Sterling charger failed after less than 3years and they want £245 to replace

ianj99

ianj99

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Barely 3years ago I bought a Sterling Procharge D 12v 30amp triple output mains charger from the marina chandlery - it cost me about £280.

On 4th of March it made some clicking noises then tripped the shorepower rcd and did this every time I tried to switch it on.
I returned it for 'inspection' as it was out of warranty (which is 2years).

Today, a week after they received it, I was told it was beyond repair due major damage to the mains side of it.

They then offered a 25% discount off its replacement - a ProCharge Ultra which would cost me £244.90.

I am extremely disappointed that in this day and age, they cannot make a reliable product - I can't remember the last time any of my electronic items failed.

I did tell them that I have no intention of paying them £245 for another charger and will be taking action under the sale of goods act under the 'fit for purpose' clause. (the warranty does not affect my statutory rights)

I've always believed Sterling's products were good and have two of their alternator regulators and have recommended their products to many, but never again.
 
A had an identical unit fail at 3 years.
I had considered replacing it with a Victron charger but reliability feedback put me off. In the end I bought another Sterling.
 
You will only be successful if you can show that the fault which caused the failure was there when the product was made. You won't get very far just by saying in your opinion it should have lasted longer than 3 years.
 
ianj99 said:
I did tell them that I have no intention of paying them £245 for another charger and will be taking action under the sale of goods act under the 'fit for purpose' clause. (the warranty does not affect my statutory rights)
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Good. I hope you get a satisfactory outcome - let us know how it goes.

Pete
 
Tranona said:
You will only be successful if you can show that the fault which caused the failure was there when the product was made. You won't get very far just by saying in your opinion it should have lasted longer than 3 years.
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My knowledge of consumer law is limited to say the least, but is this actually correct?

My thoughts were that yes products must be of merchantable quality from the onset, but (and also) LAST for a reasonable period of time. The definition of the latter is however flaky, but would be what is generally accepted based on the product type.


Could be wrong.........!!
 
Tranona said:
You will only be successful if you can show that the fault which caused the failure was there when the product was made.
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Is that the case? I understood one of the requirements of the Sale of Goods Act was that things last "a reasonable time", where what is reasonable depends on what it is and how much you paid. Certainly that's what Martin Lewis tells people ( http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange#goods ) though I admit he's not exactly the ultimate authority.

Pete
 
prv said:
Good. I hope you get a satisfactory outcome - let us know how it goes.

Pete
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Thanks, but I've just realised I can't sue Sterling as my contract was with the marina who sold it to me and I have no wish to sue them but a strongly worded letter will be on its way this week.

So I will be replacing it with:

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/prod...cid-Battery-Charger-Station-For-12V-Batteries

I will fit a changeover switch so I can charge the engine or the domestic bank and 15a is enough since I run most equipment off the mains. Only the lighting is battery powered so the charger has not been working hard in its short life, its just been keeping the battery banks topped up.
Ian

In fact with the benefit of hindsight, I should have bought the Voltcraft charger for the domestic bank and a smaller one to keep the starter battery topped up. (the old 4108 is a good starter so a 5amp charger would probably do)
 
Sterling charger failed after less than 3 years and they want £245 to replace.

Hi It might be worth taking the cover off the charger to see what is wrong it is normally short in the transformer or a diode short circut .I hope you get some help from the makers even if they supply a new part.:cool:
 
prv said:
Is that the case? I understood one of the requirements of the Sale of Goods Act was that things last "a reasonable time", where what is reasonable depends on what it is and how much you paid. Certainly that's what Martin Lewis tells people ( http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange#goods ) though I admit he's not exactly the ultimate authority.

Pete
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I don't think barely 3years is a reasonable time for this type of equipment. Its not as if there is anything to wear out?

How often have you had any power supply or charger fail or in fact anything that has a switch mode psu in it - ie most mains operated electronics?

But its academic anyway as I didn't buy it direct from Sterling.
 
steadyeddy said:
Hi It might be worth taking the cover off the charger to see what is wrong it is normally short in the transformer or a diode short circut .I hope you get some help from the makers even if they supply a new part.:cool:
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I was put through to the technician who told me a transistor had blown and let mains voltages get to where they shouldn't, thereby writing off a large part of the electronics. I had hoped that they might have just replaced the pcb at a reasonable price (say £100).
 
Sterling charger failed after less than 3 years and they want £245 to replace.

Hi again there are places who will repair PCB s at a reasonable rate.:confused:
 
prv said:
Neither do I. I think you may have misunderstood something about my reply to Tranona, though I'm puzzled as to what.

Pete
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Apologies, didn't see Tranona's post. I think there would be a dispute over the cause, possibly along the lines of "it was due to a mains spike so not our fault"..

I'm sure there wasn't one as nothing else on board has stopped working, including laptop, tv, Freeview box, fridge etc.
 
Just had this reply from Charles Sterling in response to my email expressing my disappointment and lack of a positive outcome.

"we did offer you a positive outcome however if the 30% offered was not good enough them we will remove that offer, sorry for you problems . Charles Sterling"

So, end of story, these things happen, just didn't expect it from a Sterling product but I hope he can understand why I declined the offer. (once bitten etc)
 
Sorry to hear of your plight.

I also have sterling equipment and it is all working fine.

However my Inverter blew up- (over five years old) Sterling repaired it and only charged me for the labour and not any parts used.

Happy with Sterling

Peter
 
prv said:
Is that the case? I understood one of the requirements of the Sale of Goods Act was that things last "a reasonable time", where what is reasonable depends on what it is and how much you paid. Certainly that's what Martin Lewis tells people ( http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange#goods ) though I admit he's not exactly the ultimate authority.

Pete
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That's the whole point - is 3 years a reasonable time? That would be a matter of opinion and you would have to show that there is a reasonable expectation that such products normally have a longer life. On the other hand if you could show that there was an inherent design or manufacturing fault you might stand a better chance. However, this would almost certainly need an expert opinion to counter the manufacturer's opinion. Lot of effort and cost for a low cost consumer product where the manufacturer has already offered a significant amount of compensation by way of a discount.

Publicity might force the manufacturer to make a bigger goodwill gesture, but we don't know the real cause of the failure so this is all a bit of guesswork!
 
rivonia said:
However my Inverter blew up- (over five years old) Sterling repaired it and only charged me for the labour and not any parts used.

Happy with Sterling
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I wouldn't be very happy with equipment that "blew up" unprovoked, especially not if the manufacturer tried to charge me anything at all to repair it. This stuff is not cheap tat that's half-expected to be unreliable, it costs hundreds of pounds and we should be able to expect a reasonable lifespan from it.

It's a pity sometimes that the SOGA puts the responsibility firmly on the retailer - when you buy a fridge from Currys it's nice not to be bounced to the manufacturer, but in cases like this it would be fairer to go after the manufacturer directly. I guess the answer is to buy direct in the first place, then manufacturer and retailer are the same person and clearly liable for their faulty products.

Pete
 
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