Need help getting plasma fixed via Sale of Goods act

[ykhan16]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyones got any experience of getting their out of warranty plasma repaired with the Sale of Goods act. My Pioneer is approaching 2 years old (but only had the 1 year warranty) and its developed a fault (permanant horizontal black line around 2/3 up the screen).

I've arranged for an engineer from a pioneer service centre to pay me a visit (£70!) and also contacted the retailer (beyondtelevision) by email quoting the sale of goods act in that i should expect help with repair given the cost of the screen. The manager himself replied with the following;

"I have received your e-mail regarding your Pioneer Plasma screen, which you purchased on the 18th May 2006. Please may I sympathize with your situation, regarding the problems you are experiencing. Unfortunately as you will be aware the set does only come with a twelve month parts & labor warranty. Any repairs out side the manufacturers warranty period would be deemed as chargeable.

From your position regarding the “Sale of Goods” act, I have contacted trading standards to clarify the situation. As the set is now over a six month period from your delivery date, the onus would lie with you to prove, that the fault has occurred due to the set being of un-reasonable quality, now requiring a chargeable repair.

The next step would be to contact Pioneer customer services, to try and obtain help with the situation. The direct number for customer services is 0870 600 1539."

If anyone's got any suggestions on how I should proceed from here i'd be extremely grateful!

 

[contraste]

I think YOU should contact trading standards or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Your contract is with the retailer, not the manufacturer (although it can't hurt to talk to Pioneer) and it sounds like they are washing their hands of you.

Using the Sale of Goods Act to solve your problem will require perserverance but should, eventually, bring results.

Good Luck!

 

[Matthew Attoe]

Don't forget that goods also have to last a reasonable amount of time. Obviously, reasonable is open to intepretation, but I would have thought that less than 24 months is not a reasonable length of time.

I would talk to Consumer Direct - the Government scheme for this sort of thing. I'm sure that they'll point you in the right direction.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

Good luck,

Matthew

 

[ykhan16]

Thanks for the help!

I've got in touch with consumer direct who've been very helpful indeed. They've even worded me a letter to send to the retailer on how i'm entitled to repairs.

They've also recommended I cancel the service engineer due to visit and take a look at the screen. Apparently the retailer should also arrange this (and incur the call-out charge too!)

Gosh if this works out you wont ever catch me saying a bad word about government legislation ever again!

Thanks again!