Quote:
Originally Posted by Saaf_laandon_mo
i'm thinking about getting an xbox, but this sort of stuff puts me off. my worry is that it goes funny after the 12 months warranty period :S
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If you're worried that will happen to you, there are 2 options open to you, mate... either take the extended warranty - from Microsoft or from the retailer, whichever is cheaper. Alternatively, if it does fail outside the 12-month warranty period, go back to the retailer and complain under the Sale of Goods Act. Just because a product is outside its warranty period doesn't mean that all your statutory rights are suddenly absolved.
Admittedly, it is an uphill struggle to go down the SoGA route, but you are completely within your rights to demand redress for a console that costs approximately £300 and that fails within a relatively short period of time.
Research is the key to this - know exactly what your rights are under the SoGA and don't allow yourself to get fobbed off by people who will misquote the Act to you.
Your first course of action is with the retailer (this goes for axlgnr too.... nice nick, btw
) as you took out the contract with them and not with the manufacturer. They will try and tell you to speak to Microsoft but legally you are fully entitled to demand repair or replacement from the retailer under the SoGA.
You should start by sending a letter - by recorded delivery - to the retailers head office, stating the problem you're experiencing, citing when and where it was bought and asking for the console to be fixed or replaced. State clearly in your letter that you expect a response from them within a certain time frame, usually a month, and that any failure on their part to respond would lead you to seek recompense by issuing a county court (aka the "Small Claims Court") claim against them.
If they don't reply you should send a 2nd letter stating that you are now going to issue a county court claim against them for the sum of £
x relating to the purchase of such-and-such that you made and which is faulty and requires reparation.
If you still don't receive any response from the retailer then you can either start proceedings yourself or contact your local Trading Standards office and they'll help you issue the claim. It's not a difficult process - you can even issue a claim online now, via the
Money Claim website.
You will, however, need to be able to prove that the console was inherently faulty, i.e. the fault occurred through no fault of your own and was not as a result of you spilling beer all over the console. In the case of the 360, this is not as difficult as it sounds, because of the high number of borked boxes... for example, you could get an independent repair company to open it up and examine the cause of the problem, which you'd submit as proof when you take the retailer to court.
Be prepared to incur some expenses during this process. You would have to pay for sending the letters to the retailer, issuing the claim through the Small Claims Court and the associated county court fees, paying someone to examine the cause of the problem, etc... All these expenses would be added to the claim, should you win, and the court will even add something for the time and effort you expended in pursuing the claim.
You can also get some great advice on whether you realistically stand a chance of getting a borked console replaced or repaired by contacting the Community Legal Service on 0845 345 4345 or at
www.clsdirect.org.uk
---------- Post added at 01:12 ---------- Previous post was at 01:11 ----------
Almost forgot, here's some great advice on how the SoGA protects you, as a consumer...
http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact...page38311.html