UK Statutory rights - minimum warranty?

[daverobev]

I'm SURE I read somewhere that, in the UK, a manufacturer MUST give a year warranty on new things (like laptops).

Is this rubbish? If I buy 8 Dell laptops and don't pay the extra £30 to go from 90 day CAR to 1 year, and they all go pop 3 months and 1 day down the line, are they able to say "sorry Guv, you only took 90 days"?

[5lab]

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/c...V0043-0100.txt

basically you have to proove the fault was there when you brought the product - if it 'goes wrong ' after, for some fault that wasnt there origionally, you dont have a leg to stand on afaik

"I bought a computer that went wrong after two months - I went back to the trader, but they said it was OK when they sold it to me, so they won't do anything about it. Is this right?"


No. As the fault occurred within six months, they have to prove that it was OK when they sold it to you - that probably means having it tested or sending it back to the manufacturer for a second opinion. If they cannot prove it was OK when you bought it, you can choose a free repair, a replacement, a reduction in the price or ask to rescind the contract (they may reduce the amount they refund to you to allow for the month's use that you have had).

its MUCH easier to go thru the warentee route rather than try and take them in court

[daverobev]

Hmm I don't want to pay an extra £30 per machine though...the blardy free Dellivery(sic) has run out so the "great deal" isn't quite so good now....ho hum we'll see.

*Edit* That leaflet only applied to the following countries: Scotland.

I'm in England.

[Steve A]

Hmm I don't want to pay an extra £30 per machine though...the blardy free Dellivery(sic) has run out so the "great deal" isn't quite so good now....ho hum we'll see.

*Edit* That leaflet only applied to the following countries: Scotland.

I'm in England.

Order the lappys somewhere else that gives you a little bit more for your money

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[Rave]

Goods must be fit for the purpose for which they were sold. As far as I know there is no statutory timeframe for a warranty, but it's normal practice to make it a year. People have successfully argued in court that products that go wrong outside of a year should still not have gone wrong, but in that case I'd say it also depends on the type of product. You wouldn't expect to be buying a new fridge or washing machine every year (or even every 5) whereas something like a laptop or a camcorder could much more easily have been damaged in some undetectable way by customer misuse. Anyway, I would say that if your laptop went pop within a year and you'd not mistreated it, you'd get it fixed or replaced whatever warranty you'd taken out. Depending on how good the retailer is you may or may not have to write some threatening letters to achieve that.

[Zub]

The 90 day C&R is not the warranty period. It is the period for which they will pay P&P for you to return a faulty item. After this time YOU will have to pay to return it. You still have a guarantee for the equipment for a minimum of 1 year.

[leejhamilton]

In the UK there is no statuatory warranty period, this is decided by the manufacturer of the goods. however the law does state that good must be of good quality and last a reasonable amount of time for the purpose for which they are manufactured.
In some cases people have won their cases in the small claims court for TV's which have went faulty when approx 5 years old, even though the original warranty was only for 1 year. This happened because it is reasonable to expect a tv to last over 5 years.

[javalord]

For them to win their case, they need substancial evidence to say that there was a manufacturing defect from the beginning that prevented the goods from lasting its typical length of time.

[SilentDeath]

Afaik all new uk/eu consumer goods have to have minimuim of 1yr warranty (refurbished etc..dont). Cant remeber where I read it though. It makes sense as all products sold in UK have 1yr warrenty, whereas US versions usually have only 90 days warrenty.

[daverobev]

Hmm so the "I think's" are with me, cool...um I was reading on one of the gov sites that in the result of a fault you CAN claim the postage back - the consumer does NOT have to pay the return cost.

Whether that applies for companies or not I'm not sure...but...well 8x30...almost pays for one of the damn machines. Shame I missed out on the free delivery though Well, shame for the company, but you know what I mean.

On the plus side, I got a Tecra A4 for £500.17, hopefully to be delivered tomorrow Yeah its a celery but...oh who cares its better than my Willamette style Celery