MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - What general warranty exactly is mandated by law in the UK?

Wizard-mag · 07-31-2008, 10:11 AM

As I am coming the UK in a few months, I have been trying to find out more about what warranty and returns policy is mandated by law there and I would be grateful for your information from practice on the following:

I have found that in practice most goods have one year warranty, but that Sales of Goods act says that all goods must be "of satisfactory quality", "fit for the purpose" and "as described" for a period of 6 years in the UK except in Scotland. As it seems that in practice you cannot submit faulty goods for return if it's after one year from buying the goods (unless you don't have extended manufacturer's warranty), I understand that this Sales of Goods act provision is not interpreted as relating to a full-fledged warranty allowing you to return goods with serious faults.

So am I right in concluding that there is no minimal hard warranty length prescribed by a specific regulation in the UK law and that the standard of one year is in fact dependent on each manufacturer's willingness?
If there is some mandatory hard warranty, is there any regulation of who concretely is in the end liable to the customer?

Here in the Czech Republic it's the seller of the goods, so if for example they try to send you off to some repair shop you have your doubts about or if they try to make you send it to some hell (furthermore possibly requiring that you do not send it through standard postal service) so that you would incur substantial shipping costs, you can simply submit to seller the goods together with a written description of the trouble and in 30 days they must return you the goods together with a written response, and it's only the seller who can charge you for submitting a product for return which they deem not to be faulty.

07-31-2008, 10:11 AM	#1
Wizard-mag Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 25 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Czech Republic	What general warranty exactly is mandated by law in the UK? As I am coming the UK in a few months, I have been trying to find out more about what warranty and returns policy is mandated by law there and I would be grateful for your information from practice on the following: I have found that in practice most goods have one year warranty, but that Sales of Goods act says that all goods must be "of satisfactory quality", "fit for the purpose" and "as described" for a period of 6 years in the UK except in Scotland. As it seems that in practice you cannot submit faulty goods for return if it's after one year from buying the goods (unless you don't have extended manufacturer's warranty), I understand that this Sales of Goods act provision is not interpreted as relating to a full-fledged warranty allowing you to return goods with serious faults. So am I right in concluding that there is no minimal hard warranty length prescribed by a specific regulation in the UK law and that the standard of one year is in fact dependent on each manufacturer's willingness? If there is some mandatory hard warranty, is there any regulation of who concretely is in the end liable to the customer? Here in the Czech Republic it's the seller of the goods, so if for example they try to send you off to some repair shop you have your doubts about or if they try to make you send it to some hell (furthermore possibly requiring that you do not send it through standard postal service) so that you would incur substantial shipping costs, you can simply submit to seller the goods together with a written description of the trouble and in 30 days they must return you the goods together with a written response, and it's only the seller who can charge you for submitting a product for return which they deem not to be faulty.