Tried to RMA - told to go the manufacturor very unlike scan ....

[boxrick]

I have a faulty Zyxel Homeplug i purchased from scan in the shop under a year ago, i sent a request saying i no longer have the receipt but gave some details of the serial plus the addresses it would have been purchased under, hoping that i would receive a reply possibly asking for more details so it could be replaced or fixed.. Instead i got sent the telephone number of the manufacturor....was hoping to deal with Scan as opposed to manufacturor but i also only have a mobile phone in which i rely on my free minutes.... so i prefer to deal with things like this by email.

Unfortunately the number i got sent was an 0870 telephone number.... which is not exactly ideal. Ive yet to contact Zyxel but is this necessary? Scan have been very good in the past with RMAs and general customer service, one main reason i always return to yourselves for both cheap and expensive electronic items. I don't fancy being charged 30p++ a minute because everyone these days is determined to use 0870 numbers or 0845 numbers.... saynoto0870.com can only go so far...

Howcome in this case i have been forwarded to someone else...? Not the usual for you guys ....

[leepen@scan]

boxrick,

Sometimes not all warranties are dealt with through Scan. Sometimes we only have a set period of time for dealing with the goods. If you have your invoice number, please PM this to me - if not, your full name and address will be a great help in assisting you further

All the best,

[Madafwo]

Unfortunately the number i got sent was an 0870 telephone number.... which is not exactly ideal. Ive yet to contact Zyxel but is this necessary? Scan have been very good in the past with RMAs and general customer service, one main reason i always return to yourselves for both cheap and expensive electronic items. I don't fancy being charged 30p++ a minute because everyone these days is determined to use 0870 numbers or 0845 numbers.... saynoto0870.com can only go so far...

saynoto0870.com has Zyxels number listed as 01344 303044

[leepen@scan]

Having looked at the warranty information on the product, I can confirm the following details;

Warranty Term: 24 months - DOA Period 28 days - Return to Base Period - 1 month - Warranty Type - Direct with manufacturer.

What this means is that we honour the return if the item is

a) Dead on arrival
b) Faulty within 28 days

As your goods were purchased at the end of last year, dealing with the manufacturer is the correct course of action.

I'm sorry if you feel we 'passed the buck' so to speak, but there are many instances of these situations. For example, we only honour the warranties for certain hard disks for the first 12 months - after this you go direct with the manufacturer. Swings and roundabouts really, but we'll always look after you as best we can and point you in the right direction when it comes to claiming on warranty.

Hope this has helped shine some light on your situation.

Best regards

[boxrick]

Cheers for the help guys! Much appreciated.

[Agent]

What this means is that we honour the return if the item is

a) Dead on arrival
b) Faulty within 28 days

As your goods were purchased at the end of last year, dealing with the manufacturer is the correct course of action.

Hi Leepen

Hope you don't mind me asking this in someone else's thread but I feel it is relivant.
If a customer was to refuse to deal with the manufacturer and only yourself within the first year, would you do this?

Regards

[Rebel]

I have to admit I was under the impression a customers contract was with the retailer. Unless that is consumer law has changed and the direct gov site links to an incorrect set of facts regarding the sale of goods act .

Quote from http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/cons...hemanufacturer

Q6. Is it true that I have to complain to the manufacturer?
No. You bought the goods from the trader, not the manufacturer, and the trader is liable for any breaches of contract (unless he was acting as the manufacturer's agent).

Q7. Do I have to produce a receipt to claim my rights?
No. In fact the trader doesn't have to give you a receipt in the first place so it would be unfair to say that you had to produce one. However, it might not be unreasonable for the shop to want some proof of purchase, so look to see if you have a cheque stub, bank statement, credit card slip etc., and this should be sufficient

[not_my_ip]

Yes I though that seller is bound to sales regulation and should deal with that. And as we see they have to if customer wants to. But it will be quicker to RMA item directly with manufacturer, as scan would have to send item to them anyway and this will take additional few days - first ship item to scan, than scan sends item to Zyxel, returned to scan, than scan send it to customer.

[Saracen]

I have to admit I was under the impression a customers contract was with the retailer. Unless that is consumer law has changed and the direct gov site links to an incorrect set of facts regarding the sale of goods act .

Quote from http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/cons...hemanufacturer

You're right, but slightly misinterpreting.

The Sale of Goods Act doesn't cover your warranty - it covers breach of contract. If you wish to assert breach of contract rights over defective goods, then yes, do it to the retailer as he's the one you have the contract with that was breached.

In addition to that, you might have a warranty that covers you. There's very little regulation over manufacturer warranties, though as of a few years ago, there's more than there used to be. But now, and with a few stipulations, if a manufacturer offers a warranty, they can be held to it. But, by and large, it's up to the manufacturer how they operate it. If they choose to do it via a representative, then that's how they do it. If they choose to deal direct, then that's how they do it. If they offer one year, or two years, or ten years, then that's what they offer.

But any such warranty is in addition to those SoGA rights.


So .... when a product fails, you can rely on the warranty to sort it out, and if you do, you follow the terms of that warranty, including who you deal with.

