Is a 3 month guarantee on repairs reasonable?

Some appliance repair companies only give a 3 month guarantee on their repairs. It’s often the larger repair companies. Before booking a repair you should check how long they will guarantee it for. Why would you allow someone to repair your appliance if they will only guarantee it for three months?

It doesn’t show much confidence in either the repair, or the parts fitted. I would never use a company giving such a pathetic one. 3 month guarantees on repairs is disingenuous.

They cannot hide behind such a short guarantee, we have consumer rights that cover this. However, you might have to do some fighting to get them if a repair fails again after three months.

If a company is only willing to guarantee their repairs for three months it is likely to be trying to limit their liabilities. So it wouldn’t be surprising if they were unhelpful if the same fault occurred say six months later.

After all, if they were happy to put it right under guarantee six months later, then why would they state that their guarantee is only three months?

What is the point of giving such a bad impression and lack of confidence to customers with such a puny guarantee unless they are wanting to stick rigidly to it and deny any responsibility once out of guarantee? A repair needs to last much longer than three months in order to comply with the consumer rights act 2015.

Consumer Rights

A guarantee on a repair should not be too much different to a guarantee when buying a new washing machine. That is, it is in addition to your statutory rights. Our rights are not what the repair company dictates they are, they are determined by the consumer rights act 2015.

The guarantee on the repair is just a gesture by the repair company – but it cannot take away our statutory rights, which can be enforced if necessary. A repair should be of satisfactory quality and last a reasonable time, which is clearly not just three months. Any new parts fitted should also be fit for purpose and last a reasonable time. Any new parts fitted should last much longer than three months.

Are they being serious?

This is the reality of what they are doing. If you paid £200 to have a new part fitted to your washing machine, and the repair company only gave you a 3 (or even 6) month guarantee, but the part failed after 8 months they are saying that you will have to pay another £200 to have it fixed. Surely no customer would stand for that, yet that’s the reality of it. If such a company says they wouldn’t expect you to pay another £200 to replace a brand new part they sold you then – why is the guarantee only 3 months? What’s the point?

In such a case you can easily argue that it wasn’t fit for its purpose and did not last for a “reasonable” time under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Within the first 6 months, it may also be possible to argue that the motor had an inherent fault. If a new product goes faulty within 6 months of purchase, it is assumed that the part must have been inherently faulty from the day of purchase – unless the seller can prove otherwise. There’s no logical reason why this shouldn’t apply equally to a new part as it does to a complete appliance.

The same “merchantable quality” and lasting a “reasonable time” rules that apply to buying a new washing machine should also apply to new washing machine parts and repairs. The problems arise when an engineer at your house says, sorry, it’s out of guarantee now, and says they can’t help. If a new part or a repair has not lasted a reasonable time then you ought to be able to get it repaired free of charge.

If the repair company refuse, you will need to consider taking them to a small claims court, or getting further advice from a consumer group. Before booking a repair – always check what guarantee they give first. 12 months is ideal, but even then if a part fails after 12 months you could still have a claim under the sale of goods act depending on circumstances (eg. you paid a lot of money to have a new control board fitted, which isn’t a part subject to wear, and it only lasted 18 months).

No parts fitted?

If no parts are fitted it’s slightly less clear, but any repair (such as sealing a leak up) should be of sufficient quality to last a reasonable time. Therefore if you pay to have a leak fixed and they sealed something up but the same leak re-occurs too quickly then the repair might be said to have not lasted a reasonable time. An engineer may very well advise they can’t guarantee how long a “fix” would last under certain circumstances, which may well be perfectly reasonable.

I’ve done so myself many times. It’s in their interests to give reasonable descriptions of what they are trying to do, and how it may not last, so that you can decide whether to accept the risk or not. Ideally it should also be written on the invoice to cover themselves too.

Appliance Repairs

All affiliate appliance repairers on Whitegoodshelp give 12 month guarantees.