Warranty repair.

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doug748

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I bought an 60 quid electronic component last September that failed, at sea, after twenty minutes use, it was in the spring.

It was hard to retrieve it (difficult site) and pointless on a long trip, so around August I finally removed it for repair under guarantee. The seller said the manufacturer "liked to deal with things direct" which I doubted but was pleased when they readily agreed to fix the item so I posted it off to them.

After a hiatus I now understand they want £12 to post the thing back to me. I am not inclined to pay this.



The question is a general one. Would you expect a manufacturer to meet a warranty by:


1) Arranging for return to base and onward to the buyer, FOC.

2) Accepting a returned item and sending it back, fixed, as part of the service.

3) Expecting the buyer to pay for postage both ways. Which in this case amounts to a 25% premium on the purchase price.


I have no idea, would be interested to hear your views

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I would expect any and all charges to be clear and transparent up front. The retailer is responsible (in the UK) for the first year of warranty and after that the manufacturer. We're currently still running with the EU mandated 2 years warranty alongside the more wooly UK rules which can be longer but are undefined.

In my view, if it broke because of manufacturing fault you shoudln't be charged at all to get what you paid for.
 
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 places the responsibility for rectifying faults on the retailer, although in reality he may well pass it on to the manufacturer or his supplier to replace or repair. However, the law only requires replacement or repair of the item and is silent on any associated costs.

So, no unless the manufacturer warranty (which can give rights in excess of the law) specifically covers associated cost (very rare!) you have to pay postage. This as you have discovered with low value items can be high in relation to the value of the item. Of course some suppliers may cover such costs as a matter of goodwill even though they have no legal obligation to do so.

In this case seems not, so your choice now is to pay £12 to get a working product or £65 for a replacement.
 
Did you buy the component in person, or online? Different rules apply.

I had 2 similar cases recently, in both as I had purchased online it was incumbent on me to pay for shipping back to the manufacturer/retailer. In both cases, return shipping to me was FOC. Luckily these were fairly high value items so the cost was bearable given the lower initial prices I paid.

But in hindsight, I should have bought both in store locally as I could then have just walked into a shop, handed it over and made it someone else's problem. In one case, instead of waiting 2 weeks for an assessment and replacement, one would have been swapped immediately (assuming they had stock). The extra price would have been worth the faff.

We live & learn. Distance selling regs and online cut-throat retail have changed the game a little.
 
Moodysailor said:
Did you buy the component in person, or online? Different rules apply.

I had 2 similar cases recently, in both as I had purchased online it was incumbent on me to pay for shipping back to the manufacturer/retailer. In both cases, return shipping to me was FOC. Luckily these were fairly high value items so the cost was bearable given the lower initial prices I paid.

But in hindsight, I should have bought both in store locally as I could then have just walked into a shop, handed it over and made it someone else's problem. In one case, instead of waiting 2 weeks for an assessment and replacement, one would have been swapped immediately (assuming they had stock). The extra price would have been worth the faff.

We live & learn. Distance selling regs and online cut-throat retail have changed the game a little.
Click to expand...



I did buy on line which is unusual for me I like to use my local chandlers which is handy. I can't remember why I did this, might have been out of stock.

Indeed a good lesson there, though in this case a swap might have been a problem given the long gap. By the nature of things with boats it is not uncommon to fit stuff in October and not really use it at all for 6 months or more.

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In your place, I would try writing/emailing them making the point that you feel that you should not be out of pocket due to a fault in their product and therefore you believe that, if only as a gesture of good will, they should cover the cost of postage.

At that point, if they refuse, you'll have to cough up. Once the item has arrived, if you did pay the postage, I would send a subsequent letter/email pointing out that for the cost of postage, they have now lost a customer for ever.
 
Aeolus said:
they have now lost a customer for ever.
Click to expand...
Multiple customers. Pointing out that there's a thread on a forum about their performance often focuses the mind. Obviously the company and product would need identifying first.
 
Aeolus said:
In your place, I would try writing/emailing them making the point that you feel that you should not be out of pocket due to a fault in their product and therefore you believe that, if only as a gesture of good will, they should cover the cost of postage.

At that point, if they refuse, you'll have to cough up. Once the item has arrived, if you did pay the postage, I would send a subsequent letter/email pointing out that for the cost of postage, they have now lost a customer for ever.
Click to expand...



Well, I have just sent them a link to this discussion and invited them to join in.

I won't be sending them any more money. However, later, I may offer my repaired item to any forum member who would like to send them £12.


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