Play.com, Hitachi + Zone repair company.

[Drifting]

Wonder if anyone can help?

I am at a loss to know what is the right thing to do. My wife bought a large screen lcd tv for my birthday at the end of august 2006. The tv had a few intermittant problems with the picture and I put this down to interference. However in early december 2006 the fault was almost constant, with this in mind I contacted play.com (Who were really pleasant) and they said Hitachi looks after the warranty. I called Hitachi and they said they used local repairers acorss the UK, and gave me the number of the local agent. The TV was collected on the 2nd Jan 2007 and I was told 7 - 10 days for the repair. I waited 10 days and called the repairer, only to be told 7 - 10 business days! I waited the required 10 business days, only to be told it's still being looked at. I called again on this week and still get the same reply.

At this stage I was feeling a tad annoyed (we were stuck with a 35 year old 12" portable) And contacted play again asking if they could help? Again they were very helpful but felt that I should really contact Hitachi as they had it under repair. Off I went to Hitachi, who said leave it with them (this was monday) and they would call me back. Not a word heard from them!

Am I being unreasonable to expect this back quicker? It will be a month on tuesday without the tv.

Regards Paul.
Paul.

[rosiecotton]

Well your contract is actually with Play and they are the ones with responsibility to repair the TV (or arrange for the repair) under the Sale of Goods Act, which says that the repair should be done within a reasonable time (although this time is not specified, it differs depending on the product - a fridge would be more urgent than an entertainment system for example, as it is more of a necessity).

If you go to the manufacturer under the warranty, you are entirely bound by the terms and conditions of this warranty, so do check these to see what they say.

Be aware that if the manufacturer ends up replacing the TV, you could well affect your rights under the Sale of Goods Act as you effectively have a different product to the one Play sold to you.

I would contact Play again and remind them that they have responsibility under the Sale of Goods Act to repair faulty goods and ensure that it is done "within a reasonable time", and see what response you get.

[Drifting]

Thanks Rosie.
It was just the definition of a reasonable time, I consider a month a resonable amount of time.

Will get onto play and report back.

Regards Paul.