some consumer advice please

jcr · 18 Jun 2014 at 18:58

I bought some expensive speakers online last year when I had some spare cash. A couple of weeks ago they became faulty switching on and off at random. Contacted the vender on monday 9th via their onsite email. Come Wednesday I hadn't heard from them so I phoned and left a message on the answer machine I got through to and also sent another message using my own email. Got an email reply on the Thursday (12) say they've been busy and will contact the manufactorer regarding warranty. Come Monday(16) I hadn't heard any more so sent another email asking about warranty. Still no reply as of yet.
Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated. Thank you.

MissChief · 18 Jun 2014 at 22:24

Your contract is with the retailer, not the manufacturer. How long have you had them and how much were they?

jcr · 18 Jun 2014 at 22:34

have had them 11 months. paid £168. they now retail for around £300. (focal xs book).

£15 · 19 Jun 2014 at 01:09

When you said expensive, I immediately thought £1000s. If this were the case, you'd have a better chance as the assumption would be a speaker of that price should/would last longer. However, £168 is not expensive and you may be left high and dry, the only option being to cut your losses and buy a new pair.

At 11 months it's down to you to prove there's an inherent fault (at point of sale). This is usually done by paying to have them inspected. Some retailers will be good and just repair/replace at that time, but many will try to wriggle out of it. Your experience so far suggests to me they may fall into the latter category.

Sometimes, it's easier to go direct to the manufacturer as they may offer to repair as they're under 12 months old. However, I imagine they will ask you to cover the cost of returning them. Which, for speakers, will have its own issues.

jcr · 19 Jun 2014 at 07:10

Thanks for the reply badmojo. Not exactly what I wanted to hear! So your saying a warranty isn't worth the paper its written on?

MrMoonX · 19 Jun 2014 at 07:13

They are under a year old the retailer has to fix or replace them simple as

TheBigCheese · 19 Jun 2014 at 08:40

BadMojo said:
When you said expensive, I immediately thought £1000s. If this were the case, you'd have a better chance as the assumption would be a speaker of that price should/would last longer. However, £168 is not expensive and you may be left high and dry, the only option being to cut your losses and buy a new pair.

At 11 months it's down to you to prove there's an inherent fault (at point of sale). This is usually done by paying to have them inspected. Some retailers will be good and just repair/replace at that time, but many will try to wriggle out of it. Your experience so far suggests to me they may fall into the latter category.

Sometimes, it's easier to go direct to the manufacturer as they may offer to repair as they're under 12 months old. However, I imagine they will ask you to cover the cost of returning them. Which, for speakers, will have its own issues.

Surely this advice is valid for goods that are over a year old, at 11 months old the standard warranty should apply (unless they stated differently at the time of sale) and therefore OP is entitled to a repair.

arknor · 19 Jun 2014 at 09:03

someone with spare time write him a well worded email to help his cause?

Pestilence · 19 Jun 2014 at 09:08

OP: Have you tried contacting the manufacturer directly? Surely there are support contact details inside the manual, or on the warranty slip. As you've had them for 11 months, you're still within standard warranty.

Instead of waiting for the retailer to do things, just get in touch with the manufacturer yourself to arrange an RMA, or whatever their process may be.

jcr · 19 Jun 2014 at 10:44

Thanks for the replies. I will try contacting the manfactorer when I get home this afternoon.
Am quite annoyed with the behaviour of the retailer though