TV packed up after a year. What are my consumer rights?

Posted by shaggy_x@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 28 comments

I hope this is the right sub to ask this question and someone out there can help.

I bought a Samsung smart tv in Nov 2023 Black Friday sales.

Brand new and via a well known retailer on their eBay store

Almost exactly a year later noticed grey/black borders across all four sides. Problem is random and sometimes after a switch off/on it fixes itself.

Went through all the usual troubleshooting with Samsung then agreed a warranty repair , just in time before warranty ran out

After a week the warranty repairer came back saying they could not reproduce the problem

Samsung aren’t interested any more

I have taken photos of when the issue happens and sent them to warranty repairer and Samsung as well

What are my options re: consumer law? Can I go back to Samsung or the retailer and demand a replacement ?

I have another Samsung TV and that has never developed this fault in over 8 years of heavy use

Thanks in advance

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Apoc525@reddit

Buy the exact same model again.......pop your one in the box.....return it saying you don't want it and get refund

Easy mode, no faff, no going back and forth. Even better if you buy from the retailer you originally bought from or Samsung direct so you don't feel guilty if you are prone to that

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Denigor777@reddit

But the serial numbers give it away that you are acting fraudulently. I suppose you could risk it that they won't notice. But fraud it is.

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My Samsung TV also just died different issue, 2.5 years since purchase and Samsung won’t touch it even though there is evidence that there is a hardware or software update issue that caused it to break.

They told me under Consumer Act 2015 I have to go to the retailer which is Amazon who will not do anything so £800 wasted.

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EeveesGalore@reddit

The best solution is to only buy TVs from Richer Sounds or John Lewis, where most of the TVs are warrantied for 5/6 years.

Not that it's much help if you already bought one elsewhere and it's broken.

Note that I said "most"... Many of the budget TVs at Richer Sounds are only warrantied for one year. If a TV is only warrantied for one year at Richer Sounds or elsewhere then you have to ask why.

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ajslov@reddit

Yes this is a hard pill to swallow but that’s my only options for replacement now.

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MrNippyNippy@reddit

I no longer buy anything expensive off Amazon because of this.

2 years ago I bought a smart smoke detector with a “sealed for life - 10 year battery” and the batteries died.

Amazon are utter shitbags once their own “return period” is closed and you have to get utterly arsey.

The biggest issue though is that if you get too aggressive, especially if you involve chargebacks or small claims, they’ve been known to black list your account.

A closed account doesn’t sound too bad unless you have any kindle or audible etc purchases through it and then you lose complete access to digital content you could have spent 100s or more on.

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EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

We know the digital media is going to get cancelled one day, you can try and get dvds but I think the day players cease is getting closer. You'll have to buy it again on a quantum brain chip by 2040

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Beartato4772@reddit

Piracy is forever. If you're feeling charitable (or it's an indie artist) then absolutely "buy" it as well but always have a permenant copy of everything.

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Tuarangi@reddit

Everything you should need is in this helpful MSE article which breaks it down in simple terms

A TV should last more than a year but it won't be a straightforward swap - though I would push back on Samsung as you logged it while in warranty, the warranty subsequently expiring doesn't change anything while the fix should be ongoing

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shaggy_x@reddit (OP)

Thanks that’s very helpful

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lurcher54@reddit

martin lewis as all the info

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shaggy_x@reddit (OP)

Link please ?

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lurcher54@reddit

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

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Annual-Ad-7780@reddit

eBay won't do anything, I guarantee that, your contract's with Samsung and I know from experience that they're a pain to deal with at the best of times.

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shaggy_x@reddit (OP)

Surely my contract is with the seller here ? I don’t want to name them unless I absolutely have to but not curry’s and it’s a well known tv retailer

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Annual-Ad-7780@reddit

Contact the seller by all means, but I can guarantee they won't do anything till at least Friday if not towards the end of next week.

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Novel-Big-4748@reddit

I did this. Got a fancy Serif 65" off Samsungs Ebay store. I think it was a brand new TV that a customer returned almost immediately after purchasing. It has worked perfectly as long as I had my Xbox plugged in and use all live TV through software instead of aerial. The OS on the TV is completely unreliable but the hardware is perfect. I think the store sells off returned hardware with big savings for the customer as it loses most of the initial consumer rights as it is used (but basically new). I hope I'm wrong but it might be a good idea just to run it off a device as you probably can't get anything back.

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shaggy_x@reddit (OP)

This is a serif too

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EaseUsed5465@reddit

In future, get cover with Domestic and General. Ours packed up outside of warranty and we got a serious upgrade for £15 after paying a years premiums of about £10 a month

Our new one is £5 a month to insure.

We’ve had a replacement cooker, dishwasher repairs, washing machine repairs, and fridge repairs from them alongside a new telly and we’ve probably spent less than £200 in total across all the policies in the last year and a bit.

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tawtaw6@reddit

If you UK were still in the EU still you would get 2 years on all electronic devices by default, there would be no issue.

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psvrgamer1@reddit

This depends where you bought it from and the length of warranty.

If you're UK and purchased from John lewis it comes with a 5 year warranty. Other stores are typically 12 months. If out of warranty then I'm afraid your out of luck and it probably be cheaper to just buy a new TV.

If in warranty then because it's over 6 months they will only offer a repair. The repair will only be guaranteed for 3 months after which if it breaks again then they would probably not help you.

There are a few things that you can do as I did with John Lewis that can help in this situation under the consumer credit act. Under the act they have some responsibilities including a line where they arnt allowed to inconvenience you.

So if in warranty contact the store you bought it from. They will send out for a repair engineer which will typically take it away for repair. If they do request a like for like replacement whilst it's being fixed because they arnt allowed to inconvenience you and being without a TV would be awfully inconvenient....

This will cause them a real headache. I used it to leverage a refund instead of a repair successfully from John Lewis, took 2 weeks of battling but I won in the end as they couldn't supply a similarly specked TV whilst mine was going to be in for repair.

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SunDriedFart@reddit

Your contract is with the retailer. The consumer rights act applies to products bought in the UK from a UK supplier.
In regards to your rights the item should:
Be fit for purpose
Last for a reasonable amount of time (a year is obviously not a reasonable amount of time)
The item should be of reasonable quality

You will need to go to the retailer and state that the TV doesnt meet these standards. Dont let them fob you off with the TV being out of warranty because the consumer rights overwrites warranties.

You can expect the retailer to offer to replace the TV, arrange for the TV to be fixed or offer a refund (im not 100% sure on this, and the refund may not be a full refund, the years use can be deducted from the expected total life of the TV)

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