What general warranty exactly is mandated by law in the UK?

[Wizard-mag]

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:

1. 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?
   
   
2. 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.
   

[Patricia]

Here's a UK Goverment website on UK consumer rights:
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

And a BBC site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/

In general, you can claim against the retailer for selling faulty goods. (So that's the same as in the Czech Republic).

The manufacturer's guarantee is an extra. There is no fixed period. I have some items which have a lifetime guarantee. Others don't have a guarantee at all. And all the guarantees can be worthless if the manufacturer goes out of business.

Buying extended warranties is expensive and usually not worth the money (in my opinion).

[Wizard-mag]

Thanks for the links.

On the BBC website, I have found that "where goods bought after 31 March 2003 prove defective within six months of purchase, there's a presumption that they were defective when they were bought, in which case the seller is in breach of contract (Section 14 Sale of Goods Act)."

So it looks like there actually is a de facto six month law-mandated warranty that every seller of durable goods has to obey. Here the mandatory warranty is two years long.

Concerning the manufacturer's warranty, I am not longing for it in any way nor do I usually buy any extended warranties. I just wanted to make clear I am asking solely about the right to return goods mandated by law, especially because I have already had my share of dealings with manufacturers and now prefer to deal only with the seller, as it's much less fuss if the manufacturer is not very friendly (to the buyers, anyway). Sometimes even the seller is hard to deal with, which is why I got into this "Know your rights" business in the first place.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Wizard-mag

T
On the BBC website, I have found that "where goods bought after 31 March 2003 prove defective within six months of purchase, there's a presumption that they were defective when they were bought, in which case the seller is in breach of contract (Section 14 Sale of Goods Act)."

So it looks like there actually is a de facto six month law-mandated warranty that every seller of durable goods has to obey. Here the mandatory warranty is two years long.

I do not think you should call it warranty since that entails more. This is based on EU regulation and they hold two or three years. After six months they say that the seller can argue with you about it being a defecive when you bought it.