The Consumer Rights Act 2015 allows us to attempt to claim compensation from repairers or retailers under certain conditions. This includes bad or negligent repairs as well as faulty or poor quality goods.
Before taking a trader or repairer to court
If a repairer is a member of any trade association you should try raising the issue with them first. Trade associations usually have certain standards and practices that the trader has promised to adhere to. If they haven’t, the trade association may be in a position to influence and advise them to put things right.
If they are not a member of a trade association, or you get nowhere with them and still believe you have a case, then you can make a claim in the small claims court as long as it’s for £10,000 or less (£5,000 or less for personal injury or housing disrepair).
Even so you need to have written to the company or trader first giving a specific time to correct any fault. There is also an option of using the Alternative Dispute Resolution service (which is binding but does not involve legal action).
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There is plenty of help available from consumer groups, and from the leaflets and brochures listed below. Remember, the small claims court was set up to make it pretty easy and relatively risk free for consumers to take on companies they have a dispute with. So it shouldn’t be too daunting. Read the information below for a better understanding –
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- Small claims court advice – Citizens Advice
- Sale of Goods Act gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances
- Money Claim Online No need to even go to court, you can take a business to the small claims court online now. This is a "simple, convenient and secure way of making a claim on the internet." (Government site)
Which? members can phone a consumer helpline
You can research Which? Consumer Rights for expert advice (What do I get when I take a trial?) immediately (not just about washing machines) and benefit from their highly respected opinions and experience of consumer issues. Also receive the Which? magazine as part of 1 trial and speak directly to a consumer expert about your issues.
Karen fawthrop says
Excellent information regarding sale of goods act. Retailers are aware of it, but still refute it’s existence applies to them
Deborah Mathie says
I bought a Bush cooker from argos just under 2 years ago 3 weeks after I got it argos fitted it the oven door lock feel out then 4 months later the heating element on the oven broke now its happened again but they are saying because I only had a 1 year warranty they won’t fix it for free again I need to pay £89 just for call out I am on benefits single mum with a 3 year old how can I get help
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Hello Deborah. The only redress you have is with the retailer that you bought it from. As far as I know Bush don’t actually make cookers. They are a brown goods manufacturer that used to make record players and radios etc. For some time now it’s been possible for any company to get white goods appliances manufactured by white goods manufacturer who will put their name on it instead of the original manufacturers. A lot of manufacturers have started to do this so you can buy washing machines for example from people like Russell Hobbs and Swan who famously made kettles. These products are called “badged” appliances because the real manufacturer simply puts someone else’s badge (logo) on it. They are also more commonly known these days as own label brands.
Personally I totally dislike this practice although it is totally legal. It’s just that most people don’t have a clue that the manufacturer whose name is on the appliance does not make them, and does not know much about them, and is not usually too helpful when things go wrong. For an in-depth explanation of this practice read this article own label appliance brands -a full explanation
I would expect the Bush cooker to be a budget cooker and therefore expectations need to be reduced accordingly, but even so if the same element has broken twice in two years I would say that it is not of sufficient quality. Even a budget appliance should not be expected to have broken down three times in such a short period of time unless by any chance it is being used for a very large family or in shared accommodation.
Unfortunately you will find that Bush will most likely be totally uninterested in helping you now that it is out of its guarantee. They have no legal obligation. The only redress you have is with the retailer and you’ll have to argue that three breakdowns in two years with one of them being identical breakdown is just not acceptable so you are entitled to a free repair. You should definitely try this but in my experience virtually all retailers will just refuse to help. They only get in touch with the manufacturer or the company doing the repairs, and when they tell them that they won’t do it for free (because they don’t have to) they decide that they don’t want to pay out for the repair. However, in this case my understanding is that Argos may actually own Bush or at least have an exclusive relationship with them.
Although we do have a lot of great consumer rights in theory, in practice very few of us actually get them because unless you are extremely persistent and cause a lot of trouble, or get assistance from a consumer group to argue your case for you – or take them to the Small Claims Court they have all learnt that 99% of customers just give up. That saves them a lot of money. They don’t seem to care that it loses them a lot of customers though.
You should find that this article has more information how to get a faulty washing machine exchanged . It is written about washing machines but of course as applicable to any white goods.
tony whelan says
Hi can i have some advice please, and to the extent of what i can claim from Argos, as i am writing this i have a Bush undercounter single oven cooker sat in my Kitchen doing nothing, i am in the process of renovating my whole house and am on the kitchen now we didn’t buy the kitchen from brand new we bought it of friends we know it’s like new we paid them £600 for the kitchen we had this cooker fitted and by the instructions it said to leave the cooker on for 30 mins on full for first use so i set the timer on the front and when it was finished i switched it off as the kitchen still needed odd jobs before the worktop was fitted i went to the one of the cupboards for some screws that i had put in there and noticed that there was a problem with the door after further examination of the door and the drawers both sides of this cooker i found that the coating on these doors had been melted back from the wood underneath i was shocked and contacted Argos who sent an Engineer in around 4 days which i was quite pleased with he tested the cooker and found that it had a fault the fan that cools the oven when it reaches temperature didn’t come on the temperature thermostat was broken this cooker was brand new out the box and a couple of days old i was so angry then Engineer asked if i wanted it repaired and i said no it may have further problems in the future, so, Argos contacted me to try sort this situation out they offered me a replacement cooker but not the same model although they’re still selling this same model he then offered me a refund and also £200 for the damage i said no you can take the cooker back but £200 will not be enough if i can’t get the same colour doors to replace them and don’t want odd looking doors we have just had this kitchen fitted so then he indicated that it may not be limited to £200 we don’t care about the money we just want it put right he said that he emailed me about it all but when i checked there was no email nothing i checked all my emails and Junk folders nothing so that was a lie, i spoke to him Friday 28-05-21 he said he would ring me Tuesday to discuss it further but hasn’t, can i claim for all new doors off Argos as this was there faulty goods i have done nothing wrong since Friday i have been to town to try match the doors up all over the internet and even tried to contact the company who built the new houses that this kitchen was fitted into but can’t track down where these doors come form i still very angry at what has happened and they expect me to stop what i am doing to sort out their mistake any advice would be very much appreciated
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Hello Tony. Under the consumer rights act 2015 it is the retailer that is ultimately responsible. So if you have a valid claim and the manufacturer is refusing to compensate properly you will have to go to the retailer, who are obliged by the consumer law to compensate you because they sold you a product that damaged your kitchen.
You have a right to expect compensation for any expense or damage caused by a faulty appliance. This is known in legal terms as consequential damage. If they are replacing a faulty appliance they need to replace it with an equivalent or better. However, consumers also have an obligation to mitigate expenses. In other words we can’t just casually spend a lot of money and expect the retailer or manufacturer to pay. So they are only responsible to pay the minimum required to fix the problem. If it turns out that you cannot replace just the doors then that’s fair enough. If you show them evidence that exact and suitable replacement doors are not possible then you should be able to get them to pay the full amount. .