GAME & Nintendo Wii

Gummy Panda

Hi Guys,

Just need a bit of info advice before i take this complaint futher.

Basically I bought my sister a Nintendo Wii back in April 2008. She was mad for the wii due to the wii fit fad. That fad lasted two months and she packed it back into the box and put it aside in her room. Yesterday she wanted the new EA couch game, so i bought it for her.

When we set up the Wii, it wouldn't accept any discs. I logged onto Nintendo's service site and they say its out of warranty. Its says they'll repair it but doesn't quote a fee. Its one month outside its warranty. I don't feel a product like this should just last one year considering Nintendo have a set market life for these (generally 5 years). I would be happy with 24 month expected life span rather then 12 months.

I rang GAME and told them what happen. They said Nintendo won't cover it for repair and couldn't offer me a solution. I explained to the manager i felt i should be covered under the Sales of Goods & Supply of Services act. He said he wasn't disputing this with me just he can't change policy. The guy was geniune and i didn't feel he was fobbing me off. He advised me to ring their customer care in the UK.

Before i ring them I just want to make sure the Sales of Goods & Supply of services is enough for them as they'll probably be more familar with British consumer law. I vaguely remember there was an EU law brought in saying all electronics should have a 2 year warranty with retailer.

Any advice before i ring them?

I'm just looking for the repair to be done free of charge.

JDxtra

Good luck, you will need it. You have almost zero chance of getting that repaired for free - especially with Nintendo.

Kensington

Best bet is to send a letter into GAME, via registered post, outlining the issue and mentioning the EU 2 year law. They may decide to do a repair/replacement for you on receipt of the letter. However, it's quite likely they won't. In this case, your only route to a resolution is via the SCC (Small Claim's Court).

Gillo

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055574148

Think this is what you'll need.

You on late this week?

RedXIV

I wouldn't bet on this OP although i wish you the best of luck, having worked for nintendo, I know what their policies are like and they are a very unforgiving bunch. If they say you get a one year guarantee, thats all they will cover you for

Gummy Panda

Sorry i should be more clear. Its GAME's customer care i'll be ringing. Not Nintendo as i bought the Wii from GAME.

Gillo

RedXIV wrote: »

I wouldn't bet on this OP although i wish you the best of luck, having worked for nintendo, I know what their policies are like and they are a very unforgiving bunch. If they say you get a one year guarantee, thats all they will cover you for

Yes, but he bought from Game, doesn't matter what Nintendo say his contract is with Game and they'll have to rectify the problem. That said it's unfortunate that ultimately Game are likely to get stung and not be able to return or get any sort of credit from Nintendo.

mgsrocks

Take a look here:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights/guarantees

The 2 year guarantee has been in affect in Ireland since 2003, so your covered.

Gummy Panda

mgsrocks wrote: »

Take a look here:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights/guarantees

The 2 year guarantee has been in affect in Ireland since 2003, so your covered.

Thank you.

I'm too busy in work today so i'll pop them a mail tonight linking the Sale of Goods & Supply of services act plus this.

whiterebel

Gillo wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055574148

Think this is what you'll need.

You on late this week?

That article is the UK Daily Mail, not the Irish one. Its the sale of Goods and Services Act 1893 that you need as it affords better protection than the EU directive anyway. If you look at the SI no 11 of 2003, you will see it doesn't mention 2 years anyway. Only certain parts of the directive were enacted.

OP, go onto valueireland.ie and see what they say. Conor Pope is the consumer editor for the Times and gets stuck into these things. He's on Ray D'Arcy every Tuesday (?) and has taken on, and beaten Tesco among others for customers. You get someone like Ray to start on this, and they'll be flooded with people.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

To the best of our knowledge you are entitled to have the machine repaired free of charge. The EU law overrides our own sale of goods act and if you went to the small claims court you will win.

Nintendo themselves may only give a one year warranty to the retailer but that's the retailers issue - retailer could in turn take nintendo to court etc but a company the size of game will more than likely have an agreement that covers only 1 year in return for discounts on software etc.

If Game still refuse to fix it for you go get it repaired somewhere like consolerepairs.ie - keep the receipt and use this as the basis of your claim.

Gummy Panda

Thanks for the replies guys. I still haven't contacted them as i have been snowed under with work. I'm off work next week so i'll have time to chase them up on this.

