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Interesting call yesterday from one of our contracts….
Asking if we would raise a recall to a customer who a month or so earlier had had a repair under the 5 year warranty. As it happens the warranty has expired, we therefore said no. If they wanted a recall they would have to be responsible for the payment of such, they were adamant they could not raise it on their system.
As far as that story goes it was the end of it, we heard no more.But it’s got me thinking now….is a 5 year warranty, it, period. Or is there a legal requirement to guarantee the parts fitted within the last year, for a year, and whose responsibility should that fall on to? The implications being on labour as well as cost of replacement spares, and then do they carry the same guarantee?
Interesting to read your views on it, thanks
Kevin
Re: How long is a 5 year warranty
I commonly get questions like this from customers, often customers that feel they have been unfairly dealt with by other repair firms. My standard answer is that you get warranty on parts (and labour) that you pay for and not on what you dont pay for.
Most recently, I was replacing a heater on a Baumatic dishwasher that was about 10 months old. It replaced a 4.5 year old one that was changed over under a 5 year warranty and was considered by the importer to be 3 months out of warranty. The customer was furious when they 1st called me, but calmed down when they found that all companies that I deal with work in the same way.
That said though, I am currently repairing a dishwasher (under warranty) that is about 3 months out of a 2 year warranty. The customer is experiencing recurring problems that have seen him already passed through 2 service agents prior to me. I think it would have been cheaper to replace the machine when it first was troublesome to diagnose.
Steve
Re: How long is a 5 year warranty
kheath wrote:Or is there a legal requirement to guarantee the parts fitted within the last year, for a year, and whose responsibility should that fall on to?
I’m sure D & G would elaborate on the finer points of any extended warranty terms of contract. But basically there is no obligation or legal requirement whatsoever to grant an extension to any warranty just because replacement parts are fitted. They have been fitted ‘within the terms of the policy’ and that is clearly stated as to when that expires.
Whilst we offer a guarantee on the repair to the client, we do not offer it to the end customer and I feel no obligation to extend that warranty to a repair that is no longer under some form of contractrual arrangement. Added to which is the very possible, almost likely, complication of getting there and finding out that the reported failure has nothing to do with previous repairs. In such an instance I would require written authorisation that the costs would be met by either party otherwise I don’t want to know.
The general rule of thumb for me is the old Zanussi party line which was that should a part or repair fail after the warranty expired then the warranty on anything replaced or repaired within the warranty period was not extended by replacement or repair within the warranty period.
If you don’t do that, especially in the likes of a customer who routinely snaps off a door handle or suchlike, you could go on forever replacing/repairing forevermore.
K.
Re: How long is a 5 year warranty
This may be an extremely grey area (except in America where it would be a gray area) I would have thought that legaly, if we fitted a part to a machine and it failed within a short period, but refused to replace it because the extended guarantee / warrantee has expired, the customer could sue because the part fitted was clearly not fit for its purpose.
I’m not sure we could fit a new pcb (for example) a week before the end of a guarantee but then wash our hands of it if it proved to be faulty say 3 weeks later? I suppose technically we could, and according to the terms and conditions of said guarantee maybe? But I wouldn’t be too surprised if the “fit for it’s purpose consumer law” applied. It’s a delicate situation that fortunately isn’t too common.
Re: How long is a 5 year warranty
It’s a good point about the “fit for purpose” but i’m not sure how it works with warranty repairs, i think an extention for parts fitted near the end of a policy is a goodwill thing. We supply replacement philips small appliances that fail under their two guarantee period, but if the replacement fails it is only guaranteed until the end of period of the first appliance. We have had cases where say a kettle has been exchanged a month before the end of it’s two years and has failed a month after ( not fit for purpose you would think straight away ) but the customer has no come back. Even though it’s a new kettle it goes back to what kwatt said about guaranteeing whats been “Paid for” so the cover runs from the purchase of the first kettle.
Nige
Re: How long is a 5 year warranty
andy_art_trigg wrote:the customer could sue because the part fitted was clearly not fit for its purpose
Whether a spare part has been fitted or a complete replacement appliance has been supplied within the warranty period, beyond that time it’s no longer covered – period!
“Not fit for the purpose” does not apply as the contractual agreement has been honoured and no court in the land would even consider sitting in judgement as there is no case to answer. 🙄
So “How long is a 5 year warranty?” if you come up with an answer that isn’t 5 years you need to go back to school, stand next to Bart Simpson and write 50 lines on the blackboard… “A 5 year warranty lasts just 5 years!”
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