What Are my Rights on a Faulty Television?

Q.I bought a 37" LCD TV,17 months ago from a well known electrical retailer. The TV now keeps turning itself off. The shop guarantee ran out 5 months ago,do I have any rights?.

A.

The Sales of Goods Act 1979 was passed with the intention of safeguarding consumers. It states that goods have to be safe, as described, and satisfactorily do the job for which they’re intended. Once you’ve bought the item you have an undefined but “reasonable” amount of time to return the item if it doesn’t meet those standards, and you can demand a replacement, refund or repair from the retailer – not that it’s the retailer, not the manufacturer.

That “reasonable” amount of time varies, but if it’s over six months, then the retailer can refuse to refund, replace or repair the item unless you can prove there was a fault when you bought the item, and the failure isn’t due to excessive or misuse on your part.

The problem, of course, is that you’re well beyond that six month time frame, and from what you say there was no fault with the TV until recently. So unfortunately you can’t use the Sale of Goods Act. Nor, it seems, can you use the shop guarantee, since that expired after a year. From your question, you probably declined the chance to purchase the extended warranty retailers usually offer with appliances of all sorts, which is a shame. You might not need them, but on expensive items they can prove to be good insurance.

However, there might well be a manufacturer’s warranty that applies to the television, and you’d be well advised to investigate this. There’s a possibility that you might be covered, at least on certain things, for up to two or even three years.

If that’s not the case, then unfortunately you’re out of luck and you’ll have to pay for the repair for yourself.

But rather than simply taking it into a repair shop, you might want to get two or three estimates first and see if the repair shop offers any guarantee on their work, as well as an estimate as to how long the repair will take. That way your TV is unlikely to vanish for a month or more!

Sorry not to be more positive, but that’s the way things work out sometimes.

Our Facebook Fan Page

Why not join the ConsumerRightsExpert Fan Page so we can keep you up to speed with our thoughts and maybe you can share yours or ask a question (there's a join button up on the left!)...

 Share on Facebook  Tweet This!  Stumble!  Digg It!