I'm surprised Nintendo still try 1 year warranty in EU when companies were challenged on this. AFAIK, Nokia and Sony changed their warranties to 24 months on their phones due to EU pressure. I don't see why this should be different.

carly_86

I want u for a brother can u buy me a car:)

Attol

I've never heard it being a 1 year guarantee. I've always been told that the policy is 1 year with the retailer and then if you call up Nintendo they'll fix it during the 2nd year. I've worked in 3 different video game retailers over 5 years and I've always been told it's the same for Nintendo products. As in 1 year where it's replaced straight away by the retailer then during the second year it'll be fixed/repaired but you have to go through Nintendo.

foggy_lad

Gillo wrote: »

Yes, but he bought from Game, doesn't matter what Nintendo say his contract is with Game and they'll have to rectify the problem. That said it's unfortunate that ultimately Game are likely to get stung and not be able to return or get any sort of credit from Nintendo.

can Game not return the faulty unit to nintendo(for credit) who in turn can repair it and give it to one of the people that deals with nintendo rather than the shop for warranty repair?

Gummy Panda

UPDATE

I rang GAME customer services this morning and was basically told that its not illegal for them to offer 1 year warranty and only that. That they've been doing this for 20 years. He also said the EU directive and Sales of Goods and Supply of services act covers me taking a small claim action for up to a certain time. I argued that my contract of sale is with them and warranties are an addition to this. I also argued that EU directive and Sales of Goods and Supply of services does say i'm entitled to repair, and that small claims is if the retailer refuses.

The lad didn't even offer to go to a supervisor and basically said I'd have to take a small claims action against them. Now i'm pissed. Well I guess I'll be getting up early and going to the small claims court to lodged my complaint form.

I'm really surprised at this response as afaik most retailers don't show up and most awards against retailers are for the full cost of the product instead of repair cost.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

Gummy Panda wrote: »

UPDATE

I rang GAME customer services this morning and was basically told that its not illegal for them to offer 1 year warranty and only that. That they've been doing this for 20 years. He also said the EU directive and Sales of Goods and Supply of services act covers me taking a small claim action for up to a certain time. I argued that my contract of sale is with them and warranties are an addition to this. I also argued that EU directive and Sales of Goods and Supply of services does say i'm entitled to repair, and that small claims is if the retailer refuses.

The lad didn't even offer to go to a supervisor and basically said I'd have to take a small claims action against them. Now i'm pissed. Well I guess I'll be getting up early and going to the small claims court to lodged my complaint form.

I'm really surprised at this response as afaik most retailers don't show up and most awards against retailers are for the full cost of the product instead of repair cost.

Doesn't matter what they have done for the past 20 years if the law changed. That's like saying well I smoked in the pub for the past 20 years so I'm doing nothing wrong by smoking in the pub now.

You've an absolute no brainer here as far as the small claims court are concerned.

Gummy Panda

Gamesnash.ie (Pat) wrote: »

Doesn't matter what they have done for the past 20 years if the law changed. That's like saying well I smoked in the pub for the past 20 years so I'm doing nothing wrong by smoking in the pub now.

You've an absolute no brainer here as far as the small claims court are concerned.

Yeah he was basically saying "No your wrong, we're right".

They might change their tune when a smalls claims letter lands in one of their stores.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

To be honest with you I'd think they would look at it a lot more seriously when a claim is filed and the guy you were talking to will get into a lot of hot water. Doesn't sound like he followed due process at all.

penexpers

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Yeah he was basically saying "No your wrong, we're right".

They might change their tune when a smalls claims letter lands in one of their stores.

Don't forget you can lodge claims with the SCC online

http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/0/C9A6DFDC008962218025721B00553F3B?OpenDocument

Gummy Panda

penexpers wrote: »

Don't forget you can lodge claims with the SCC online

http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/0/C9A6DFDC008962218025721B00553F3B?OpenDocument

Thank you.

My claim is lodged. Was worried about company name as GAME have registored several names to their Dawson street address. Used GAME STORES GROUP LTD as thats on their receipt and also registored.

Gummy Panda

Well GAME are still refusing to acknowledge their responsibility under the Sales of Goods and Suppy of Services act. Well they'll be losing a customer for life and I'll be bad mouthing them to any potential customer.

Sam Vimes

foggy_lad wrote: »

can Game not return the faulty unit to nintendo(for credit) who in turn can repair it and give it to one of the people that deals with nintendo rather than the shop for warranty repair?

