Returning faulty Amazon own brand products

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markwilding
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 7778
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:02 am
Location: Bilbao Spain

Returning faulty Amazon own brand products

Postby markwilding » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:33 am

Over the last month I have had a problem with my iPhone X and an Echo spot.

I took the iPhone, bought in November 2017, back to the local Apple authorised shop in Bilbao due to a faulty microphone. The end result was that I was given a brand new phone because I was still inside 2 year EU consumer rule.

I bought 2 Echo spots while I was in Dublin Summer 2018 from Amazon UK. Last Saturday one of my Echo spots' video screen started flickering. I did the usual online checks and discovered that it is a typical problem. I then contacted Amazon UK, who offered to sell me a new one with a 15 per cent discount because the manufacturer's 1 year warranty had expired. Obviously, this is against the 2 year EU consumer law. To cut a long story short, after a bit of arguing explaining that I was within by rights to ask for a repair or replacement due to the fact, not only were they the manufacturer but also the seller and I would take them to court.

The assistant did the usual 'I speak to my boss' thing and came back with the offer of a replacement. After another online check, It seems that this is normal practice so that Amazon can get away with fobbing customers off with the 15 per cent offer to avoid their responsibilities.

I hope nobody gets a problem with Amazon but if so, make sure the pressure is kept up so they are unable wriggle out of it.

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
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Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: Returning faulty Amazon own brand products

Postby El Cid » Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:40 am

Remember that the EU warranty may be 2 years, but for an aoutomatic replacement it is only 6 months. For the final 18 months YOU have to prove that the fault was present at the time you bought it.

Sid

markwilding
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 7778
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:02 am
Location: Bilbao Spain

Re: Returning faulty Amazon own brand products

Postby markwilding » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:06 am

Yes, I understood that. However, this is a very grey area because there is also the stipulation that good must work as advertised. For example, I don't know if the microphone in the phone was faulty when I bought it or whether the fault developed later but a phone without one means it cannot operate as a phone.

This is the same as the spot because the screen must continue to work. As a minimum, I expected Amazon to at least try to repair my gadget but they were offering me a solution, which if taken to the small claims court in the UK, would lose because the UK consumer law goes beyond EU law and tends to work on the basis of the expectation of how long something should reasonably last.

I work on the basis that the first six months are cut and dry and retailers must prove that the goods were not faulty at the time of purchase. After that I will give them much more slack (doing their tests within a reasonable time, usually up to 4=5 week) but it will still be difficult for them them to prove that I caused the fault, if goods cannot perform their main function


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