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]

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

Scotland is 5 years.

[Anonymous]

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?

No they're def not, which brings me to the point of store assistants/workers/whatever who always state that they no nothing other than the 12 mth guarantee!

Of course they know!!! They've just been taught to pretend like they don't!

Is that reply ok with council lol (I am on your side honest!)

x

[Anonymous]

Good stuff there.
However, there are many stories here and on other sites of badly trained or mis-informed staff who don't know that much as their management don't tell them anything! Would I be correct in stating that the law doesn't require staff to be trained or inform consumers of their rights (even by a leaflet)?

I do know where you're coming from but the answer is no it doesn't.
You can usually get a leaflet from the store stating what that stores returns policy is & it will state on it that their policy 'does not affect your statutory rights' but the owness is on the consumer to find out what their statutory rights are & take the appropriate action (usually through the courts) if they feel the item has not lasted as long as they think it should etc.
The main way to inform people of this is through word of mouth & forums like this one etc.
I personally think the law should be changed, but I can't see that happening for a long time, if at all!

[Anonymous]

Just to point out that you do not need a solicitor if it was to go to court (I've not made that very clear above), you can represent yourself, many people find this daunting but it’s actually quite easy.
My advice to anyone would be to take court action if you believe that you are right, if more consumers make a stand then stores will hopefully change their own returns policies.
Just bear in mind costs involved (in relation esp to the cost of the item) & speak to friends relatives & ask them if they agree that the item should have lasted longer etc.
Also just to point out that it’s not an actual court room (like the ones you see on TV or like a magistrates court etc), if it went to court you would be sat in a fairly small room, around a big table, the judge will be opposite you & the stores solicitor (& pos a representative of the store) will be sat next to you, also you can take someone with you for moral support. You may already know this, but I myself was very surprised the first time I went to a county court for a case, as I had expected it to look like a court room. It's nowhere near as daunting/frightening as you'd expect & it’s quite a relaxed atmosphere.
Also on a good note, win or lose, you don't have to pay the other parties costs, that fact in itself can win you the case before it ever goes to court as it will cost the store more money to defend your claim compared to the cost of replacing the item. Also if you win, the store would have to pay you the fees you've paid to file the claim etc, if they offered a settlement out of court don't forget to only agree if they reimburse you for the court costs otherwise you'll still be out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

....must surely be that the phone and service are bundled and not seperate as they are with other phone contracts (you can only buy an iPhone on an iPhone tariff with O2 and you can only have an iPhone tariff on the iPhone). Furthermore, the minimum contract is 18 months and they are also sold as part of a two year contract. I think it would be very easy to argue, in such circumstances, that it is reasonable to expect the phone to last for the duration of that contract. Truth be told, with mobile phones, the better phones easily last >18 months (both of my previous XDAs lasted 6 months past their 12 month contract length and were in fine condition when I upgraded, same for my SE device).

[Anonymous]

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

Lets not misread or misinterptet the 6 year comment.

This 6y ears refers to a known problem at the point or sale/purchase. Not a 6 yr warranty.
and the wording which effectively means 'suitablility for use' is never going to mean a
mobile phone is expected to last 6 years., I'd be surprised if one lasted 3...1

C'mon, be realistic. No manufactureer would ever release a product if they had to abide
to 6 years.

This thread is becming a noobs charter for desktop know-nothing lawyers.

[Anonymous]

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

Lets not misread or misinterptet the 6 year comment.
This 6y ears refers to a known problem at the point or sale/purchase. Not a 6 yr warranty.
and the wording which effectively means 'suitablility for use' is never going to mean a
mobile phone is expected to last 6 years., I'd be surprised if one lasted 3...1
C'mon, be realistic. No manufactureer would ever release a product if they had to abide
to 6 years.
This thread is becming a noobs charter for desktop know-nothing lawyers.

'A known problem at the point of sale'? I'm sorry but what are you talking about? If the iphone (or any item) had a known problem at the point of sale, the warranty is not valid full stop!

We are NOT talking about a 6yr warranty (read the above posts before you comment!), you have up to 6yrs to file a claim in the small claims court & some items are expected to last 6yrs. Nobody said a mobile phone should last 6 years, but if for example you were to buy an iphone, a phone which is meant to be state of the art/high quality/reliable etc, (at this point you could argue that you can only get this phone on a very high tariff after paying a large deposit) it is surely meant to last longer than most other mobile phones on the market? So personally I would give this phone a life expectancy of 3 to 4yrs, if it breaks after 13mths you can & should file a claim in the small claims court as this mobile phone is not fit for the purpose it was intended! This is the kind of case you would win!

As for a 'desktop know-nothing lawyer', I'm sorry to sound rude but what is your profession & what do you know???

[Anonymous]

....must surely be that the phone and service are bundled and not seperate as they are with other phone contracts (you can only buy an iPhone on an iPhone tariff with O2 and you can only have an iPhone tariff on the iPhone). Furthermore, the minimum contract is 18 months and they are also sold as part of a two year contract. I think it would be very easy to argue, in such circumstances, that it is reasonable to expect the phone to last for the duration of that contract. Truth be told, with mobile phones, the better phones easily last >18 months (both of my previous XDAs lasted 6 months past their 12 month contract length and were in fine condition when I upgraded, same for my SE device).

Yes I think that this type of phone would/should be treated differently, I was merely referring to mobile phones on the market that you can get on either a contract or on a payg deal.

[Anonymous]

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

Lets not misread or misinterptet the 6 year comment.
This 6y ears refers to a known problem at the point or sale/purchase. Not a 6 yr warranty.
and the wording which effectively means 'suitablility for use' is never going to mean a
mobile phone is expected to last 6 years., I'd be surprised if one lasted 3...1
C'mon, be realistic. No manufactureer would ever release a product if they had to abide
to 6 years.
This thread is becming a noobs charter for desktop know-nothing lawyers.

The whole thread has cleared up quite a few things generated from a newspaper article not stating the full facts. Those reported facts are taken as read and once mis-reported have a tendency to become facts in the minds of many. No-one here is pretending to be a lawyer and the sources quoted are verified so the original linked source could be examined for truth. Lets keep to the subject in hand and help others rather than descend into insults.

Your comments are appreciated, thank-you (although I wish I'd of kept my mouth shut now lol) x

[Anonymous]

A known problem referrs to a possible fault, that the manufacturer will admit as being there at source. You might not notice what it is, nor may it be apparant at first, but it was there. Then the 6 year claim may be valid.

Its still then, only a directive, so you may have your work cut out to get anywhere.

Not only that, chances are rather than be taken to court and have all the bad publicity, the dealer/seller/store may (and ought to in my opinion) settle before the really bad press kicks in, and probably demand from you, in return, for non-disclosure of ths whole situation. (...rather common)

The press have made the whole legal situation much worse, both for consumers and for dealers as they preach the EU directive as some sort of 'god given right' when it is no such thing. My advice to the public if you think you've been sold a lemon, speak to consumerdirect, or get advice from a solicitor through a trade union, etc.