Gifted device broken - warranty not transferrable?

Alderbank

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862304#Comment_81862304

I don't see where they're trying to wriggle out of the fact that it is broken?

What they are saying is simply that they don't know you from Adam.

The manufacturer sold your device as one of a batch in a B2B contract with a wholesaler. The manufacturer's legal obligations are to their buyer. None of us know the T&Cs of that contract but I would expect it to contain terms about credit for non-functional items.

In turn the wholesaler sold to a retailer applying their own T&Cs to the contract.

In due course the retailer sold to your friend's friend (or possibly your friend's friend's father or aunt or partner, we don't know). That retailer is aware of consumer rights legislation and knows that if the buyer has a problem he, not the wholesaler or manufacturer, will have a legal liability to put his hand in his pocket.

I don't see anyone wriggling out of anything. But from a consumer rights point of view the legal position is that the retailer has to sort it out with the customer.

Ergates

"Since you are not the former, you have no consumer rights here"

Just to be crystal clear OP - this does not mean there are no consumer rights here, just that you are not the one that can exercise them. You need your friend's friend to do that.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862304#Comment_81862304

Not really - "Consumer Rights" clearly sit with the Consumer (the clue is in the name). The Consumer is the person who purchased the item from the Retailer who, in turn obtained (and paid for) the item via authorised supply chain channels.

You have received the item as a gift from the friend of a friend and that second-tier friend is the person who has the Consumer Rights with the Retailer and can provide the proof of purchase etc.

If you are not able to ask the friend of a friend to contact the Retailer on your behalf, then this is a dead end. You may be able to get the item repaired by a local service centre.

From the Manufacturer's perspective, you are contacting them with "I obtained this item from a friend of a friend, it is only a month old and it is broken. I have no proof of purchase. Please will you fix it?"

Somehow, the Manufacturer would need to differentiate between honest but unfortunate cases such as yours and other contacts where "friend of a friend" in the repair request is replaced with "bloke down the pub" / "online social media site" / "nicked from display" or other such nefarious characters. How can that differentiation be achieved?

eskbanker

Gifted device broken - warranty not transferrable?

Just to be clear, is the manufacturer definitively stating that the warranty isn't transferable or just that it hasn't been transferred?

Aylesbury_Duck

The other way of looking at this is that you haven't suffered any loss. You ended up with something at no cost from someone you don't know. Who owes you a working product or refund?

bluebeforeyou

thanks all, that's useful to understand. I get the point that I could have just swiped it off a display or something.

In the meantime I have spoken to the person who purchased it and gifted to me, and they have emailed the company to advise it's been gifted to me and they wish the warranty to be transferred to me. ZIIP have not yet responded.

I see the point that I've not suffered a direct loss. But the device was purchased, and presumably should work for more than a couple of weeks. Now the person who made the order has expressly asked to transfer the warranty to me, is there any requirement for them to do so?

Thanks for the advice so far, it's helpful when your infuriated brain is preventing thinking!

eskbanker

Now the person who made the order has expressly asked to transfer the warranty to me, is there any requirement for them to do so?

No legal requirement - as above, manufacturer terms aren't regulated so can be written however they wish.

Ergates

"But the device was purchased, and presumably should work for more than a couple of weeks"

Oh, it's absolutely should and barring any unknown external factors, it definitely sounds like a consumer rights issue and it should be repaired/replaced by the retailer at no cost.

It's just that it's not you that can do that.

Alderbank

Ziip is a beauty products company in San Francisco, California. They sell the Halo both by direct mail and also through authorised agents around the world.

https://ziipbeauty.com/pages/terms

Their T&Cs are clear that the 2 year guarantee in Europe, which they call the Legal Guarantee of Conformity For Goods Under EU Law, is the statutory right in most EU countries to the 2 year guarantee under the Consumer Rights directive 2019/771. This part of the directive was never implemented in the UK because our CCR and CRA gave better protection to consumers.

Just like our CRA, it only applies to the actual consumer and can't be transferred. However nothing stopping the original buyer from making a CRA claim.

Who did they buy it from - https://ziipbeauty.co.uk/, Amazon or a specialist shop like John Bell & Croyden?

bluebeforeyou

They bought it from the direct uk ziip site you linked.