Faulty Samsung 42 inch plasma

[labrat]

ok atlantis i see you like to play devils advocate

 

the customer had a independant engineer report which stated it was a failure of the plasma display panel.

 

the store has never actually sent an engineer to look at the unit they simply stated that it was just "wear and tear"

 

they then told the customer if he wanted to argue it he needed another engineer report which he doesnt.

 

he has done what is required by the sales of goods act as he has a report which states that the PDP is faulty NOTE that the report does not say that the panel has failed to wear and tear (which as a engineer i can state a full line of pixels is not wear and tear)

 

the store is now refusing to full-fil their role under the sale of goods act as they have neither repaired the unit, or even sent one of their engineers to make there own report.

 

 

what the store would have to do to prove wear and tear is to state that the panel is outside of its reasonable life span and is therefore a case of wear and tear.

 

for plasma panels the reasonable life is ussually around 6,000 - 10,000 hours of on time. this unit has had according to the inbuild counter around 4,000.

 

so it is therefore still well within the reasonable expectation of life.

 

like ive explained in the past, one line of pixels is not a failure with the actuall screen as you see it, on the reverse of the panel there is two strip conectors, ussually one at the top/bottom, and one on either one of hte sides. if a horizontal line of pixels has failed then its a connection on the side panel, if its a vertical one then its a connection on the top/bottom panel.

 

sometimes this can be shown by pressing lightly on the plastic at the ends of the line, if it is down to dry solder or a loose connection this sometimes presses the ends back togeather and that line vanishes

 

following me so far?

 

 

so if the customer took this case to the small claims court he would most likely win for several reasons

 

- the panel is still inside its reasonably expected life span

- he has a engineers report stating failure of the panel

- the store in question has not produced there own report but simply stated that it is wear and tear, an argument that is negated by the first point

Edited March 12, 2010 by labrat

[AtlantisZPM]

the store has never actually sent an engineer to look at the unit they simply stated that it was just "wear and tear"

 

Wow a patronising response. According to JMacP on the 11th post in the thread the retailer investigated the report and was told by the engineer its 'wear and tear' I hope jmacp gets this sorted but if his defense is an engineer that is telling people its wear and tear he should get another report from a better person. Also look into getting a refund as it sounds like the report is very inadequate.

[Bookworm]

I do not understand your logic on this one I am afraid. customer says its faulty retailer says its not down to manufacturing fault. How would a court be able to side with the customer when it is clearly not enough to say its "faulty" which doesn't meet the criteria as stated in Sales of goods act....

It's perfectly logical:

 

Customer has a written report from engineer saying it's a manufacturing fault.

 

OP reports that (post #11 which you misquote) "They claim to have phoned the engineers and have been told by them "it's wear and tear"." but when asked to, retailer then refuse to confirm this in writing.

 

Written report by engineer will win over "we were told" every time.

 

OP has fulfilled HIS obligation under SOGA by obtaining the written report which confirms his position. If retailer wants to contradict that position, then THEY must get a written opinion to rebut the OP's. That's how it works. In the retailer's failure to do so, then the judge will decide on the balance of probabilities who's right and he will take the engineer's written report at face value.

 

It's really not that complicated, I can't see why you are finding it so hard to follow. :-?

[jmacp]

Ok Quick update

 

Currys have sent a letter at last pertinent points are

 

"we understand that your engineer has stated that the fault with the TV is general wear and tear. If this were the case we would not be able to consider your claim.

 

Should you wish to persue the matter further we would need to recieve an engineers report stating that your TV has an inherent manufacturing defect"

 

I did speak to the engineers who looked at the TV for me and they said there was no way they would speak to currys about my TV.

 

I think with this one I probably will take it to Small Claims on the basis that the defect is a clear manufacturing defect.

 

Currys are quite simply touting wear and tear to get out of their responsibilites. They havn't sent an engineer to look at my TV despite me inviting them to.

 

John

[Bookworm]

But you do have a report which states what the fault is, yes? they have seen this report, presumably? :-?

[jmacp]

But you do have a report which states what the fault is, yes? they have seen this report, presumably? :-?

 

Yes it simply says

 

One vertical line of dead pixels

 

"upon inspection of the above appliance our engineer found it requires a pdp display"

 

It then lists the part required and the cost.

 

And this is exactly what I sent currys.

 

John

[Bookworm]

Ah.

 

So it doesn't actually say what causes the fault, only what the fault is. Things become a lot clearer.

 

I'm afraid you are going to have to ask your engineer chap for somethign a bit more specific in his report, at the moment, it's not saying one thing or another, and they'll try to wriggle out of paying out that way. Once it's written in black and white that it is a faulty part and not wear and tear, then that should simplify matters a lot. ;-)

[labrat]

or simply getting the engineer to add a section stating that the failure is under the normal expected life span of the unit

[jmacp]

Another Update

 

After speaking with the original engineers it was clear I was never going to get from them what I need. I took the TV to a samsung approved engineers and had another report done this time it states

 

"further to our inspection we submit the following report

 

The symptons displayed thin vertical lines on the picture are a result of

failure of the plasma display panel(PDP). Unfortunately the PDP is not a

repairable item and would have to be replaced as a complete module"

 

I take it this is exactly what I was looking for and I should write to currys again.

 

Thanks

John

[ForestChav]

The report is meant to show that the fault was inherent, not just say what the fault is, AIUI...

[Mr Happy]

You cant get access to any of the workings of a pdp unless you open it, I cant see it being difficult proving its a fault of manufacture as opposed to wear and tare.

 

Panasonic had a model that the glue on the edge connectors would come unstuck over time and a pencil thin line of pixels would become unstuck quickly followed by the neighbouring lines, not aware of this with Samsung but you cant wear and tare anything just by looking at it.