Not if Nintendo don't give them credit.

foggy_lad

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Not if Nintendo don't give them credit.

but that is between nintendo and the retailer and has nothing to do with the customers right to have a faulty product replaced or to get a refund

Sam Vimes

foggy_lad wrote: »

but that is between nintendo and the retailer and has nothing to do with the customers right to have a faulty product replaced or to get a refund

This is true. My point was that if nintendo refuse to take it back from game then game cannot "return the faulty unit to nintendo(for credit) who in turn can repair it and give it to one of the people that deals with nintendo rather than the shop for warranty repair" as you suggested. That does not change the customer's right to a remedy, just who takes the hit on it

Absolam

foggy_lad wrote: »

but that is between nintendo and the retailer and has nothing to do with the customers right to have a faulty product replaced or to get a refund

Sort of but not quite. If the manufacturer gives a retailer a one year warranty on a product then as far as the retailer is concerned the 'reasonable period' specified in the sale of goods act is one year. So essentially the defence in law is that the product has an expected lifespan without fault of one year, as specified by the creator of the product. The Small Claims Court is not likely to rule that a product should be 'reasonably' expected to last longer than its' manufacturer says it should. And in the case of Nintendo, that appears to be one year.

Gummy Panda

Absolam wrote: »

Sort of but not quite. If the manufacturer gives a retailer a one year warranty on a product then as far as the retailer is concerned the 'reasonable period' specified in the sale of goods act is one year. So essentially the defence in law is that the product has an expected lifespan without fault of one year, as specified by the creator of the product. The Small Claims Court is not likely to rule that a product should be 'reasonably' expected to last longer than its' manufacturer says it should. And in the case of Nintendo, that appears to be one year.

Isn't the burden on the seller to prove that is a reasonable period of redress and that the product is designed for a 12 month life span?

I understand you are saying the warranty would be that proof but i believe its still not enough for them to prove that its actually reasonable and the average life span of the product is 12 months. Two year warranty would be reasonable in my eyes. Mobile phones have 2 year warranties now.

MunsterCycling

The SCC has done exactly that many many times, read up first before jumping in with "advice".

MC

Absolam wrote: »

Sort of but not quite. If the manufacturer gives a retailer a one year warranty on a product then as far as the retailer is concerned the 'reasonable period' specified in the sale of goods act is one year. So essentially the defence in law is that the product has an expected lifespan without fault of one year, as specified by the creator of the product. The Small Claims Court is not likely to rule that a product should be 'reasonably' expected to last longer than its' manufacturer says it should. And in the case of Nintendo, that appears to be one year.

Gummy Panda

MunsterCycling wrote: »

The SCC has done exactly that many many times, read up first before jumping in with "advice".

MC

You talking to me or Absolam?

Absolam

MunsterCycling wrote: »

The SCC has done exactly that many many times, read up first before jumping in with "advice".

MC

Actually I haven't read a single example of the SCC ruling a manufacturers warranty was less than the legal requirement.. perhaps you can point us in the direction of where they are?

Gummy Panda

Absolam wrote: »

Actually I haven't read a single example of the SCC ruling a manufacturers warranty was less than the legal requirement.. perhaps you can point us in the direction of where they are?

Isn't the the legal requirement the reasonable lifespan of the product? A Nintendo Wii is hardy designed to be used for just 12 months.

Q11. I have a faulty good but my guarantee is out of date by one month. Is there anything I can do?



A guarantee/warranty is a bonus and cannot affect or diminish your statutory rights with the seller. A guarantee/warranty is a written statement given by a manufacturer or a company indicating they will repair or replace a product within a specified time after it was purchased. You may decide to claim under a guarantee during its period of validity, but cannot be obliged to do so.

Therefore you may, if the reasonable lifetime of a given product exceeds the time period of any warranty, pursue the seller in respect of your statutory rights - 'The Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980'. If the trader refuses to offer redress for the faulty goods and you have exhausted all other options you may wish to pursue the matter with the Small Claims Court.

A guarantee may be useful to a third party, however, as it extends to anyone possessing the goods during the guarantee period. This contrasts with the statutory rights of a purchaser, which extend only to the original purchaser of a good and not to any subsequent recipient or owner of that product. This distinction in important to note in respect of items given as gifts or the purchase/use of second hand items.