Poss 15 month old Heat Exch fault - can I seek repair/compen

[D_Hailsham]

across Europe manufacturers WILL give consumers a 2 year warranty. This is costed into the products at the point of manufacturer (as I said, I did this professionally!!) and handled in the same way as the UK's 1 year warranty.

There is nothing in UK law which says that suppliers or manufacturers have to give a one year warranty.

Erm, what two year rule? There isn't one in the UK!

In the UK it's a six year rule! As I made clear this is not a warranty, just a time limit within which a purchaser can bring a claim against a supplier for breach of contract by supplying goods which were faulty at the time of sale.

One of the key issues IIRC, is when the onus changes between customer / supplier to prove their point. e.g. The customer must prove the fault existed rather than the supplier proving it didn't (after a period of time).

Yes, that does create a grey area; the changeover is at six months.

 

[UpgradeME]

across Europe manufacturers WILL give consumers a 2 year warranty. This is costed into the products at the point of manufacturer (as I said, I did this professionally!!) and handled in the same way as the UK's 1 year warranty.

There is nothing in UK law which says that suppliers or manufacturers have to give a one year warranty.

1 year has been adopted in the UK as being a "reasonable" period of time for many consumer products (The law stating "reasonable"). This is costed into the products, i.e. a line on the BOM (Bill of materials) will be the warranty cost. If the product is intended for the UK market, the warranty provision (cost on BOM) will be for a period of 1 year, for most EU countries, it will be 2 years cost to the supplier/retailer/manufaturer.

The HEX would have a warranty period (between BG and their supplier) of anything from zero (companies such as BG may 'buy out' the warranty i.e. pay less for the HEX but with no return route back.) to 24 months.

However, I believe the rules are different for the OP, as the OP purchased a "service" from BG, his boiler was repaired by BG so has been modified since it's manufacturer. Warranty would typically be much less for a 'repair' and much more difficult to 'prove' faults existed. Any warranty provided is usually to entice the customer to use their service and often has many 'clauses' to enable the service provider to 'get out of jail free'.

 

[FiremanT]

There is nothing in UK law which says that suppliers or manufacturers have to give a one year warranty.

Unfortunately for retailers, including resellers such as plumbers, there is actually no law that forces a manufacturer to offer ANY warranty. The onus, ultimately, is on the retailer to observe the requirements of the consumer protection legislation

 

[UpgradeME]

There is nothing in UK law which says that suppliers or manufacturers have to give a one year warranty.

Unfortunately for retailers, including resellers such as plumbers, there is actually no law that forces a manufacturer to offer ANY warranty. The onus, ultimately, is on the retailer to observe the requirements of the consumer protection legislation

There is... contract law!! Any reasonable sized company will/should have a buying contract with their supplier(s). Part of that buying contract will be what happens (commercially speaking) with 'faulty' products.

Alternatively, a retailer can opt to purchase products without warranty (again stipulated in their contract(s)) at a discounted price.

 

[FiremanT]

There is nothing in UK law which says that suppliers or manufacturers have to give a one year warranty.

Unfortunately for retailers, including resellers such as plumbers, there is actually no law that forces a manufacturer to offer ANY warranty. The onus, ultimately, is on the retailer to observe the requirements of the consumer protection legislation

There is... contract law!! Any reasonable sized company will/should have a buying contract with their supplier(s). Part of that buying contract will be what happens (commercially speaking) with 'faulty' products.

Alternatively, a retailer can opt to purchase products without warranty (again stipulated in their contract(s)) at a discounted price.

You misunderstand. Laws apply to contracts, obvioulsy, but in the absence of a specific contract, the manufacturers are not liable (apart from a requirement that products are SAFE). In practice, manufacturers DO offer warranties, (which in itself is a contract) to one degree or another, otherwise retailers would not sell the products. BUT once the "warranty date" has expired, any consumer loooking for recourse under the 6 year rule would probably have to take the retailer to task.

 

[UpgradeME]

You misunderstand. Laws apply to contracts, obvioulsy, but in the absence of a specific contract, the manufacturers are not liable (apart from a requirement that products are SAFE).

There should always be a contract relating to the return (commercially or physically) of a consumer product from the retailer to supplier. In the commercial world, if something is not stipulated in a contract and involves money, the 'buyer' will always take the hit.

BUT once the "warranty date" has expired, any consumer loooking for recourse under the 6 year rule would probably have to take the retailer to task.

In practice, the last financial transaction in the purchase chain of a product dictates who will be liable under the 6 year rule. This is usually between the consumer and a retailer. The retailer in turn (if it's covered in their contracts) will seek financial recompensation from their supply chain.

 

[FiremanT]

That is quite right, except a small retailer, or plumber, has NO chance of returning a product years after the agreed term. If a consumer is succesful in a case against a retailer, that retailer will be left holding the loss. The retailer COULD obviously attempt recourse through court action.

 

[UpgradeME]

That is quite right, except a small retailer, or plumber, has NO chance of returning a product years after the agreed term. If a consumer is succesful in a case against a retailer, that retailer will be left holding the loss. The retailer COULD obviously attempt recourse through court action.

Neither has a large retailer! (I've worked for a very large one...) At the end of the day, it's all about cost vs risk vs reward. A large retailer could stipulate with their suppliers for a 6 yr warranty, however, that results in an increased stock holding for the supplier, resulting in increased costs, which means the retailer is charged more so you (consumers) pay more.

The 'risk' of failure & number of customers claiming is usually very low after 1 year so the 'large' retailers take the 'risk' onboard rather than have extensive warranties with their suppliers.

If there was a large increase in claims after 12 months, the retailers would increase their prices of future products to compensate.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Never realised there were so many barrack-room lawyers on here.


Before we take BG to the cleaners, can we return to the much more likely cause...........................

It's more than likely a different fault, expansion vessel needs charging or diaphragm is split...
Call a local RGI to take a look...

 

[bell824]

derek given that you have a twin pass (bithermic) heat exchanger (as is standard in vokera compacts), and you live in the west of scotland (notoriously high water pressures on the main).
My suggestion to you is although vokera (i think) originally stated that 10bar was the maximum inlet cold pressure permisable, it was in turn only tested to 5 or 6 bar, a common fault around our area is for the heat exchanger to burst the simplest sollution is another heat exchanger fitted in turn with a pressure reducing valve on the cold mains inlet to your boiler.

Easiest way to test this is switch of your incoming main to the boiler and open the hot tap if it continues to run and the presure on the boiler drops heh presto.

as for your legal dispute, i doubt you have a leg to stand on.

 

[indianjoe]

Very difficult area of law.

i work in Regulatory but not sales/retail - strictly food manufacturing.
I've not read through this thread in deatil to everyones responses but in my exprience, there is a lot of misinfirmation and misunderstanding as to the law.

If you are in doubt - speak to trading standards, they are the experts here. Bear in mind that there are fewer and fewer of these guys so be clear and succinct.

1. You must be confident that that you have identified the exact cause.
2. Following on from 1. you must be confident that the failure is down to a poor quality item fitted (excess stress upon a good quality item isn't covered)

THEN have a look at this link (which?) for independent advice.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...tanding-the-sale-of-goods-act/sample-letters/

It is my understanding that if an item purchased does not perform to the standard expected for a reasonable duration you may have a case. i also beleive that the mechanics of how you paid may influence this.

I used this recently with comet (never again will buy here) after 14months a tumble dryer failed and they tried to say "Tough Siht" - got them to repair it in the end.

 

[Corgigrouch]

I suppose that it is a silly question to ask if the OP has called BG to explain the situation and see if BG are prepared to go the extra mile and sort it.... It does no harm to ask.