Replacement part gone wrong again

[icu]

Hi, Just a quick question about the parts on a Miele w870, my mother has had this machine since 2002 she has had a few parts fitted under warranty and last year in May spent £309.89 on parts needed and the tech man said the machine is in very good working order, well the machine has now gone wrong again and one of the parts that were fitted is the problem, I had a quick look on the internet as I didn't know too much about the machine, found out that Miele warranty is 10 years but after that only warrant new parts for one year, now if the part from new has lasted 10 years and the replacement part only lasts a year, this just doesn't make sense to me, I know the machine cost a lot of money in its day and has lasted well but the parts just don't work as well as the original parts.

Any input would be appreciated as I would like to give my mother the best advice as poss

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I wrote an article some years back saying the same thing as the article you linked to does - Sale of Goods Act gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances

The thing about guarantees is that they are always "in addition" to our statutory rights, and it always states this fact clearly on any guarantee. They are obliged to put that caveat because otherwise it implies once the guarantee has expired we have no redress. 10 year guarantees only come with some Miele models, and even then often only during promotional periods. All Miele washing machines have 2 year guarantees unless they have a promotional 5 or 10 year extended warranty when purchased.

Guarantees are used as selling aids. There's no law that says they have to give any guarantee at all. Therefore it's theoretically possible to buy a product with no guarantee but still be covered for up to 6 years (5 in Scotland) for various faults that may occur depending on the faults and circumstances of use. No one would be daft enough to try and sell anything without a guarantee though, and many appliance manufacturers give longer than the standard 1 year. This is purely to encourage us to buy, and doesn't change our rights under the Sale of Goods Act in any way.

If a new part is fitted during a repair they can guarantee it for as long or little as they like. I know some national repair companies who have the audacity to only give 3 months guarantee on repairs. The repair has to be done properly, and last a reasonable time though, so if they only guarantee a new motor for 1 year but it goes up in smoke after 18 months they will claim it's tough, but they are wrong. Under the Sale of Goods Act you can claim it hasn't lasted a reasonable time or that it wasn't fit for purpose if it failed after such a short time.

I don't know which parts were fitted but if you paid £300+ to and it's failed after such a short period you should be able to complain that it hasn't lasted a reasonable time under the Sale of Goods Act, which covers repairs too. If they refuse to accept it, you would need to decide whether to pursue it properly or not, which would involve potentially taking them to the small claims court (which is not difficult or expensive).