Currys fixed broken TV after 26 months

By ANDREW OXLADE, COLUMNIST
Updated: 10:58 EST, 12 March 2010

If consumers were braver in exercising their consumer rights, it could lead to an improvement in the quality of goods. Editor Andrew Oxlade recounts the experience of one reader, who used his rights to the max...

Legally, retailers must fix or offer part-refunds if goods fail within six years if it's deemed reasonable that they should last that long.

Televisions, you would imagine, should last six years, and certainly longer than two years.

A friend of mine was incensed when a £600 Samsung television bought by his mum, who lives in Crawley, West Sussex, stopped working just two years and two months after she bought it. He used the UK consumer law to full effect.

His story will not sound particularly unusual to hardened consumer warriers, but it serves as a good example to the vast majority of shoppers of how easy it is to use your full rights.

He says: 'I saw the story about the EU ruling and longer warranties and phoned Consumer Direct [the government-funded consumer service - 08454 04 05 06] to ask about it. I was told that in fact in the UK, for many years our rights have actually extended to a much longer period, sometimes up to six years. The guy told me to ring Currys' customer care people, not the manufacturer, and tell them that I considered them in breach of the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

'The guy at Currys told me to get the TV assessed, which Mum would have to pay for, to find out exactly what the problem was, along with a price for fixing it.

'We then had to write to Currys stating the breach of the Sale of Goods Act. I said something about the durability being unacceptable for a £600 product along with the assessment/estimate, and they said they would look into it. The repair cost was around £150 and they wrote back telling her to go ahead and get it repaired and to forward all costs to them, which they would reimburse, and duly did.

'The repair guy said he is getting more and more of these cases, and where in the past it used to be a formality that the retailer would pay, they were very much clamping down. It is up to the consumer to prove that the product was defective when they bought it, and this is pretty much impossible to do. The repair guy also said that he was unable to state on his assessment that he considered it to be the manufacturer's fault, as this would open him up to all sorts of legal issues.

'Obviously by encouraging everyone to try it though, it may force the retailers to stop stocking cheap goods.'

And that's the point. Samsung and the electrical goods industry would strongly deny that quality has declined. And maybe in this case, the consumer was just unlucky - a one-off problem.

But if High Street stores were to be inundated with people insisting, reasonably, that the goods they buy last the legal minimum of six years, they will suddenly face a massive bill for repairs. That would inevitably lead to more rigorous quality demands from retailers. And that would mean more robust televisions for everyone.

Your legal rights

Many people assume there is only a legal warranty for one year. Further confusion was caused in recent years following reports on EU law, which offers a two-year warranty.

However, the UK Sale of Goods Act (1979) state actually gives you greater rights and therefore takes precedence - a warranty of up to six years in England & Wales. If an item fails within six months, the obligation is on the retailer - not the manufacturer - to repair or offer a partial refund. Beyond that, the onus is on the consumer to prove the goods had an inherent fault at manufacture which has caused them to fail.

But consumers can also turn to the EU law for cover up to two years. The European rule does not require the buyer to show the fault is inherent in the product. Read our guide: EU two-year warranty