Can manufacturers change warranty terms midway through?

Marcel

Marcel

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Marcel
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I bought a 32" Digimate TV from www.scan.co.uk in 2007.
It was advertised on the website as having a 3 yr on-site warranty.

I got it home and noticed that to qualify for the 3yr onsite manufacturers warranty, you had to register online with digimate, so I did. The website clearly stated 3 yr warranty.

The warranty card that I got with the TV clearly states 3 yrs onsite swapout warranty, so I filled it in and put it away (along with the web registration too).
The next day the TV went dodgy, so I took it back to Scan (I still have the photo I took on my flickr stream) After umming and aaahing (because I'd registered the warranty...they wanted to let Digimate sort it instead), I stood my ground because it was less than 2 days old, I knew I was entitled to a replacement.
They gave me a replacement.

I came home, job done, everything was fine.

Until a short while ago, the TV went faulty.
"No problem" I thought, "I'll just claim on the DGM 3 yr warranty".
Rang them up, and immediately hit a brick wall.
Gave them the serial number, they were adamant it only had a 1yr warranty.
I explained the situation and she checked the serial of the first TV, and said 'No, thats 1 yr warranty too'.

She said that all monitors are sold with 3 yrs, TV with 1.
From googling recently, I knew this was a change brought in around the time of my purchase, and I think I had gotten the slightly older 'good' stock that still included a 3 yr warranty.

Unfortunately it doesn't mention on my receipt, or scan's website the mention of 3 yrs warranty.
I do, however, have the warranty card provided with the TV that clearly states "Warranty type & period : This product is covered with 3 years on-site swap service".
Admittedly it is a standard warranty card, ready for details to be filled in by me and put to one side (I had filled it in with the details of the old TV which was how I remembered the serial and pin).
The woman from Digimate when told I have this card, she simply said "Maybe they put the wrong one in the box".

Also, the digimate website has since been revamped and surprise surprise my login no longer works. (I do still have the login details and the email thanking me for registering, but no mention of registering the product or the warranty type).

Ive just rang scan to see if there is anything they can do. I didn't expect a positive response anyway as I understand it's a manufacturers warranty. They said there's nothing they can do.

I think the next step is to write a strong letter to DGM, copy Scan in, and send it to them stating that if they don't provide the offered warranty service I will take it through the small claims court.

I also paid by Credit Card, will be talking to them tomorrow about a separate purchase somewhere else I'm having problems with so will raise this issue.

Any ideas. Can the maufacturer suddenly decide that they no longer want to offer a warranty?
 
I don't think they can - this would be part of the contract upon purchase.

I guess if the manufacturer or importer went out of business and was taken over then the new owner could offer a 1 yr warranty as a gesture of goodwill.
 
Well my point is, my purchase of contract is with the retailer.
I made a contract with the manufacturer upon registration, but proving that would be quite hard IMO.
 
Sale of goods act comes in somewhere.

They cannot change the terms of the waranty mid way through, as that alters the product they sell, and could have made you buy a different brand.
 
This might sound stupid but you say you registered the warranty with the original TV, which you took back to SCAN and swapped. So you have the old TV's serial number registered in your name but you didn't say if you registered the new TV's serial number for the 3 year warranty?
 
The Sale of goods act states that goods should be fit for purpose and should work for a reasonable amount of time. I would say that you should expect a TV to work for more than 2 years.

You contract of sale is with the retailer and not the manufacturer and although a lot of retailers will try and fob you off to the manufacturers this goes against the sale of goods act.

You also have six years from date of purchase to claim for damages for faulty goods.

I have a standard letters that you could send to the retailer if you want. Just PM me and I can e-mail it to you.
You will probably get a better response if you send something in writing, registered mail to the retailers customer service department. Most sales staff in stores do not understand the sale of goods act and will often give incorrect advice.

If they do not respond go to trading standards, or contact your credit card company. If the price was over £100.00 they should cover you and give you your money back.
 
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Not only the sales of goods act 1979 cpmes into play here Marcel... EU law gives you a 2 year warranty on electronic goods.

check out LINK for more info. You may have to fight for it but I'm sure they'll back down if you do take it further.

cheers
 
Any warranty a mfg gives you is in addition to your statutory rights under SOG against the retailer not to the exclusion off.
Also as a member state of the EU we get 2 yr cover against faulty goods.
Retailers are fully aware of the above but hope you aren't.
If all reasonable efforts fail to resolve there,s Trading Standards and of coarse your CC co is liable under Credit Agreement Act.
 
