Warranty on ‘free’ item

[Ahl123]

Hope this is posted in the right place and someone can help. 

 

In July I purchased a Motorola video monitor online from Tesco direct, which came with a free Motorola dream machine. 

 

The dream machine has stopped working after only using it a couple of times. I have contacted both Motorola and Tesco with no success. 

 

Tesco direct no longer is in business so they don’t sell them anymore so can’t send another and have said as it was free, it has no monetary value. Motorola have said the warranty would be with Tesco so it is up to them. 

 

Any advice if this is correct?

Edited March 17, 2019 by Ahl123
Incorrect spelling

[dx100uk]

Wrong..

Forget the warranty means nothing

Tesco is tesco ....under the consumer rights act the product  should last a reasonable time. I would expect 3-4yrs+ but you try your luck upto 6yrs. It being free or at a reduced cost does not change your consumer rights.

 

As it has gone faulty outside of the 1st 6mts...its for you to pay for an experts report . Then you make a claim under cra to tesco..the retailer..

[Ahl123]

Thank you, I thought that was the case! I have emailed Tesco back to say that it still formed part of the contract of sale, regardless of no additional money paid for the item. Will see what they say. 

[Ahl123]

They came back to me within the hour to say they will refund the cost of the faulty item. Sorted! 

[dx100uk]

well done let us know when actually sorted and i'll mark this resolves.

 

dx

[BankFodder]

You might be interested to know about the case of wilson v ricket cockerall co ltd 1954.

Wilson ordered a consignment of coal from the defendants. When the coal arrived nobody realised that there is a detonator inside the delivery. (They used to use dynamite to loosen the coal of the coalface before digging it out).

Anyway, when the coal was put on the there was an . The defendants tried to say that the consignment of coal was of merchantable quality and it was simply the detonator which was a free and was therefore not part of the contract.

The court, of course, said that the contractual goods included everything which is delivered as part of the contract and therefore the entire consignment was of merchantable quality.

It seems to me that the first answer you had from Tesco's was broadly the same argument. 

 

 

[ericsbrother]

This situation is a commonly repeated one for GCSE law or business studies. I cant beleive that Tesco's couldnt have spotted this.

Here is another one they might want to consider. Buy 2 get one free. if an item is not merchantable quality would it automaticlly be the free one that is wonky in their eyes? It is all down to offer and consideration, you bought a package and whetehr they say you get a free item or not the fact is you paid £xx for 2 items. yes they could have insisted on negotiating the perceived value of the "free" item but they chose not to.

My favourite marketing failure was back in the 1960's when a detergent manufacturer gave away free plastic washing up bowls with their soap powder. Most fo the detergent  ended up in the water supply as the sewer system couldnt cope whith the amount that was being chucked down the drain as people didnt want it but kept the bowls for washing up their crockery etc