Consumer Rights Act 2015 claim

fishy_chips

Hello,

 I am seeking some help with convincing our electrical appliance supplier that they need to help us with obtaining compensation for an  appliance fault, which, after reading MSE's explanation of our rights under Consumer Rights Act 2015, I feel we are entitled to claim. However the supplier does not have that point of view. The situation is as follows:

In April 2021 we installed a Steam Oven in our new kitchen. Unfortunately, the oven stopped working this April, when the metal element plate at the back of the oven fell off, disclosing severe rust and corrosion. The Manufacturer's service engineer visited and reported that the oven is beyond repair.

 We wrote to the local supplier of the oven in July asking for assistance, citing the following:

 “We believe that the oven is Not Fit for Purpose as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and that we should be entitled to a replacement or compensation, for the following reasons:

 1. The steam oven is only 4 years old. We understand that this Manufacturer's ovens are normally expected to last 10 to 20 years.

 2. We understand that other users have had trouble with the steam ovens durability, such as corrosion and component failure.

 3.Was there a manufacturing problem with this oven?  We had noticed in the past that the back plate was quite wobbly.

 4. We have followed the recommended cleaning and maintenance procedures, such as drying the oven after use.”

 The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

 We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

 I would appreciate some advice on a suggested response to the supplier to press home our case. 

 Many thanks

born_again

Consumer rights are against who you bought the item from.

Compensation is not something that is covered.
Most retailer look on items lasting 6 years. So given a 5 year old item, you would be looking at on say £600 item a refund of £100.

The company is correct after 6 months you need a independent report to say item had a inherent fault. 

eskbanker

fishy_chips said:

The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

As above, after six months has elapsed, the onus is on the consumer to demonstrate that a fault is inherent, in order to exercise CRA rights, and so this will generally require an independent expert to confirm this, i.e. not the manufacturer's one.

MyRealNameToo

fishy_chips said:

 We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

 I would appreciate some advice on a suggested response to the supplier to press home our case. 

You believe incorrectly. 

Manufacture has nothing to do with the consumer rights act nor has the suppliers relationship with the manufacturer/who carries the ultimate cost. 

The CRA makes the vendor responsible for the products it sells. As the item is over 6 months old the duty is on you to prove that the item is not sufficiently durable or was inherently faulty. This is normally achieved with an engineers report but there are potentially other options. 

eskbanker said:

fishy_chips said:

The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

As above, after six months has elapsed, the onus is on the consumer to demonstrate that a fault is inherent, in order to exercise CRA rights, and so this will generally require an independent expert to confirm this, i.e. not the manufacturer's one.

There is nothing to stop you using a manufacturers engineer to produce the report, if there is any bias you would assume it would be against the consumer because they wouldnt want to say their own products are sub standard or defective. Similarly their retailers will generate much more revenue for them than a single customer so they are the ones they will want to keep happy. 

If the manufacturer is willing to admit they made an item with a problem it probably carries more weight than if it were an independent. 

Mark_d

fishy_chips said:

Hello,

 I am seeking some help with convincing our electrical appliance supplier that they need to help us with obtaining compensation for an  appliance fault, which, after reading MSE's explanation of our rights under Consumer Rights Act 2015, I feel we are entitled to claim. However the supplier does not have that point of view. The situation is as follows:

In April 2021 we installed a Steam Oven in our new kitchen. Unfortunately, the oven stopped working this April, when the metal element plate at the back of the oven fell off, disclosing severe rust and corrosion. The Manufacturer's service engineer visited and reported that the oven is beyond repair.

 We wrote to the local supplier of the oven in July asking for assistance, citing the following:

 “We believe that the oven is Not Fit for Purpose as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and that we should be entitled to a replacement or compensation, for the following reasons:

 1. The steam oven is only 4 years old. We understand that this Manufacturer's ovens are normally expected to last 10 to 20 years.

 2. We understand that other users have had trouble with the steam ovens durability, such as corrosion and component failure.

 3.Was there a manufacturing problem with this oven?  We had noticed in the past that the back plate was quite wobbly.

 4. We have followed the recommended cleaning and maintenance procedures, such as drying the oven after use.”

 The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

 We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

 I would appreciate some advice on a suggested response to the supplier to press home our case. 

 Many thanks

I don't think points (2) and (3) are relevant here.  What is relevant is:

1.  The oven was used/maintained as per the manufacturers recommendations

2.  The oven failed to last a reasonable amount of time.

An engineer's report can confirm that the oven's failure was not caused by external damage or by user.  This demonstrates that the oven supplied to you was not of reasonable quality.

I would suggest raising a Section 75 claim. If this is not an option then the process for raising a county court claim against the retailer is very straightforward.  Armed with your receipt for the purchase and an engineers report as to the nature of the faults,  you will be presenting a very clear case to the magistrates.

