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Is there a deadline for faulty goods being fixed/replaced?

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  • 30-10-2006 6:01pm
    #1
    DaSilva
    Registered Users Posts: 695 ✭✭✭


    Say for example, I buy a hard drive, and it includes a six month warranty, and eight months down the road, it dies. This is not a result of misuse or mistreatment on the consumers part, maybe its manufacture quality was low and it slowly degraded until it broke after 8 months.

    I assume with this I have a claim under my statutory rights to have this repaired or replaced by the company.

    However is there a timeline? I cant imagine being able to turn in the drive if it failed after 20 years.

    But what about 1 year, 2 years 3 years, etc..

    Is there a definitive deadline for all products, or for certain categories, or is there any at all?


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    #2
    axer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,517 ✭✭✭axer


    Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services act of 1980, there is no definitive deadline for products. It all about reasonability. How long was the goods reasonabley supposed to last i.e. if I buy a TV and it breaks down after 1 and a half years then it hasn't lasted as long as is reasonably expected thus the seller must repair the TV for me (or get it repaired). This is the case as long as there is no sign of abuse or mis use of the goods.

    Guarantees/Warranties aint worth the paper they are written on. They are not needed to get in order to get a product fixed that is not working during the reasonable lifetime of the product hence the phrase "This does not affect your statutory rights" that is often seen on guarentees. The only thing they do is make it hassle free to get repairs i.e. there won't be arguments.

    Some people say that the above is not practical that it is not how things happen in the real world but the above are your rights its just so few people exercise their rights that they think they have no rights like the above.
    DaSilva wrote:
    Say for example, I buy a hard drive, and it includes a six month warranty, and eight months down the road, it dies. This is not a result of misuse or mistreatment on the consumers part, maybe its manufacture quality was low and it slowly degraded until it broke after 8 months.
    You have the right to a repair/replacement of your harddrive. According to the law you actually have the right to a repair OR replacement OR refund at your discretion however if you have used the product working fine for longer than a short period of time then it is reasonable that the seller repair or replace the item so that you have a working harddrive again as you paid for. If the harddrive had failed, say within 1-2 months then it would be reasonable to ask for a full refund. If the new replacement harddrive goes faulty after a short period of time again then you have a reasonable case for a refund due to loss of confidence in the product.

    So to recap, its all about how long a product is reasonably expected to last. It is not set in stone.

    All this however ONLY applies to consumers buying from businesses.


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