Friday, Jan 27, 2006 at 21:07
There's a thing called implied warranty.
It's to do with a reasonable expectation of the serviceable life of goods dependant on cost, and it is the responsibility of the retailer rather than the manufacturer to deal with you to resolve any issues. They then may elect to take it up with their supplier but that is between them and the supplier.
I had a win on implied warranty on a Nokia mobile phone that continually turned itself off even after a couple of trips to the repair
shop in a 14 month period.
The Office of Fair Trading took the view that the phone was worth about $800 at the time of purchase even though it was paid for over the life of the contract. The contract period was 2 years and the express warranty was 12 months.
They deemed that it was reasonable that I expect the phone to last at least the life of the contract, given it's price, intended purpose and use without abuse.
As a result of going back to the business as an informed consumer the retailer replaced the phone with a factory refurbished unit. (That is their entitlement - they have to make good on the product so that it is capable of functioning as intended, not necessarily a new replacement.)
You may not get the same result on a $200 68cm TV but on a $4000 plasma you would almost certainly get implied warranty for several years.
From that point of view I think retailers selling extended warranties on big ticket items is a HUGE con. They are basically indemnifying themselves against a legal requirement under the trade practices act, by selling the consumer a warranty they would be reasonably be expected to honour at no cost.
It is dealt with in the Trade Practices act and a google search for "implied warranty trade practices act" on Google AU will reveal a wealth of info such as this below from Yahoo's small business site.
Go forth and defend your rights as a consumer...
Dave
Generally speaking, there are four types of warranties businesses usually provide. These are:
* Voluntary warranties: These are given by businesses that choose to stand behind the quality of their goods and
services. If a business chooses to give a voluntary warranty (guarantee) then it is required by law to honour it.
* Extended warranties: This is a warranty which is given over a longer period of time. It is important to clearly state the time frame for which the warranty can be acted on.
* Specified warranties: Warranties imposed by State or Territory law regarding particular products, for instance, used cars.
* Implied warranties: These are imposed by the Trade Practices Act and generally speaking, they cannot be excluded or modified by businesses. They are usually in addition to any voluntary warranties or extended warranties. However, implied warranties don’t necessarily expire at the same time as these two warranties.
According to the ACCC, an implied warranty gives customers the following basic rights:
* The customer will have clear title to the goods
* The goods must correspond with any description given to the purchaser or any sample shown to the purchaser
* The goods must be of "merchantable quality" – meeting the basic level of quality and performance that would be expected, bearing in mind price and description.
* The goods must be fit for the purpose intended
*
Services must be carried out with due care and skill.
If an implied warranty is not met, you may be required to compensate, repair or replace the particular product or service, depending on the circumstances.
AnswerID:
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