Currys LCD TV

[Steve]

On June 14th I purchased a LG LH3000 42" LCD TV from a local Currys store.
The set has worked perfectly up until this morning, when I noticed a thin
black line (dead pixels?) running from from top to bottom of the screen.
I paid £699 cash and did not take out extended warranty.
I phoned Currys and was told it would need repair and that an engineer
would be out on Friday.
The set is less than 3 months old and I am not happy that it needs
repairing so soon.
I will let the engineer look at it but then I intend to take it back to the
store.
Can I claim a refund or replacement, or will they insist on a repair?

Steve

[Roger]

Post by Steve
On June 14th I purchased a LG LH3000 42" LCD TV from a local Currys store.
The set has worked perfectly up until this morning, when I noticed a thin
black line (dead pixels?) running from from top to bottom of the screen.
I paid £699 cash and did not take out extended warranty.
I phoned Currys and was told it would need repair and that an engineer
would be out on Friday.
The set is less than 3 months old and I am not happy that it needs
repairing so soon.
I will let the engineer look at it but then I intend to take it back to the
store.
Can I claim a refund or replacement, or will they insist on a repair?
Steve

One important thing to remember - your contract is with CURRYS and
*NOT* with LG. So do NOT let them fob you off by saying you need
to speak to Currys. Let the engineer fix it if he can, or he will state
that
a replacement is required. You were unlucky paying £200 more for
the same TV as a friend bought from Currys for £499 around the same
time.
You do not need any extended warranty, all goods are covered for
12months and you can still make a claim for up to 5 years later. The
extended warranty is a scam anyway, sales people in shops are forced
to sell so many each month as part of their employment contract. They
also have a competition in the stores to see who can sell you the most
items. You can't claim a refund because a newer model has appeared
at a lower cost or you have noticed one that is better in a sale!

If you have any trouble try the ConsumerDirect web site for help and
advice.

[Brian Gaff]

One thing of course is the minute you accept to have an engineer round you
are on the slippery slope to getting a repair.

Brian
--
Brian Gaff - ***@blueyonder.co.uk
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!

Post by Steve
On June 14th I purchased a LG LH3000 42" LCD TV from a local Currys store.
The set has worked perfectly up until this morning, when I noticed a thin
black line (dead pixels?) running from from top to bottom of the screen.
I paid £699 cash and did not take out extended warranty.
I phoned Currys and was told it would need repair and that an engineer
would be out on Friday.
The set is less than 3 months old and I am not happy that it needs
repairing so soon.
I will let the engineer look at it but then I intend to take it back to the
store.
Can I claim a refund or replacement, or will they insist on a repair?
Steve

[Mark Goodge]

On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:10:43 GMT, Brian Gaff put finger to keyboard

Post by Brian Gaff
One thing of course is the minute you accept to have an engineer round you
are on the slippery slope to getting a repair.

Given that he's got no right to insist on anything ther than a repair,
it could be extremely foolish to refuse to let the engineer inspect
it. If he does that, he could well end up with nothing as a refusal to
allow inspection could be deemed to indicate acceptance of the goods
in their current state.

Mark

[Brian Gaff]

Total rubbish. You take it back to the shop. Its an old dodge to send the
engineer around. Taking it back makes sure you are rejecting it.

Brian
--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: ***@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post by Mark Goodge
On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:10:43 GMT, Brian Gaff put finger to keyboard

Post by Brian Gaff
One thing of course is the minute you accept to have an engineer round you
are on the slippery slope to getting a repair.

Given that he's got no right to insist on anything ther than a repair,
it could be extremely foolish to refuse to let the engineer inspect
it. If he does that, he could well end up with nothing as a refusal to
allow inspection could be deemed to indicate acceptance of the goods
in their current state.
Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

[ian field]

Post by Brian Gaff
Total rubbish. You take it back to the shop. Its an old dodge to send the
engineer around. Taking it back makes sure you are rejecting it.

Another old dodge is the engineer claiming the fault is due to misuse!

