CGA - Spare parts only available when installed by manufacturer's agent?

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SomeoneSomewhere

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#280897 18-Jan-2021 19:38

A customer of ours had an appliance break down, and it's a simple PCB swap - anyone with at least an EST ticket can do it.

However, the manufacturer says that they don't sell spare parts to other contractors or to end users; you have to get their service tech to install them.

Consumer protection says that spare parts have to be 'available' - but does anyone know if this is a scenario covered by the CGA or other rules?

For what it's worth, this is a business device so they may have contracted out of the CGA and we're not rocking the boat, but it would be an interesting answer anyway.

wellygary

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#2637847 19-Jan-2021 10:52

The spare parts requirement is in the CGA legislation.. but as you said they may have contracted out as a business..

12 Guarantee as to repairs and spare parts

(1) Subject to sections 41 and 42, where goods are first supplied to a consumer in New Zealand (whether or not that supply is the first-ever supply of the goods), there is a guarantee that the manufacturer will take reasonable action to ensure that facilities for repair of the goods and supply of parts for the goods are reasonably available for a reasonable period after the goods are so supplied.

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1101

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#2638091 19-Jan-2021 13:19

NZ needs some 'right to repair' legislation.
We also need to make sure parts arent simply priced so high that they are never cost effective (and so they therefore dont ever need to supply them)

I tried to get parts for receipt printer : wouldnt sell to me (I am in the IT industry)
OK , so I'll send it to the official repair centre : nope, they wont even accept repair jobs unless you had an a/c with them (a spend of thousands per year with them required for an a/c)
so, no parts, no support , no repair available to me directly.

Dynamic

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#2638139 19-Jan-2021 13:50

1101:

NZ needs some 'right to repair' legislation.
We also need to make sure parts arent simply priced so high that they are never cost effective (and so they therefore dont ever need to supply them)

I tried to get parts for receipt printer : wouldnt sell to me (I am in the IT industry)
OK , so I'll send it to the official repair centre : nope, they wont even accept repair jobs unless you had an a/c with them (a spend of thousands per year with them required for an a/c)
so, no parts, no support , no repair available to me directly.

Wow... that's pretty darn unhelpful. Can you send to your supplier to return on your behalf? The distributor won't want to be involved because there is nothing in it for them, but you don't know if you don't ask.

I'm interested to know the brand, so I can consider carefully which industries it may be appropriate for.

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neb

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#2638937 20-Jan-2021 15:03

1101:
I tried to get parts for receipt printer : wouldnt sell to me (I am in the IT industry)
OK , so I'll send it to the official repair centre : nope, they wont even accept repair jobs unless you had an a/c with them (a spend of thousands per year with them required for an a/c)
so, no parts, no support , no repair available to me directly.

You may want to write to Consumer magazine to (a) get a comment from them on what your rights are and (b) draw attention to this so they can agitate for change.

mattwnz

20039 posts

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#2639117 20-Jan-2021 18:18

1101:

NZ needs some 'right to repair' legislation.
We also need to make sure parts arent simply priced so high that they are never cost effective (and so they therefore dont ever need to supply them)

I tried to get parts for receipt printer : wouldnt sell to me (I am in the IT industry)
OK , so I'll send it to the official repair centre : nope, they wont even accept repair jobs unless you had an a/c with them (a spend of thousands per year with them required for an a/c)
so, no parts, no support , no repair available to me directly.

Absolutely. Had is dispose of a good dishwasher after a cockroach shorted out a PCB board and the cost of a new board was almost the price of a new dishwasher.

A little off topic but interesting point was that the PCB had a digital display on it showing a washing time countdown, but the model I had didn't have a opening in the front display panel to display this. You had to pay extra to have that feature. eg all it would be is a cut out in the display panel to display the LCD display. Th LCD worked and could see it glowing behind the panel. Kind of reminded me of Tesla model 3 cars having inbuilt back seat heaters built in, but you have to pay extra to get that feature to be enabled in the software. All it is a software addon to the car.

Handle9

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#2639118 20-Jan-2021 18:35

1101:
NZ needs some 'right to repair' legislation.
We also need to make sure parts arent simply priced so high that they are never cost effective (and so they therefore dont ever need to supply them)

I tried to get parts for receipt printer : wouldnt sell to me (I am in the IT industry)
OK , so I'll send it to the official repair centre : nope, they wont even accept repair jobs unless you had an a/c with them (a spend of thousands per year with them required for an a/c)
so, no parts, no support , no repair available to me directly.

You said that repair wasn't available to you direct from the repair centre. Was it available to you via a channel?