Play.com return, what do i do with this response?

[Hicks12]

Well i bought some razor protone m100's exactly a year ago(yesterday), they broke yesterday and so i emailed play after finding out they still in warranty. I basically asked if they could give me a replacement or refund as its still within warranty and explained that the left earphone has broken (intermittant connection, its from the main 3.5mm plug i know it).

Well here was their response today:
Dear Lee Perring

Thank you for your email.

We are sorry to hear of the problem you have had with your order. Whilst we would be happy to resolve the matter on your behalf, under the Sale of Goods Act if an item is more than 6 months old it must be established by the customer that the fault was as a result of an inherent defect in the product. This is generally demonstrated by an engineers report, detailing the fault and its cause.

Once this has been provided, we will review in the information and providing the fault has been clearly demonstrated to have been due to manufacturing as opposed to through incorrect usage for example, we would be in a position to rectify the situation.

Please provide such a report from a recognised engineer or TV repair establishment and we will be happy to investigate further and resolve the matter without any further delay.

Once again please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have been caused in this matter, and thank you for your understanding and valued custom.

Kind Regards,

Customer Care Team


Not ever have i had a response like that but they are right arent they? I must prove after 6months that its not my fault.... although getting an engineer to look at the fault means paying amounts worth more than the value (£15~). Any ideas what i should do here, should i email razor and hope they help?

[stavroshamster]

Not ever have i had a response like that but they are right arent they? I must prove after 6months that its not my fault.... although getting an engineer to look at the fault means paying amounts worth more than the value (£15~). Any ideas what i should do here, should i email razor and hope they help?

Not sure about the legal stuff - but I have always thought that it is worth contacting the manufacturer directly to see if they will sort things out - if they don't - well - you just say that you wont be buying their products in future.

[Kata]

I will not deal with Play.com on high value items now as it turns out they are based offshore, and not covered by the UK sale of goods act. They rather messed me around.

Try Jersey (i think, or Guernsey) trading standards, and look up the act. That's what I did, and it worked out, although I had to contact trading standards themselves to get any action.

[finlay666]

Try the manufacturer first, normally they will help sort it out within warranty

[jim]

I will not deal with Play.com on high value items now as it turns out they are based offshore, and not covered by the UK sale of goods act. They rather messed me around.

Try Jersey (i think, or Guernsey) trading standards, and look up the act. That's what I did, and it worked out, although I had to contact trading standards themselves to get any action.

They are adhering to the UK sale of goods act in this email though, as far as I can see.

I would get onto Razer, and see if you can check the terms of the warranty... if not, may as well write it off.

[Hicks12]

Will email razer later today then . Just annoying that a company that i used to buy a lot from can be so cheesy over a £15 item... whats the point in the 12month warranty on electronics if its only really a 6month one? Seems a bit silly IMO.

[MadduckUK]

razer have swapped me out a pair of headphones after longer than 6 months, had to pay outwards shipping but it was only to somewhere in the UK so meh

[Saracen]

Ignoring their offshore status, Play are in a sense both right and wrong.

What they say about the Sale of Goods Act is quite correct - you are only entitled to Sale of Ggods Act remedies (be it repair, replacement or refund, partial or otherwise) if the reason for the failure is something inherent at time of purchase.

If they failed because of a weakness in design, or poor quality plastic, or manufacturing fault, then you're covered. If they failed because they've been treated harshly or abused, etc, then you're not.

And they are quite right about the 6 months. For 6 months, they are liable unless they can demonstrate that it wasn't an "inherent" fault, and after that, it switches to you to prove that it was.

What they could have said and, it seems didn't, is that the warranty is entirely separate from the Sale of Goods Act. Whether the warranty would cover you or not will depend on the exact terms of the warranty. Generally, though, it will refer to things like defects, and exclude "fair wear and tear, and abuse", and a whole load of other stuff too.

My guess is that if the fault was something much less prone to being the result of misuse, you;d stand a better chance with the warranty. If a speaker unit had blown, for instance, then misuse if less likely to be the cause.

But either way, whether warranty or SoGA, if the problem is due to unduly rough handling, you're not likely to be covered. And proving it one way or the other maybe tricky. By all means try the warranty route with the manufacturer, but for £15, I'd bet that this will end up with you just buying new ones because it won't be worth the hassle to fight it, and no guarantee that you'd win if you did.

All IMHO, of course.

[scaryjim]

<paraphrase>I'm not a legal expert, but I am very well informed and the situaiton is pretty much...</paraphrase>

What he said - it's all pretty much exactly as I understand the situation too. I wasn't really needed here, was I?

As far as Sales of Goods goes they're right.

The warranty is an entirely different matter, and your problem now will be proving the problem occurred during the warranty period (which I assume was only one year), as well as proving that the problem is covered by the warranty. Be prepared for the fact that you are very near the end of your warranty period and the fault you are reporting is one that would commonly be caused by misuse (overbending the connector or dropping your music playing device / standing up while wearing the headphones). Even if that isn't true in your case it would be hard to prove...

[kalniel]

My concern comes when companies use the warranty as a way of paraphrasing your statutory rights - ie they can pretty much put any time they like on the warranty, so long as the terms and conditions match those of the Sale of Goods Act it's not an additional warranty at all.

Ie you can have your 12months warranty - it's actually 6 months assumption of fault and then 5.5 years assumption of no fault... but if you can forget about it after 12 months then all the better.