If you want to use the SoGA route, then you'd go to the retailer .... but you might well find it's easier, faster and with more comprehensive cover via the manufacturer's warranty.


A retailer is therefore wrong if they say faulty goods are nothing to do with them and you must go to the manufacturer. But the retailer is only liable if the goods were defective at the time of sale, and after six months, you have to prove that they were to establish that liability.

The manufacturer, on the other hand, might well offer replacement/repair cover that doesn't carry that burden of proof.

So while a retailer can certainly point out that a manufacturer warranty might be a better route, and might very well be right about that, it can't avoid it's SoGA liability, if there is one.

If, on the other hand, the buyer wants to return goods relying on a 2-year warranty offered by the manufacturer, then you have to follow the conditions and processes of that warranty. It seems, in this case, that that doesn't involve returning the goods to Scan.


As for the original poster, if you want to use the warranty, then it seems that for this manufacturer, it's not done via Scan. If the goods are faulty, then you MIGHT have a Sale of Goods Act claim and that certainly would be against whoever sold you the goods, which appears to be Scan. But it isn't necessarily the case that Scan have any liability at all, because it will depend on why the goods are faulty.

If they've failed due to an inherent fault that was present when you bought them, or if they haven't lasted as long as a reasonable person would expect, then yes, Scan might be liable under the SoGA. But, it's for you to prove that such a fault is inherent and existed when you bought them, if they're more than 6 months old.

If, on the other hand, they're faulty because of a mains surge, or because they've been misused or abused, etc, then Scan aren't liable at all.

And because there's that issue over the nature of the fault, and because the onus is on the buyer to prove the fault was inherent, the warranty root is very often the best route to pursue, of you have one.

Of course,the retailer doesn't have to insist on the buyer being able to prove the fault was inherent. As a matter of customer service, they might not do so, depending on circumstances, such as how old the item is, and perhaps, on their inspection of the goods. But they're well within their legal rights to require such proof if they wish.

[Saracen]

Actually, looking again at Lee's comment

As your goods were purchased at the end of last year, dealing with the manufacturer is the correct course of action.

quite a bit depends on precisely when last year.

The points I made about the fault being inherent at time of sale still hold true, but for goods under 6 months old, the statutory presumption is that any fault was inherent at time of sale unless the retailer can prove it was not.

Therefore, ....

Warranty Term: 24 months - DOA Period 28 days - Return to Base Period - 1 month - Warranty Type - Direct with manufacturer.

What this means is that we honour the return if the item is

a) Dead on arrival
b) Faulty within 28 days

As your goods were purchased at the end of last year, dealing with the manufacturer is the correct course of action.

I'm sorry if you feel we 'passed the buck' so to speak, but there are many instances of these situations. For example, we only honour the warranties for certain hard disks for the first 12 months - after this you go direct with the manufacturer. Swings and roundabouts really, but we'll always look after you as best we can and point you in the right direction when it comes to claiming on warranty.

That is perfectly correct in terms of the warranty Scan offer in addition to statutory rights, but it doesn't negate the SoGA rights the customer has, and if the item is less than 6 months old, Scan would have to prove that the fault wasn't inherent (i.e. essentially prove that either the customer had damaged the goods or the failure was due to an external factor, like mains power surge etc), or the SoGA liability rests with you, regardless of your additional warranty cover.

[Rebel]

Whilst I fully agree with all you have posted Saracen, prior to my last post I had read leepens post of 10-03-2009 02:51 PM stating this had been purchased at the end of last year.

This led me (and I would have thought most other reasonable people) to assume it had been purchased in either November or December as any earlier would not be considered the end of last year, therefore I would further assume since we are currently only in March this item was under the 6 month period where the sale of goods act statutory presumption that any fault was inherent at time of sale would therefore be applicable.

Under these circumstances it would be reasonable to further assume that the OP had every right to rely on his statuary rights rather than any additional rights a warranty might confer (since as I understand it, it would be an offence for any companies T&C's to even attempt to remove statuary rights hence why most warranties clearly state this warranty is in addition to your statuary rights etc) so the comment

What this means is that we honour the return if the item is

a) Dead on arrival
b) Faulty within 28 days

As your goods were purchased at the end of last year, dealing with the manufacturer is the correct course of action.

is either irrelevant or quite possibly an offence under the Sale of Goods Act depending on the interpretation of the reader.

If any retailer were to attempt to use this as a method of avoiding their legal responsibilities to a customer, especially on as public a forum as this one I would strongly suspect trading standards would be more than willing to become involved.

I recently had the experience of a VERY large UK company who attempted to avoid some of their legal responsibilities regarding a purchase I had made with them, I contacted their Head office and was not satisfied with their response, since in my case it involved a greenhouse and a breach of the trade descriptions act I made a formal complaint to trading standards as it was a criminal offence the company was taken to court by trading standards and fined a substantial amount (They pleaded guilty at court), all because the company thought they could get away with it!

So I know from personal experience trading standards do take matters like this extremely seriously and that was the reason I linked to the government site with quotes from the Sale of Goods Act Quick Facts.

Subject:
Sale of Goods Act, Faulty Goods.

Relevant or Related Legislation:
Sale of Goods Act 1979. Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994. The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002.