[Mark Goodge]

[Re-orered into the correct sequence]

On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:36:05 GMT, Brian Gaff put finger to keyboard

Post by Brian Gaff

Post by Mark Goodge
On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:10:43 GMT, Brian Gaff put finger to keyboard

Post by Brian Gaff
One thing of course is the minute you accept to have an engineer round you
are on the slippery slope to getting a repair.

Given that he's got no right to insist on anything ther than a repair,
it could be extremely foolish to refuse to let the engineer inspect
it. If he does that, he could well end up with nothing as a refusal to
allow inspection could be deemed to indicate acceptance of the goods
in their current state.

Total rubbish. You take it back to the shop. Its an old dodge to send the
engineer around. Taking it back makes sure you are rejecting it.

You have no legal right to a refund. What the law gives you is the
right to have the item you bought returned to a satisfactory state.

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

Mark

[Steve]

Post by Brian Gaff
Total rubbish. You take it back to the shop. Its an old dodge to send
the engineer around. Taking it back makes sure you are rejecting it.
Brian

The engineer called, took one look at the TV, said it's the screen (well
duh!), and declared it irrepairable.
I have his written declaration, along with his "Tech Guys" number and phone
number to take to the store with me tomorrow.

Steve

[Steve]

Post by Steve

Post by Brian Gaff
Total rubbish. You take it back to the shop. Its an old dodge to send
the engineer around. Taking it back makes sure you are rejecting it.
Brian

The engineer called, took one look at the TV, said it's the screen
(well duh!), and declared it irrepairable.
I have his written declaration, along with his "Tech Guys" number and
phone number to take to the store with me tomorrow.
Steve

Well I took the TV back, along with the engineers written statement,
which by the way Currys argued he shouldn't have given me.
After a 10 minute phone call between the Manager and the Tech Guys, the
result is that I am having a 47inch LG LH3000 delivered tomorrow and the
42inch taken away.
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions.

Steve

[Mark Goodge]

On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:34:33 -0500, Steve

Post by Steve

Post by Steve

Post by Brian Gaff
Total rubbish. You take it back to the shop. Its an old dodge to send
the engineer around. Taking it back makes sure you are rejecting it.

The engineer called, took one look at the TV, said it's the screen
(well duh!), and declared it irrepairable.
I have his written declaration, along with his "Tech Guys" number and
phone number to take to the store with me tomorrow.

Well I took the TV back, along with the engineers written statement,
which by the way Currys argued he shouldn't have given me.
After a 10 minute phone call between the Manager and the Tech Guys, the
result is that I am having a 47inch LG LH3000 delivered tomorrow and the
42inch taken away.

Sounds like a fair result.

One thing that's worth noting here, for the benefit of those who think
that you should start throwing your weight around and making a
nuisance of yourself right from the start if you have a problem, is
that you can never lose your legal rights by going along with the
process to begin with. What you can lose, though, is goodwill. So it
never hurts to do things their way first, to see if you get a
satisfactory result, and only then fall back on the law if you don't.
People who start off by demanding their legal rights will get their
legal rights, but those who are prepared to take a bit of time to
negotiate and play the system can often do better than their legal
rights.

Mark

[Mark Goodge]

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:10:53 -0500, Steve

Post by Steve
On June 14th I purchased a LG LH3000 42" LCD TV from a local Currys store.
The set has worked perfectly up until this morning, when I noticed a thin
black line (dead pixels?) running from from top to bottom of the screen.
I paid £699 cash and did not take out extended warranty.
I phoned Currys and was told it would need repair and that an engineer
would be out on Friday.
The set is less than 3 months old and I am not happy that it needs
repairing so soon.
I will let the engineer look at it but then I intend to take it back to the
store.
Can I claim a refund or replacement, or will they insist on a repair?

