A 1979 Sale Of Goods Act Question?

If you spent £1,500 on a new amplifier back in December 2008, would you say it is unreasonable to expect it to last for more than 3 years?

 

The company in question I bought it from seems to think its a grey area and the onus is now on me proving it's a mechanical fault?

Can't comment on the SoGA angle, as it's not my speciality, but

If you spent £1,500 on a new amplifier back in December 2008, would you say it is unreasonable to expect it to last for more than 3 years?

most definitely not.

 

No moving parts at all (save for switches/knobs), so I'd expect an amp (especially at that price point, expectedly well above entry level, with manufacturing quality/tolerances to match) to last for a good many more years than 3.

 

I've just sold a 10 year-old entry-level Pioneer VSX amp on eBay, that was as good/solid/reliable as the day I first bought it new.

 

As a matter of interest, is it mass-produced (e.g. Onkyo, Pioneer, Yamaha etc.) or smaller-scale (e.g. NAD)?

Edited January 5, 2012 by L00b

I would say it's unreasonable. Others might disagree. The best people to ask would be Trading Standards; if they think it's unreasonable, and say so in writing, you will get a refund in fairly short order.

You can expect it to last 6 years or be economically repairable.

 

It is down to you to prove a fault and a repair cannot be expected to cost more than the residual value.

 

You cannot expect new for old.

If you spent £1,500 on a new amplifier back in December 2008, would you say it is unreasonable to expect it to last for more than 3 years?

 

The company in question I bought it from seems to think its a grey area and the onus is now on me proving it's a mechanical fault?

 

What CGK said but, if you haven't already, try both the manufacturer and the company who sold it to you alot of the time major manufacturers will try to repair your item for you when the company who sold it turn you away.

If you spent £1,500 on a new amplifier back in December 2008, would you say it is unreasonable to expect it to last for more than 3 years?

 

The company in question I bought it from seems to think its a grey area and the onus is now on me proving it's a mechanical fault?

Hope that you purchased using a credit card- added insurance protection, you see.

But three years is stretching liability a bit.

Hope that you purchased using a credit card- added insurance protection, you see.

But three years is stretching liability a bit.

 

For most heavy-duty electrical goods, liability is considered to extend for an absolute minimum of three years, and more often for five or six.

 

I don't know about amplifiers, though.

But three years is stretching liability a bit.

Pretty much as HN said above, a useful life (in legal terms) of 3 years, for a bit of kit which routinely lasts at least double that (and routinely much longer still) seems artificially low.

 

It would certainly be useful for the OP to highlight the fault in some more details, and to research sector practice (@ OP, look for examples of term of std warranties offerred by amp manufacturers, e.g. 5 years or longer).

 

And of course, to look online for precedents of the fault on the same model, indicating a native defect.

 

E.g. last year, KEF charged me £100 inc. VAT (and carriage ) for repairing an 8-year old PSW1000 subwoofer (well below cost, carriage for a 10 kgs unit and manpower alone must have exceeded that amount), as that particular model eventually got famed for blowing its built-in amplifier prematurely.

Edited January 5, 2012 by L00b

Thanks for all your replies, I finally managed to speak to someone at consumer direct, they cannot act on my behalf but advised me to send them a letter stating my case.

Another thing that speculatively may add to your case is this: Richer Sounds offer extended warranties on their Amps/Receivers/Speakers upto 5 years. This should probably give a good indication as to failure rates as the policies would probably not be worth selling if fault tolerances were low, they'd constantly be having to deal with claims. The same with John Lewis, their warranties typically provide 5 year cover too.

 

Seperately, unsure if you know that the Sale of Goods 1979 had amendments/changes made in 1994 and 2002, and that there's other legistlation in the supply of goods and services act 1982.

 

Suggest you read http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file25486.pdf which is a traders guide put out by the DTI in 2005 entitled "The law relating to the supply of goods and services." as it sumarises loads of stuff and doesn't get too bogged down in the legaliese

£1500 is a lot of money, but is that money going towards the name, or the quality of the parts rather than a guide of how long it should last? We don't even know how much use it's had. Everything fails sometime

Unless it's still under warranty, i think you're going to be out of luck. The Sale of Goods Act protects both consumers and suppliers but cannot be unlimited. Chances are, the product came with a years guarantee. If so, then you can usually get it repaired/replaced by the manufacturer direct or through the retailer. Beyond that year (or guarantee period), then it's at the discretion of the manufacturer but they have no legal obligation to do anything under the sale of goods act.