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Your initAL claim is against scan. SOGA for starters/fit for purpose etc.

However, I suspect the CC company wil be easier to get money out of (in my experience of both scan and aria).

Keep the CC company informed and if no joy with scan then ask the CC co to refund - they are jointly liable if the goods cost more than (I think) £100.
 
The EU thing is a myth unfortunately....sort of.
It was an EU directive...it has not been written into UK Law yet (apparently the directive stated it should have been written in by 2002 :bang: ).

I've already been in contact with my CC (over another purchase, but happened to mention this one at the time), and she asked me to write (or email) in with a step by step detail of wht happened and what documentation I have.
She agreed though that manufacturers can't change the terms of warrant halfway through...without honouring existing warranties first.

I'm not sure how successful a SOGA/Fit for purpose claim would last against Scan. Is it reasonable to expect, in this day and age of cheap electronics...that a TV should last more than 2yrs & 3 months? I'm not so sure.....

My warranty is with Digimate, my claim is with Digimate I would have thought. I understand my purchase contract is with Scan and it may have made me buy a different brand should it not have been offered with a three year warranty. However, I can't prove it was advertised with one. www.archive.org has a copy of the page, but the warranty section is dynamic and I think it's pulling 'current' content, because it states '1 Year RTB Warranty' which was definitely not the deal at the time.

I think the correct course of action would be to write to DGM (with a copy sent to scan's customer services), insisting they either honour the warranty with an onsite swapout, or I pursue it through the small claims court.
 
I cannot understand how people can cock this up so much?

You do not get a 2 year warranty on electrical goods because we are in the EU. The legislation states that you get a 2 year warranty on everything however as of yet the UK has not taken this up, as we have the sales of good act which allows consumers to seek remedy for up to 6 years, 5 in Scotland for something they have bought, providing it was an inherent fault, ie there when purchasing the TV. This is harder to prove, as you have to have independent tests carried out, however if you can prove that there have been a lot of breakdowns due to a specific type of fault then you are in luck.

The XBOX 360 is a prime example of this. The red ring of death has effected loads of XBOX 360's and as a result had become a popular problem, therefore you would have a position to fight for a refund or replacement. Microsoft now dish out a three year warranty on their consoles but there is a big fat ascetics next to that stating that the three year cover will only cover the red ring of death and nothing more. You can of course fight this and then try and get the retailer to side with you.

The best thing the OP can do is get in touch with his credit card company and go from there if Scan are unwilling to do anything. I would write a letter to them explaining the problem and ask them for a remedy and see what they say, remember the contract is with the retailer therefore they are responsible for repairing it if it goes wrong, they may direct you to the manufacturer, but you can insist they repair or replace the item.
 
The contract is with the retailer, but only for the purchase and provision.
The 3 year on site warranty is with the manufacturer.

If was to pursue this via the SOGA, I would be contacting my CC company and Scan and insisting they have a duty to sort the problem.

However, I would prefer to pursue this via the provided warranty, the contract of which is with the Manufacturer. :)
 
The issue here is whether Digimate can prove that the TV only had 1 year warranty and you can prove that it was sold with a 3 year warranty. The former is not something you can determine easily, although you could ask Digimate for proof of it being only 1 year for that specific TV and ask them in writing whether they previously offered a 3 year warranty on the same product. There is no guarantee they will do this outside of court. You would then have to prove that it was sold with a 3 year warranty and you only have a warranty card to prove this. This card may be enough if it came with the second TV and you can state you were told by the retailer at the time that it had a 3 year warranty (verbal contracts can still stand up in law).

Either way, this will probably be a drawn out process which could prove inconclusive and have to be settled in court.

I would, in parallel, make a claim against your CC company in the first instance as this is more likely to yield success. To answer your earlier point, under 3 years is a wholy unsatisfactory lifespan for a television regardless of brand. Remember that it may have been cheap because the brand is unknown and/or the design an older design and /or the technology an older or earlier technology, and not because the materials etc are any more or less inferior. A TV is a TV in terms of the law and whether it's fit for purpose.
 
I'd be really tempted to go for the small claims court too Marcel.
2¼ years for a TV to totally fail is a ridiculously short time. Over the last 30 years or so we've averaged about 8 years per TV. Generally I'll fix it once and if it goes wrong again it gets junked. I know that technology changes, and prices tend to drop on these things, but just over two years surely can't be considered acceptable by any reasonable person.
 
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