You have a right to a fully working LG LH3000 42" LCD TV, since that's
what you paid for. It's up to the vendor how they arrange that - they
can either repair it or replace it, whichever is most cost-effective
for them. So if they choose to repair it, you can't insist on anything
else. If they can't repair it, then you can insist that they replace
it unless that is impossible (eg, if the model you bought is no longer
available). If neither repair nor replacement are possible, then they
must offer you a full refund. They may, at their discretion, offer you
a refund instead of a repair or replacement, but you are not obliged
to accept if they do. And if they can neither repair nor replace with
an identical model, they may, again at their discretion, offer you an
equivalent or better model instead of a refund. Again, though, you are
under no obligation to accept this.

However, you can't insist on a refund if a repair or like-for-like
replacement is possible, and you can't insist on a replacement if a
repair is possible (and vice versa, you can't insist on a repair if
the vendor chooses simply to replace the faulty item).

Mark

[Steve]

Post by Mark Goodge
On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:10:53 -0500, Steve

Post by Steve
On June 14th I purchased a LG LH3000 42" LCD TV from a local Currys
store. The set has worked perfectly up until this morning, when I
noticed a thin black line (dead pixels?) running from from top to
bottom of the screen. I paid £699 cash and did not take out extended
warranty. I phoned Currys and was told it would need repair and that
an engineer would be out on Friday.
The set is less than 3 months old and I am not happy that it needs
repairing so soon.
I will let the engineer look at it but then I intend to take it back
to the store.
Can I claim a refund or replacement, or will they insist on a repair?

You have a right to a fully working LG LH3000 42" LCD TV, since that's
what you paid for. It's up to the vendor how they arrange that - they
can either repair it or replace it, whichever is most cost-effective
for them. So if they choose to repair it, you can't insist on anything
else. If they can't repair it, then you can insist that they replace
it unless that is impossible (eg, if the model you bought is no longer
available). If neither repair nor replacement are possible, then they
must offer you a full refund. They may, at their discretion, offer you
a refund instead of a repair or replacement, but you are not obliged
to accept if they do. And if they can neither repair nor replace with
an identical model, they may, again at their discretion, offer you an
equivalent or better model instead of a refund. Again, though, you are
under no obligation to accept this.
However, you can't insist on a refund if a repair or like-for-like
replacement is possible, and you can't insist on a replacement if a
repair is possible (and vice versa, you can't insist on a repair if
the vendor chooses simply to replace the faulty item).
Mark

The Sale of Goods Act (1979) states that if I choose repair it must be
done "within a reasonable time, and without undue inconvenience"... not
having a TV is an undue inconvenience, and so is having to take days off
work (with no pay!) to wait for the engineer to collect and then return
it.

Steve

[Frederick Williams]

Post by Steve
... not
having a TV is an undue inconvenience,

Hardly. I've never had one.

[Mark Goodge]

On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:44:17 -0500, Steve

Post by Steve

Post by Mark Goodge
However, you can't insist on a refund if a repair or like-for-like
replacement is possible, and you can't insist on a replacement if a
repair is possible (and vice versa, you can't insist on a repair if
the vendor chooses simply to replace the faulty item).

The Sale of Goods Act (1979) states that if I choose repair it must be
done "within a reasonable time, and without undue inconvenience"... not
having a TV is an undue inconvenience, and so is having to take days off
work (with no pay!) to wait for the engineer to collect and then return
it.

"Unreasonable" is interpreted within the context of the item. If you
want the item to be collected from your premises, then it's reasonable
for you to make the necessary arangements for that to happen,
including being at home for the engineer if necessary. The alternative
is for you to return it yourself, something which may be more
convenient in terms of time but less convenient in terms of
practicality. It's your choice.

As for a timespan, there's no fixed period defined in law, but given
that a TV is a leisure item rather than being a necessity, a period of
a few days or even a couple of weeks is ikely to be considered
reasonable. There was a recent discussion in uk.legal.moderated on a
similar situation regarding a mobile phone, and someone posted links
to guidelines from the OFT which suggested that a week would be a
reasonable repair time in that case. Given that a TV is much less of a
necessity than a phone, it would be extremely unlikely if the courts
decided that a week was unreasonably long.

Mark