with my TV such that after 4 years and it being unrepairable I got the full purchase price back whereas under the CRA would probably have gotten less than half the cost back.