Warranty questions

[Herbtree]

Hello

Sorry if this sounds stupid but i am a bit confused about warranties , for example below are 3 warranty descriptions from Scans website.

Product A
Duration:36 months
Type : Direct
DOA Period:28 days
RTB Period:36 months

Product B
Duration :36 months
Type : Direct
DOA Period:28 days
RTB Period:12 months

Product C
Duration: 12 months
Type:Return to base
DOA Period:28 days
RTB Period:1 months

Does "Type : Direct" mean direct with the manufacturer or direct with scan ?

"Return to base" RTB is that return to Scan?

What is the significance of "DOA Period:28 days", does that mean you get a replacement instead of a repair in the first 28 days?

If you have to return a faulty item in the first year to scan in the warranty period who pays the return postage costs?

Cheers

[ceejays88]

I would expect
"Direct" to be with the manufacturer
"RTB" to be with Scan
"DOA" to be a replacement, no questions.
And any replacement will be at the consumers cost

[Saracen]

I would expect
"Direct" to be with the manufacturer
"RTB" to be with Scan
"DOA" to be a replacement, no questions.
And any replacement will be at the consumers cost

No consumer should be expected to pay shipping costs for a replacement of goods that are DOA. If that's what warranty conditions say (and I doubt it is, with Scan) then don't rely on the warranty but on consumer rights.

Any retailer, or manufacturer, warranty is in addition to consumer rights, not instead of, and I do remember that Scan T&C's quite correctly make that very clear.

[abaxas]

TBH it's all a load of rubbish

Everything will have 1 year with seller (2 years if you want to play the EU faff card)

[Saracen]

TBH it's all a load of rubbish.

Everything will have 1 year with seller (2 years if you want to play the EU faff card)

No, the EU faff doesn't say that. The two-year EU warranty is a myth.

What the EU faff says is consumer law across the EU must provide a minimum standard in numerous ways, one of which is at least two years. As the UK (except Scotland) provides 6 (IIRC) years already (Scotland is similar but different, being something like 5 years but from a different start point). That two-year EU provision had no impact whatever in the UK. Other aspects of that EU directive did, and SOGA and DSR were amended accordingly.

The confusion arose because the term "warranty" has a different meaning in contract law to the way consumers (or UK consumers, at least) think of it, which is generally that it's interchangeable with "guarantee".

In short, retailers don't have to offer a guarantee at all. But if they do, it does have to comply with basic legal requirements, such as using plain English, etc. And, if they do, and the consumer is aware of it and relies on it, then it's legally enforceable.

So, EU faff notwithstanding, a retailer is bound by :-

a) Consumer law, like it or not, and
b) optionally, offering their own guarantee/warranty, in which case, whatever the terms of it are.

Think about it. If retailers had to offer a one or two year guarantee, I could buy a banana, or a cod fillet, and then take it back after 8 months as not fit for purpose. And after 8 weeks never mind 8 months, I suspect that cod would be REALLY unfit for purpose.

That, by the way, is an example of why consumer law refers to goods having to last a "reasonable" length of time. We would expect a house to (generally) last longer than a car, and a car to last longer than a banana.