Shoppers are being sold short when expensive electrical goods break down. If a TV or fridge packs up just one day after an initial one-year guarantee, customers are told they have to pay for the repair - but the truth is that retailers may be liable for up to six years.
Consumer experts say retailers are exploiting ambiguous legislation to wriggle out of their responsibilities. Ministers, however, claim the law is quite clear. The Sale of Goods Act offers protection against faulty goods even when the manufacturer's guarantee has run out. The act says goods must last a reasonable time - and that can be anything up to six years from the date of purchase.
Which? - formerly the Consumers Association - says consumers should argue strongly with retailers when a product breaks down within six years. The Sale of Goods Act doesn't define how long specific products should last, because different products have different life spans. But a survey by Which? of manufacturers into how long they believe different types of appliance should last made interesting reading. All of them said their goods should last five years or more.
But retailers, which should be the first port of call for all complaints, make life difficult for customers who refuse to buy an extended warranty. Even when there is little doubt the fault lies with the goods maker (rather than abuse of the machine) customers are still routinely asked to pay more than £100 for the call-out and a separate amount for spare parts.
Tim Young, a senior researcher at Which? says the problem can be traced back to the sale of extended warranties. "Retailers want to sell extended warranties. Manufacturers know this and they don't want to rock the boat. So you don't have to be too cynical to say it is in the manufacturers' interests to hike up the costs of call-outs and repairs."
In many cases customers are being told to spend several hundred pounds to restore a machine to working order - when they could instead be entitled to a refund under the Sale of Goods Act.
Take the example of an Apple ipod that breaks down outside the standard one-year guarantee. The usual response, or at least the response from both the Manchester and Birmingham Apple Centres, is don't bother getting a repair. Staff say the cost of repair would exceed the value of a £300 40Gb model and refuse a free replacement. Yet iPods are designed to be portable and take a reasonable amount of wear and tear. Consumers should follow the advice of Which? (right) and demand refunds when the fault is not of their making.
Two other examples illustrate how shops and electrical goods manufacturers make life difficult. The glass door shattered on a De Longhi range cooker bought from Comet three and a half years previously. The shop wanted to charge £59.95 for a call-out and more than £500 for a new door. The cooker cost £499.
In another incident, a John Lewis customer reported a fault with the ice and water dispenser on a four-year-old US-style fridge freezer. John Lewis directed the complainant to the manufacturer, Samsung. To check the fridge, Samsung demanded a call-out charge of £79.95 for the first 15 minutes and £25 for each subsequent 15 minutes. Parts would be extra. The customer was told they could ask a third party maintenance firm to check the fridge. The three major firms listed in the local Yellow pages all refused, saying they found it difficult sourcing parts for this style of fridge.
It's a similar story with faulty TV sets. When we rang the service division of Dixons, which is called Mastercare, to say an 18-month-old 42in plasma TV wasn't working we were told that it could send someone out to get it, but it would cost £120 plus any parts. However, we were also told that if it had failed because of an inherent fault, they would try to get the manufacturer to make a contribution to its repair - where appropriate.
When we pushed Mastercare further, the call centre representative said that if they got our TV back to their service centre and it was found to be uneconomic to repair, we could reject the original £125 (plus parts) quote, and simply pay a more reasonable £25 inspection fee.
"We do get a lot of TVs - LCDs and Plasmas - sent in, and most are usually repairable for less than the cost of buying a new one," he said. But, as Which? says, you shouldn't have to pay a penny, even if the guarantee has expired, if the goods are faulty and less than six years old.
The steps you can take
1. Contact the retailer's head office: You won't get any joy from youthful shop staff or call centres. Be firm and explain you think your product hasn't lasted a reasonable amount time. You want it to be investigated and repaired, or replaced if it turns out to be faulty.
2. Get an independent report: A major retailer is likely to have its own repairs centre or an arrangement with the manufacturer, but this may result in sky-high call out charges. Contact an independent repairer and ask it to produce a report. Most of the independents we contacted charged between £30 and £40 to visit and many would write a short report as part of the cost. You can claim back up to £200 for the costs of the repairer's bill.
3. Commission a repair: Ask the retailer to repair or replace the goods. If the repair cost is disproportionate the retailer can offer a refund of the original purchase price, though probably not a full refund. If the shop makes life difficult you can ask go to an independent repairer and reclaim the whole cost. Make sure they provide evidence of the fault.
4. Be prepared to battle: The company could refuse to refund the repair cost, leaving you to chase them through the small claims court. A judge can order the retailer to settle the claim - up to £5,000 - and pay legal costs. For information on taking a case to the small claims court, read our guide published last week (theguardian.com/money). Consumer Direct is the government's new online and telephone advice line. Call an adviser on 08454 04 05 06.
The Department of Trade & Industry says the rules are clear and as long as you have evidence of a fault the judge will be sympathetic. But David Oughton, professor of consumer law at De Montfort University in Leicester, says an EU Directive has muddied the waters. "The presumption underlying the new rules is that you have two years to make a case." He says judges may override the old rules giving protection up to six years.
A spokeswoman for the DTI says: "There is a common misunderstanding that the EU Directive requires a two-year guarantee to be given, but that is not the case. UK law in practice provides better protection for consumers than the two-year minimum required by the EU - consumers are able to pursue relevant claims for up to six years (five in Scotland)."