Brief cases: can I make a claim after all this time?

My Sainsbury’s microwave broke after 4 and a half years. All I needed to-do was phone up, they collected it the following day & a full refund was in my bank 3 days later along with a e-mailed £45* evoucher to be used online. *I think it was £45, this happened a few years ago.

They said the evoucher was there way of saying sorry that they no longer sell this Sainsbury’s microwave so was unable to send me a new one.

I’ve never had a problem with the Sale Of Goods Act. Normally the staff wont know about it, but as soon as you speak to a manger and start stating facts they are cool with it.

Peter’s deal with Grohe seemed straightforward – a 5 year warranty or a refund if it wasn’t repairable. They honoured this – I just wonder whether it was necessary to threaten legal action so quickly. Presumably it took time after collecting the faulty unit on Feb 7th for it to be checked to ensure it justified a refund (no misuse or abuse) so threatening action after just a couple of weeks maybe a bit sharpish to be critical? Perhaps there is more to it?

The headline “can I make a claim after all this time” could have raised hopes that the Which? legal team were actually having success with a claim out of the warranty period, whereas Peter’s rights were clearcut inside a warranty. I would like to see all appliances sold with guarantees that allow reasonable use before there is no support when a product fails – 1 or 2 years is usually far too short. I fear we are a long way from achieving this.

So what are our options? Only, it seems, to buy a poor-value extended warranty (not normally recommended), rely on the retailer’s goodwill (it can work sometimes) or rely on legislation supposedly protecting consumers. At present we have the Sale of Goods Act; this includes a clause that a product should be “durable”. Most impartial people would consider, at one extreme, that a decent product that fails just after a 1 or 2 year guarantee cannot be regarded as durable. It will usually be a small proportion of decent products that do this, down to some component or assembly flaw maybe that develops. I would expect the retailer, in conjunction with the manufacturer, to recognise they have a responsibility and help the purchaser. But how long might “reasonable life” be for you to expect such support? One organisation suggests 6 years for a washing machine for example. It will clearly depend upon the price the appliance is marketed for and upon how it is used. A recent conversation https://conversation.which.co.uk/energy-home/washing-machines-faulty-broken-lifespan-lifetime-warranty-guarantee/ brought out a lot of relevant information and opinions, most of which point to the consumer getting poor protection.

It is time consumers were helped with better protection, that is fair to both them and the retailer. In the absence of fair guarantees I believe we need Which? to use the Sale of Goods Act to pursue some real cases for members with genuine problems through the courts. It might start to make retailers realise that their bullying tactics are being challenged, and that the rights that customers have should not be denied. It might also give customers more confidence in tackling retailers who choose to treat them unfairly.
We also need the whole issue of guarantees, their lengths and conditions examined.
I feel a campaign coming on……

What about when an online company (Furniture in Fashion) won’t refund a returned damaged item,won’t acknowledge any written complaints,are totally uncooperative if you do manage to speak to anybody (they will just fob you off saying it isn’t in their warehouse or some other excuse)? This company has given me the very worst shopping experience ever and yet they are allowed to continue trading. Has anybody else been caught out with this rogue company? My advice would be DONT because you will regret it.

I bought an Acer laptop which had major faults. Retailer directed me to Acer Support who replaced the mainboard three times. 15 months later on, same problems continue, never resolved. Acer support redirect me to the retailer. After much time wasting, the retailer ceased trading.

My Acer pc is 18 months old and still does not function properly. Beware Acer UK. I added similar feedback to Which reports on Acer machines and Which removed these. Beware Acer, when things go wrong, Acer Support tried several times but failed to correct the faults. Beware Which who should be indicating possible problems but chose not to do so.

I agree with you wavechange that products should have a longer warranty, in my particular instance I was pleased that I didn’t have to fork out full price for a new one. but you are right. if for instance I am buying a watch say! for a gift I tend to buy a particular brand as they have a 5yr minimum warranty. I think you would buy a product with confidence and trust it more if the warranty was longer. I am more inclined to buy products with longer warranty than others. but I was pleased with the outcome, as I have not been so successful with other products. bought HP printer from Tesco broke down less than a year after buying, no joy with Tesco as I couldn’t find my receipt. I remember telling them they can offer me coupons based on my shopping habits so why not look at when I bought product from them. even after writing to their head office I still ended up with a broken printer. so with regard to my Actifry receiving a discounted product I use on a daily basis was a good result for me.

Patrick whenever I am returning something I bought thru distance selling I record delivery the item I am returning, making photocopy of any letter I am including. then you have evidence to present to trading standards re any dispute. I have done so in past regarding craft scissors then when I contacted trading standards and gave them all the proof of sending I had, they were able to get me new scissors in 2 days. they were more successful in 2 day than I had been in 6 months of arguing via emails and letters. this particular company I was trying to get new scissors from started treating my e-mails to them as spam. Which Trading Standards noticed. TD were so helpful. so record any correspondence with any company you are complaining to. it does help to have evidence in cases of being ignored.

I bought a leather recliner chair in Nov 2011 at a cost of £550, by Jan 2013 the surface was starting to peel off so I complained to furniture village where I bought it. They sent a technician to inspect it and after some time the report came back saying that the peeling was caused by the oil from our skin an there was nothing they could do. As my husband had just been diagnosed with a serious illness I had other things on my mind. Over the next few months however the peeling spread and also started to peel on the headrest. Eventually I rang a leather technician to price up repairing it, the technician was certain the leather was faulty and wrote me a report stating this so I challenged there report and sent them my own addressing it to the CEO. I claimed a full refund and stated my intention to pursue them in the small claims court. I very quickly received a lowly offer which I refused because after checking the sale of goods act I realised no. judge would accept that a chair costing over £500 should only last 14 months, so I continued to turn down there offers till a full refund was offered. I feel now that I would persue a company for a refund in future even when the guarantee had ended if the fault was one which should not have occurred at that point in time.