In all likelihold the retailer will consult their lawyers on receipt of the legal paperwork, and they will pay up to settle the case out of court.

Undervalued

fishy_chips said:

Hello,

 I am seeking some help with convincing our electrical appliance supplier that they need to help us with obtaining compensation for an  appliance fault, which, after reading MSE's explanation of our rights under Consumer Rights Act 2015, I feel we are entitled to claim. However the supplier does not have that point of view. The situation is as follows:

In April 2021 we installed a Steam Oven in our new kitchen. Unfortunately, the oven stopped working this April, when the metal element plate at the back of the oven fell off, disclosing severe rust and corrosion. The Manufacturer's service engineer visited and reported that the oven is beyond repair.

 We wrote to the local supplier of the oven in July asking for assistance, citing the following:

 “We believe that the oven is Not Fit for Purpose as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and that we should be entitled to a replacement or compensation, for the following reasons:

 1. The steam oven is only 4 years old. We understand that this Manufacturer's ovens are normally expected to last 10 to 20 years.

 2. We understand that other users have had trouble with the steam ovens durability, such as corrosion and component failure.

 3.Was there a manufacturing problem with this oven?  We had noticed in the past that the back plate was quite wobbly.

 4. We have followed the recommended cleaning and maintenance procedures, such as drying the oven after use.”

 The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

 We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

 I would appreciate some advice on a suggested response to the supplier to press home our case. 

 Many thanks

Point 4 - I'm sure you have but a cynic might think "You would say that wouldn't you"!

Report - The supplier is largely correct. The law requires you to demonstrate (on the balance of probabilities) that the fault was inherent. An independent expert's report is the usual way of doing that but ultimately if it came to court other evidence might be enough to convince the judge (again, on the balance of probabilities).

Expected life - Again you would need some compelling evidence that this over should last two or three times as long as most consumer products! Is this a commercial oven that would normally be serviced regularly?

All this assumes purely domestic use.

Were you using it just as a domestic appliance or was your use even partly commercial?

eskbanker

MyRealNameToo said:

eskbanker said:

fishy_chips said:

The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

As above, after six months has elapsed, the onus is on the consumer to demonstrate that a fault is inherent, in order to exercise CRA rights, and so this will generally require an independent expert to confirm this, i.e. not the manufacturer's one.

There is nothing to stop you using a manufacturers engineer to produce the report, if there is any bias you would assume it would be against the consumer because they wouldnt want to say their own products are sub standard or defective. Similarly their retailers will generate much more revenue for them than a single customer so they are the ones they will want to keep happy. 

If the manufacturer is willing to admit they made an item with a problem it probably carries more weight than if it were an independent. 

Yes, agreed, 'generally' wasn't accurate - any qualified engineer report will do the job, but in this case the manufacturer's one wasn't playing ball, so OP needs to find an independent one here.

Alderbank

Undervalued said:

fishy_chips said:

Hello,

 I am seeking some help with convincing our electrical appliance supplier that they need to help us with obtaining compensation for an  appliance fault, which, after reading MSE's explanation of our rights under Consumer Rights Act 2015, I feel we are entitled to claim. However the supplier does not have that point of view. The situation is as follows:

In April 2021 we installed a Steam Oven in our new kitchen. Unfortunately, the oven stopped working this April, when the metal element plate at the back of the oven fell off, disclosing severe rust and corrosion. The Manufacturer's service engineer visited and reported that the oven is beyond repair.

 We wrote to the local supplier of the oven in July asking for assistance, citing the following:

 “We believe that the oven is Not Fit for Purpose as defined by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and that we should be entitled to a replacement or compensation, for the following reasons:

 1. The steam oven is only 4 years old. We understand that this Manufacturer's ovens are normally expected to last 10 to 20 years.

 2. We understand that other users have had trouble with the steam ovens durability, such as corrosion and component failure.

 3.Was there a manufacturing problem with this oven?  We had noticed in the past that the back plate was quite wobbly.

 4. We have followed the recommended cleaning and maintenance procedures, such as drying the oven after use.”

 The supplier's reply to us states that we are not entitled to compensation or replacement unless we can supply an engineers report indicating that the oven was faulty at the time of installation. The engineer has not been able to do this.

 We believe that, under the Consumer Rights Act, it is the supplier’s responsibility to take the matter up with  the Manufacturer, and seek a resolution of our claim, on the basis of the oven’s short life and evidence indicating that it is not fit for purpose.

 I would appreciate some advice on a suggested response to the supplier to press home our case. 

 Many thanks

All this assumes purely domestic use.

Were you using it just as a domestic appliance or was your use even partly commercial?

Partly commercial might be OK.

It's a consumer contract if the OP was acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession.