Consumer rights after warranty expire date.

roushill26

I bought a Philips soundbar from Amazon in 2023, after the latest firmware update trough Philips sound app soundbar does not have sound output, so I contacted Philips customer care and they referred to reach out retailer which is Amazon. When I contacted Amazon customer care they could not help because of expired 2 year warranty and referred back to Philips customer care.

Any help would be appreciated.

TadleyBaggie

Consumer rights are with the retailer, was it actually Amazon or a marketplace seller? Expiration of the warranty doesn't suddenly remove your consumer rights.

However to succeed with a consumer rights claim you would need to prove the fault was inherent, i.e. it was present when you purchased it. Clearly it wasn't, as it appears to be a software update that broke it. So Amazon would almost certainly be in the right not to entertain a claim against them. Is this problem well known or is it a one-off only affecting your product?

MyRealNameToo

Have you checked that Amazon UK was actually the seller? Your rights are with the seller not the platform so thats the first thing to confirm as there are many third parties selling on Amazon.

So are you saying you think the firmware broke it or was the comment of updating the firmware a red herring?

Under the CRA the seller has to deal with the matter but as the item is over 6 months old the onus is on your to prove it was inherently faulty when it was delivered. Personally think this is going to be difficult if it's a botched firmware upgrade thats killed it off as that can fairly easily be user error.

After confirming it is amazon uk as the seller then inform them of the issue under the Consumer Rights Act and see what they say. They would however be in their rights to ask you to provide an engineers report to confirm its an inherent defect and not user error. You can add the cost to your claim if it supports your case.

roushill26

The soundbar was working just fine couple days ago, everything else is working fine except there is no sound coming out of the soundbar itself and it happened after firmware update trough Philips sound app a couple days ago.

Soundbar was sold and dispatched by Amazon.

There is same problem with Philips soundbars people are discussing on Reddit.

no_real_names_please

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906300#Comment_81906300

If bought from amazon website why wouldn't they be liable as the seller? If the product is able to be "hacked" to a broken state then some may claim that is a fault.If Philips caused it where is the protection to the public from that?

roushill26

Hi,

I have an update from Philips, saying that the case is closed due to out of warranty product.

Amazon is saying the same thing.

What are my options here, soundbar costed me £350?!

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910068#Comment_81910068

Because if it's a marketplace seller then the marketplace seller is the seller. Similar to why eBay isn't liable as a seller.

Ergates

"If the product is able to be "hacked" to a broken state then some may claim that is a fault"

I think that is more than a little of a stretch. Pretty much any product can be "hacked" to a broken state.

Okell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910117#Comment_81910117

To reiterate what others have said, your consumer rights - if you have any - are against whomever you bought the soundbar from. Nothing to do with Philips.

I say "if you have any" because, if the soundbar conformed to contract when you bought it, you basically probably don't have any consumer rights.

So if the soundbar was working perfectly ok until the intervention of a third party - ie Philips the manufacturer via the software update - I don't think you have any consumer right to sue the seller, whomever that was.

What I'd have thought you might have is some sort of separate claim against Philips in common law (perhaps negligence) for doing something to your property that has damaged it. Or perhaps there is some implied contract formed between you and Philips when you OK the update* based on the implied condition that they won't wreck your kit and Philips have broken that contract.

This question has cropped up before but I don't think we've seen any definitive answer.

TBH I think this is outside the narrow scope of Consumer rights and more to do with broader legal rights. You need more general legal advice.

Somebody like @A_Geordie may have some ideas

*On every bit of kit i have that is subject to updates I have to ok the update

Belenus

Can you reverse the firmware update, or install a previous working firmware or return it to factory state?

roushill26

I don't think it is possible. I can only reset to factory settings but can't roll back a forced firmware update.