Customer returning under warranty item

[a1anm]

I have a customer who made a purchase 11 months ago. The product came with a 1 year manufacturers warranty and has now developed a fault.

I asked them to contact the manufacturer to get it sorted.

They just got back in touch and said they don't want to return it the the manufacturer as they are in the US. They said they have now checked their rights under the UK Sales Of Goods Act, and find that we (the seller) are responsible for the item, not the manufacturer.

We don't mind taking care of this on their behalf but for future reference I wanted to check if what they are saying is correct ie. do we need to take care of under warranty items and not the manufacturer?

 

[TheGuru2010]

I have a customer who made a purchase 11 months ago. The product came with a 1 year manufacturers warranty and has now developed a fault.

I asked them to contact the manufacturer to get it sorted.

They just got back in touch and said they don't want to return it the the manufacturer as they are in the US. They said they have now checked their rights under the UK Sales Of Goods Act, and find that we (the seller) are responsible for the item, not the manufacturer.

We don't mind taking care of this on their behalf but for future reference I wanted to check if what they are saying is correct ie. do we need to take care of under warranty items and not the manufacturer?

I am not 100% but I notice a lot of items are sold stating "1 Year Manufacturers Warranty"

 

[Andrew46]

Some more information is needed to advise you.
Was this a B2B or B2C sale (i.e. was the buyer acting in the course of his business)?
Did you apply your terms and conditions of sale to the sale? If so, what do they provide ?
In general, the mere fact that a product is covered by a manufacturer's warranty is an additional right for the buyer and does not absolve the seller from SGA responsibilities.
I presume that English law applied to the sale under the contract. If there was no written contract specifying the applicable law, there are case law principles which apply to determine which law applies.

 

[a1anm]

Some more information is needed to advise you.
Was this a B2B or B2C sale (i.e. was the buyer acting in the course of his business)?
Did you apply your terms and conditions of sale to the sale? If so, what do they provide ?
In general, the mere fact that a product is covered by a manufacturer's warranty is an additional right for the buyer and does not absolve the seller from SGA responsibilities.
I presume that English law applied to the sale under the contract. If there was no written contract specifying the applicable law, there are case law principles which apply to determine which law applies.

It was a B2C sale and the customer would have accepted our terms and conditions when checking out which state that if the product develops a fault after being used it becomes an "Under Warranty" case which they need to sort out with the manufacturer.

I just read on this site (Your responsibilities as a retailer section) that the retailer is responsible for faulty items for 6 years after the purchase?! Not sure if that is correct or not (hopefully not!):
http://oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained/

 

[Paul_Rosser]

I just read on this site (Your responsibilities as a retailer) that the retailer is responsible for faulty items for 6 years after the purchase?! Not sure if that is correct or not (hopefully not!):
http://oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained/

It depends on the item, for something which would be expected to last 6 years like maybe a television then the SOGA would apply, however an amount can be deducted from the original price for the period when it was working correctly as the customer has received benefit from the product.

Damage caused by general wear and tear also wouldn't apply so for an item which would only be expected to last 2 years then the 6 years wouldn't count.

"This does not mean that everything you sell has to last six years from the date of purchase! It is the time limit for the customer to make a claim about an item. During this period, you are legally required to deal with a customer who claims that their item does not conform to contract (is faulty ) and you must decide what would be the reasonable amount of time to expect the goods to last. A customer cannot hold you responsible for fair wear and tear ."


"If either a repair or replacement is not possible, or the cost is greater than the value of the item ( disproportionately costly ), or the customer claims either option is taking an unreasonable amount of time or is causing unreasonable inconvenience, the customer is then entitled to

• keep the goods and claim a price reduction from the retailer to compensate them for the fault in the goods - this would be the difference between the value of the product in perfect condition and the value of the product in the faulty condition, or
• return the goods and rescind the contract . This would mean that the customer returns the goods and you provide a partial refund, calculated to reflect the benefit the customer has received from the product. "

 

[cjd]

Under the Sale of Goods Act YOU are responsible for sales to consumers. It doesn't matter what your own T&Cs say, they don't trump statute.

Your responsibilities for the goods you sell

You are responsible for the goods you sell and if a customer returns an item they purchased from you that is faulty (it does not conform to contract) because it
does not match the description
is not of satisfactory quality
is not fit for purpose .

you (not the manufacturer or supplier) are legally obliged to resolve the matter with the customer at any time for up to six years from the date of purchase, or in Scotland for up to five years from the discovery of the problem.

http://oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained/

 

[tony84]

cjd is correct.

Customers contract is with you, yours is with your wholesaler or potentially the manufacturer.

So you have to sort it out for the customer then deal with the rest yourself.

 

[a1anm]

cjd is correct.

Customers contract is with you, yours is with your wholesaler or potentially the manufacturer.

So you have to sort it out for the customer then deal with the rest yourself.

This is what we normally do but usually only if a problem occurs in the first few months. Afterwards we direct them to the manufacturer.

I wasn't aware we where responsible for such a long time. I just read on here that the retailers period of responsibility is 6 months:
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/returning-damaged-or-faulty-goods/

Not sure which is correct.

 

[cjd]

In law, it's 6 years. Pragmatically, it's 12 months - the normal warrantee period. After that, it's hard for a purchaser to prove that a product is actually not fit for purpose - though not impossible of course.

I don't know where that 6 month thing came from and I haven't got time to read the SOGA to find out!

 

[a1anm]

Ok, I guess we will use 12 months as a guide. Normally people don't mind returning to the manufacturer as the manufacturer sends a courier to pick it up.

We just have a few products where the warranty requires the customer to ship the item abroad and this is when we run in to problems. In these cases we will just deal with it from now on.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

In law, it's 6 years. Pragmatically, it's 12 months - the normal warrantee period. After that, it's hard for a purchaser to prove that a product is actually not fit for purpose - though not impossible of course.

Depends what is wrong with it and how long the item should be expected to last, I bought a TV from Ebuyer and after 2 1/2 years it stopped working, after one phone call they collected the old TV and let me choose another for the original purchase price.

 

[Andrew46]

I agree with Paul_Rosser.
As to the six month period, its relevance is that there is a presumption that if the goods do not conform to the contract of sale at any time within six months from the date of delivery of the goods, the goods were not in conformity at that date. After the six months, the burden of proof is on the customer to prove non-conformity at the time of delivery.

 

[Talay]

I agree with Paul_Rosser.
As to the six month period, its relevance is that there is a presumption that if the goods do not conform to the contract of sale at any time within six months from the date of delivery of the goods, the goods were not in conformity at that date. After the six months, the burden of proof is on the customer to prove non-conformity at the time of delivery.

Which in practical terms would shift the onus from the retailer to the manufacturer would it not ?

Sure, the customer could try to prove the defects were present at the time of purchase but if they already have a manufacturer's warranty, why would they go jumping through all those hoops ?