Consumer Guarantees Act - returning to manufacturer vs retailer

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#238981 26-Jul-2009 00:04

ahmad: That is totally incorrect. I suggest you read the law - Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 section 6 along with Part 2 and Part 3. http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0091/latest/DLM311053.html
Also see http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/consumerinfo/cga/faultygoods.html

The differences in responsibility between manufacturer and retailer referred to by the OP from the Herald article are set out quite well by Consumer here

ahmad

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#238988 26-Jul-2009 00:34

At the end of the day the OP claims a consensus when there wasn't one, and neither the manufacturer nor the retailer appear to be unreasonable. The manufacturer wishes to deal via the retailer and as long as there is no undue delay that's hardly breaking the law. The retailer appears willing to help.

ahmad

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#238989 26-Jul-2009 00:37

I must add too that I am not saying the manufacturer has no liability. But under law the retailer MUST oblige. Going to the manufacturer should not even have to come into the equation.

NickiB

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#242129 4-Aug-2009 07:27

ahmad: At the end of the day the OP claims a consensus when there wasn't one, and neither the manufacturer nor the retailer appear to be unreasonable..

I based my summing up on the fact that noone agreed (or provided information to show) the manufacturer/importer could absolutely refuse to deal with the consumer directly - which was the question, this was not about a retailer obligations - and this was backed up by links to consumer information from Marmion and Savag3 (thanks!). And the answer is yes, you can insist a manufacturer (which includes importer as a definition) honour their warranty directly.

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old3eyes

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#242146 4-Aug-2009 08:27

Byrned: From what I remember of the CGA is that it is between the consumer and the retailer. The manufacturer has no obligations under it. However they do have obligations under the Fair Trading Act, which is why they will mostly be helpful.

What happens then when the retailer closes down and you have say a 3 year extended warranty or the like??

Regards,

Old3eyes

ahmad

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#242162 4-Aug-2009 09:05

Forget extended warranties. They are simply an insurance policy between you and whoever was lucky enough to sell it to you. The law almost always trumps extended warranties, which is why there is such ill feeling towards the sale of such products.

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old3eyes

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#242317 4-Aug-2009 12:40

Wonder if anyone has tested the CGA in court??

Regards,

Old3eyes

lxsw20

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#243105 5-Aug-2009 16:36

Yes, wasn't there a case not long ago on someone with a dead dell desktop, took them to small claims who decided a fair amount of time for the unit to last was 5 years.

NickiB

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#246293 13-Aug-2009 21:32

Well I'm about to test my theory out... STB came back, STILL doesn't work, has more problems than before. Got in touch via email (seeing as the phone service is useless) with JC Matthew. They are trying to tell me to go through 1-day again. I said no, unless they are prepared to give me a full refund!

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dickytim

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#246385 14-Aug-2009 08:03

as I said earlier, I found 1-day very good to deal with, is this unit parallel imported as far as you know?

My phone definately was.

Remember if this item was parallel imported JC Matthew has no obligation to you.

NickiB

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#246417 14-Aug-2009 09:04

dickytim: as I said earlier, I found 1-day very good to deal with, is this unit parallel imported as far as you know?

My phone definately was.

Remember if this item was parallel imported JC Matthew has no obligation to you.

It has a 1-year warranty provided by the manufacturer, JC matthew (or morning star or any of the other names they go by), so yep, they have the obligation to fix it. The issue is not with 1-day, they have been fine, I only want to exercise my right to deal directly with the manufacturer so it doesn't end up being a game of chinese whispers. For example, when I got the STB back after the first 'fix', the form stated 'does not work' as the fault. This was not the case at all and I had actually provided a very detailed description of what the problem was to 1-day, including that it was intermittent. I want to be sure that the tech people are actually getting this information.

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dickytim

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#246454 14-Aug-2009 10:03

I stand corrected.

We have the same arguement here at work, we never try and get out or our responsibilities but with our product 90% of faults are caused by inproper installation so we need to keep a papertrail of where goods come and go from, we insist on any returns being made thru the wholesalers as if we were to offer a direct replacement and the item ended up being a consumer created fault we have no leg to stand on for returning the faulty product to the original purchaser.

However if we had an item returned multiple times with "no fault detected" then we'd speak directly to the user to find out where the fault is and what the problem is, luckily for us electrical items are usually fairly easy to track faults with, follow the scorch marks... :)

NickiB

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#246527 14-Aug-2009 12:30

Looks like it's time to get out the CGA and send them a copy, where it says the consumer can go to the manufacturer directly. Another reply from JC Matthew said I have to go to the retailer and this is a standard agreement with retailers. I'm assuming however that CGA overrides any agreement with manufacturers.

dickytim: We have the same arguement here at work, we never try and get out or our responsibilities but with our product 90% of faults are caused by inproper installation

To be sure this is not an issue with anything my end I have got hold of another STB to try out, and will also take mine to my friends house and try there (for the second time, first time it wouldn't even work at all!).

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dickytim

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#246535 14-Aug-2009 12:45

Hi NickiB,

I was not saying this was the case with you, just illustrating a similar but different situation I deal with day in and day out. You are correct the CGA does override any companies procedures and processes, it seems like e-mails are not working is it time to call them and read the riot act to them, anyone who deals with consumer electronics should be well aware of their obligations in this instance.

savag3

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#246558 14-Aug-2009 13:36

NickiB: You could try reminding them that they are breaking the law by misleading you as to your legal rights (s9 Fair Trading Act 1986) and that you will lodge a complaint with the Commerce Commission along with seeking a full refund at the Disputes Tribunal because they are refusing to fulfull their responsibilities under the CGA.

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