EU Law 2 Year Manufacturers Warranty

[Anonymous]

Is it correct Apple only offer a 12 month warranty? See this link for the EU ruling that products bought in the UK have a standard 2 year warranty. Has anyone successfully used this law to get their handset repaired by Apple after the initial 12 months has lapsed?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ilers.html

[Anonymous]

Handset is covered by a 1 year warrenty there is an option open for purchasing apple care if your handset is still under 12 months. If not call 2302 and chat to an advisor about your options

[Anonymous]

They state 6 years in England and Wales, could be interesting when the phones pack up 4 years down the line when they have self destruct initialised :mansurprised:

[Anonymous]

Handset is covered by a 1 year warrenty there is an option open for purchasing apple care if your handset is still under 12 months. If not call 2302 and chat to an advisor about your options

Read questions more thoroughly.

[Anonymous]

Here is a link to a leaflet published by the EU. If you look at the PDF leaflet page 7 it gives the directive number and states clearly that any consumer good bought in the EU has a guarantee of 2 years.

http://ec.europa.eu/publications/bookle ... dex_en.htm

Apple can offer any length warranty they want, it is just that they cannot legally deny warranty repair for 2 years as long as the phone was bought in the EU.

[adamtemp64]

I think a good example here will be Battery life. The battery has a life so cannot be expected to work after x years. so if the phone dies after 18 months of daily charging due to battery fault would you expect a replacement phone?( apple quote 400 charge cycles)
http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

Also the point about having benfited from use is a good phrase Quote from berr link
" If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can seek a partial refund, if they have had some benefit from the good, or a full refund if the fault/s have meant they have enjoyed no benefit" So after say 18 months daily use what would you expect as a partial refund.

The best thing is to ring consumer direct and get clarification.

[Anonymous]

Is it correct Apple only offer a 12 month warranty? See this link for the EU ruling that products bought in the UK have a standard 2 year warranty. Has anyone successfully used this law to get their handset repaired by Apple after the initial 12 months has lapsed?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ilers.html

Lot of misunderstanding here. Suppose can't expect differently for daily mail.

1. It's an EU Directive, not law.
2. Directives mean member countries implement it with their own laws and interpretations.
3. The EU directive is essentially implemented in the UK with the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA). Which has been in force for donkey's years.
4. The main difference between the SOGA and EU directive is that the SOGA gives better and longer possible protection.
5. Both the EU Directive and SOGA are concerned with the responsibility of the retailer, NOT the manufacturer.
6. "Guarantee" in the EU directive means the conformity of the product by the SELLER, it is NOT the same thing as a manufacturer warranty.

In the context here, the EU Directive (which is not a law) and the SOGA are only concerned with the responsibilities and liabilities of O2 as the retailer, not Apple as the manufacturer and any warranty Apple offer is still a bonus in addition to your existing consumer rights.

So to reiterate, the EU Directive is not a law and cannot be quoted or used directly to enforce anything. It is used as a framework to make the individual countries' laws and here in the UK (well at least England and Wales. Scotland is slightly different) it is the Sale of Goods Act that is king (with the addition of the Distance Selling Regulations if you bought online). Your recourse and contract is with the seller/retailer. Which here would be O2. Apple have absolutely no legal obligations (except for safety) beyond the warranty and conditions they set out. The only exception is if Apple themselves were your retailer because you bought directly off of them.

Anyone is free to read the EU directive (1999/44/EC) themselves, or the Sale of Goods Act.

[Anonymous]

These laws have always been a closely guarded secret, but they are 'NOT what they say on the tin' so to speak, whenever you buy an item the receipt usually states that there is a 1 yr warranty (but this does not affect your statutory rights), it’s those rights that the EU laws are referring to, BUT........it always depends on what item you have bought & how long it should be expected to reasonably last for; for example, a washing machine should not break down after 13mths, but many do, the stores personnel are advised to tell you that as your guarantee was only for a year it’s tough, buy a new one, this is wrong, esp as a washing machine costs quite a lot of money (under the sale of goods act it would be deemed 'not fit for the purpose it was intended') BUT (sorry for all buts’), if you bought the cheapest washing machine in the store (say for £150) & they ranged in price from £150 to £1000, any judge would tell you that you get what you pay for, this washing machine would not be expected to last for the same length of time as one that costs £1000 & the fact that it costs so little in comparison to the others is because it’s got a very short life span.
Even if you really think that you have a case against any retailer for any item, after one year (unless you can stand your ground against the store manager or higher management by telephone & win) the 'sale of goods act' states that you would have to take the retailer to the small claims court (& unless you're on benefits you'll have to pay to file a claim, usually around the region of £100 to £200 which many people can’t afford; if they could, they'd just buy a new appliance in the first place without all this fuss), THEN if the retailer files a defense (rightly or wrongly) you have to submit an allocation questionnaire to the court, again at a charge to you of roughly £100 to £250 in order for it to be even looked at by a judge, next you've got to pay your solicitor if it goes as far as court & any small claims case (ones which are under £5000) means win or lose you do not pay the other side’s court costs & vice versa, the other party does not pay yours solicitors fees ('no win no fee' means that its great if you don’t win as you won’t have to pay anything, but if you do win you do pay & your own solicitors costs will be more than the £5000 small claim amount that you win)!
With all this in mind, the winner is always the trader (unless you're rich & bored) & they know this!
As for mobile phones, someone mentioned 4yrs, if my mobile phone lasted 4 yrs without problems I'd be very grateful, don't forget that if you are on a contract you generally get the mobile free or very cheap compared to pay as you go customers, you can only complain if you've paid the full price as the judge will take into account the amount that the phone has cost you irrelevant of the monthly contract amount!
Hope this clarifies a few issues with you peop, I am a qualified barrister & I do practice in consumer laws, so please feel free to pm me if you have any questions or need any advise x

[Anonymous]

It says 6 years in England and Wales. Does anyone know if it's the same in Scotland?

[perksie]

Grateful to Counsel for that much needed clarification.

Makes things a lot clearer.

All this confusion goes to show that there is a huge lack of information amongst consumers.

Lets face it the retailers are hardly going to advertise our rights are they?