Successfully sued Comet?

[Summerhill]

Has anyone successfully sued Comet for repair of an appliance? My fridge freezer (advertised as £899.99) has broken after 30 months.Obviously, I expected it to last a lot longer. They want £60 to send someone to assess the fault. If it is a major one they will reduce the cost of the parts by 20% but will not pay for the labour. It's compounded by the fact that this appliance was advertised as money saving! Shouldn't goods be expected to last a reasonable amount of time?

[shelter pie]

Yes it should - ive seen somewhere on here that osmebody put up a rough idea of cost = reasonable time = type of usuage (ie moving parts etc etc).

Just a thought though have you contacted TS to see what they have said?

[rosiecotton]

Consumer Direct are normally the first port of call now for consumer advice, most TS don't now do "first line" advice since CD started their service. Their number is 08454 04 05 06.

Bear in mind that they - or Trading Standards, for that matter - won't be able to tell you whether it's wear and tear or a fault as they are not experts in how the goods actually work

[shelter pie]

Good point Rosie.

Just thought it was a good place to start.

[rosiecotton]

It never hurts to give Consumer Direct a call. Even if the advice you get is similar to what you already know, your complaint will be recorded and statistics provided to Trading Standards so TS know who are the most "complained about" businesses, in case they need to advise or educate - or even take action against, in some cases - certain businesses.

ok i remember SOGA saying without costs to the buyer. (hmmm)

sellers can charge a callout fee but if proven as fault from purchase, they HAVE TO waive the costs or reimburse them.

if however its due to wear and tear. then they dont have to reimburse you. just do a 100% check make sure there are no dents, loose wires or anything they can use to say its wear and tear. call them up, get them around and ask for an invoice after.

use this invoice along with photographs to prove you have not damaged it and to go to small claims. or first of all threaten them about going to small claims.

quoting SOGA 1979
48B Repair or replacement of the goods
(2) If the buyer requires the seller to repair or replace the goods, the seller must—

(a) repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer;
(b) bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage).

[gyzmo]

Bear in mind that it is your responsibility to prove that the goods are not in conformity with the contract, and not for the store to prove that they were. The store is basically offering a service to you, as any repairer would, and is entitled to be paid for that service. You may find it cheaper to get an independant report and use that to show to the store (given that it is not down to wear and tear).

S. 14 of Soga does give an implied warranty that goods will last a reasonable length of time. If that has found to be breached, then you wil be entitled to damages (the cost of repair, report etc, but these must be reasonable).

Further to retailpointofviews comments, the Act, if read further, states that the option to repair / replace is down to the seller. What is reasonable must take into account inconvenience and cost to you as to as to themselves - a fact that many people seem to prefer to forget or dismiss.

getting an independant report done is also tricky. id suggest contacting the stores HQ and ask if the local store can check it or if they have a list of local independant engineers that they would accept a report from.

By this i mean asking your friend down the road will not do. anyone can say it is faulty on paper but the seller needs to have this proved.

always best to get them to deal with it and get costs reimburst later.

and its alot cheaper for retailers to do it then some independants and does not affect your SOGA rights