Sub died 4 months out of warranty, ugh.

randal

randal

randal

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Cool story/rant etc. :)

Sat down to watch Daredevil S2 with the good lady last night and noticed the sub was off, changed sockets/fuse/lead and no life out of it at all. It's a Cambridge Audio Minx X200, 16 months old and has had an easy life with us.

Called RicherSounds today where I purchased it from, who whilst polite and pleasent weren't exactly forthcoming with my options. The first of which was "we can help you buy a new one, we have them in stock". After reapplying a bit of pressure stating that I wasn't impressed that a £300 piece of equipment only lasted 16 months, I was redirected to Customer Services.

I have since mailed them, and am waiting to hear back. Cambridge Audio have no direct customer support/service it seems, and everything is done through RS.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with an out of warranty item purchased via RicherSounds?

As an aside I think I've been spoiled by being a customer of Apple/Logitech etc, who'll bend over backwards for devices OOW normally doing a like for like replacement. However given CA's premium nature and position in the market place I would expect at least some distance towards halfway being met. Especially as I've spent a fair chunk of cash with RS over the years too.
 
Doesn't the Sale of Goods Act state that, if there's a reasonable expectation something should last longer than it does, you have a case? I'd have thought there'd be a reasonable expectation that a £300 piece of audio equipment would last longer than 16 months.
 
Hooray for consumer rights, just had a read up and it seems that there's an expection of reasonable life to about 6 years. Awesome.

Lets see what CS come back with, else good to know I have some recourse. :) Thanks!
 
Extended VIP Club warranty is for TVs only apparently.

Yeah I'm kind of disappointed in the longevity, more so at the shop's response given that I bought a 5.1 Minx setup from them at no small cost.
 
Well no reply to the email as yet, I'll give them 24 hours then I'll call.

I'd rather do stuff over email, good to have a paper trail in cases like this.
 
randal said:
Well no reply to the email as yet, I'll give them 24 hours then I'll call.

I'd rather do stuff over email, good to have a paper trail in cases like this.
Click to expand...

Email is slow and impersonal I'd look to the phone it is much harder to fob someone off when actually talking to them, not a big fan of this modern audit trail stuff but you can always follow up a call with an email summarising things and the call will almost certainly be recorded.
 
They've come back to me and offered to sell me an extended warranty policy and backdate it to purchase date, entitling me to an in-warranty repair/replacement in store. Total cost to me is £24.45.

I'm not averse to that thinking about it. Or do we think it's worth pushing under Consumer Rights/SOGA?
 
It will cost you more/the same to take them to court under SOGA - so accept it and move on with your life!

Pretty good offer from them to be honest.
 
Yeah that's what I'm thinking too. £25 for another 3.5 years cover is pretty decent, plus it gets the sub fixed. If it extends to the whole purchase too then all the better.
 
Yep!

Also if you take the case to small claims it will be down to you to prove that the goods failed through manufacturing defect after the first 6 months of ownership.

Something I am guessing (as you do not work for the manufacturer) will be basically impossible.
 
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Sorted. Warranty purchased and cover note received, just need to pop it into a branch to get repaired now. If it can't be repaired, then it's a straight exchange. Happy with that.
 
Seems it's a little better than first thought, the warranty is actually 5+1 year's manufacturer's. So it's a fixed sub, 4.5 years warranty for £25. Well pleased. :)
 
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