Locksmith Callout Charge For Work While Under Warranty

Happybloodycamper · 16 June 2017 at 5:24PM

Hi all,
Anyone had a similar experience to mine and any advice to share. Had the front door lock changed last Nov (2016) now 7 mths later June 2017 it stops automatically locking from outside when the door shuts.
Contacted the guy and he says it is under warranty, no charge for parts, but I must pay £65 callout charge.
Now under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, services should last a reasonable amt of time, if not the service provider must do repairs at no cost to the consumer, so I shld not have to pay any call out fee.
I plan to send him a letter explaining I am not prepared to pay and i am prepared to go to small claims, but has anyone had any similar experience with such situations or any advice to share?

Thank you

wealdroam · 16 June 2017 at 5:53PM

Happybloodycamper wrote: »

Hi all,
Anyone had a similar experience to mine and any advice to share. Had the front door lock changed last Nov (2016) now 7 mths later June 2017 it stops automatically locking from outside when the door shuts.
Contacted the guy and he says it is under warranty, no charge for parts, but I must pay £65 callout charge.
Now under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, services should last a reasonable amt of time, if not the service provider must do repairs at no cost to the consumer, so I shld not have to pay any call out fee.
I plan to send him a letter explaining I am not prepared to pay and i am prepared to go to small claims, but has anyone had any similar experience with such situations or any advice to share?

Thank you

Don't confuse a warranty with your statutory rights.

You have a statutory right under The Consumer Rights Act 2015, not the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, against the 'guy' to supply a remedy if the goods are inherently faulty or the service provided was sub-standard.

Section 23 of The Consumer Rights Act includes:

23 Right to repair or replacement

(2) If the consumer requires the trader to repair or replace the goods, the trader must—
(a) do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and
(b) bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage).

agrinnall · 16 June 2017 at 7:12PM

As wealdroam says, but to add, after 6 months the 'guy' may require you to provide independent evidence, usually in the form of a 3rd party report, that the fault was indeed inherent (i.e. present at the time of purchase).

wealdroam · 16 June 2017 at 7:39PM

agrinnall wrote: »

As wealdroam says, but to add, after 6 months the 'guy' may require you to provide independent evidence, usually in the form of a 3rd party report, that the fault was indeed inherent (i.e. present at the time of purchase).

Yes, that's true, but as 'the guy' is planning to replace the lock with no charge for materials, it appears that he has accepted the inherentness (is that a word?) of the issue.

bris · 16 June 2017 at 8:08PM

wealdroam wrote: »

Yes, that's true, but as 'the guy' is planning to replace the lock with no charge for materials, it appears that he has accepted the inherentness (is that a word?) of the issue.

No he is just doing it under warranty no questions asked. Appliance manufacturers do the same thin offering between 2 and 10 years on parts but the callout charge more than covers everything.

Op needs to prove breach of contract before relying on consumer rights.

Happybloodycamper · 16 June 2017 at 11:09PM

Hi all, thank you for yr replies. I believe that I dont have to provide 3it is still under warranty and used domestically by two adults (no kids) If anything, burden of proof should shift to the locksmith to prove we mis used the door.
What this hinges upon is the S. 23 of The Consumer Rights Act that the door should remain fully operational for a reasonable amount of time.
Reasonably speaking, no one expects a new locking mechanism fitted into a door used by two adults only (no kids) should become faulty 7 months later. This is why I believe the locksmith should not charge a call out as we should be protected by that Section within S23 of The Consumer Rights Act.
I also believe that the law was put in place to protect consumers from this sort of unscrupulous profiting.

Does this sound reasonable? I plan to send him a letter saying this amd we are prepared to take it to small claims.
I do welcome your ideas.

Thank you for your help &#55357;&#56842;

mije1983 · 16 June 2017 at 11:20PM

As previously said, the warranty and your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act are different things. Manufacturers/retailers are under no legal obligation to provide any sort of warranty with their products, although they do in most cases.

If he is replacing the lock under the terms of the warranty then you would have to check those terms to see if the call out charge is mentioned.

If you are claiming under your statutory rights then yes, after 6 months the burden is on the consumer to prove the fault is inherent as mentioned above. He may decide to just do it without you proving it, but if he doesn't just accept your request then you will have to.

You would need to clarify with the locksmith whether he is fixing under the warranty terms or not.

Happybloodycamper · 16 June 2017 at 11:28PM

Thank you mije1983, I didn't realise 6 months was a limitation period.
x

mije1983 · 17 June 2017 at 12:00AM

You may not need to even get a report backing you up. Maybe just mentioning it to the locksmith may get him to change his mind when he realises you know what you are talking about and he can't just brush you off.

Probably be worth talking to him first before you go to the initial expense of a report (even though if it finds in your favour the locksmith has to reimburse you).

A bit more info from the Which? site here

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

ThumbRemote · 17 June 2017 at 12:29AM

I'd ignore all this talk about getting reports. You'll end up paying for a report, the guy almost certainly won't refund you, you'll have to take it to small claims court to get your money and in the end will just write it all off as not being worth the hassle.

Just tell him you're not happy with paying a call-out charge when the lock has gone faulty so quickly. If he waives it, great. If not, just write it off.

agrinnall · 17 June 2017 at 8:47AM

Happybloodycamper wrote: »

Thank you mije1983, I didn't realise 6 months was a limitation period.
x

You did, because I said so in post #3.

Locksmith Callout Charge For Work While Under Warranty

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