Sale of goods act - 6 year warranty ?

[Novoiceleft]

Water to our house is supplied by a large pump which pulls water off the mains.

I have just had to replace the £700 pump because the old one failed. The old pump is only 35 months old and I was told by the manufacturer that it is out of the 30 month warranty period - so not covered. Very annoying.

A friend has told me that I should pursue a claim under the Sale of Goods act which gives a 6 year guarantee.

Fair enough - I can investigate that. But who am I claiming against? The old pump was installed by a plumber, who got it from a local supplier who presumably got it from the manufacturer. The only paperwork I have is the original invoice from the plumber. The serial/model number on the pump provides the date of manufacture - which is how the manufacturer was able to deduce the end of their warranty period when I called them about this.

All advice appreciated

NoVoice

[Slarti]

Your contract is with the plumber, so you claim off him.

He claims off the his supplier, who claims of his.


No idea if there is a 6 year warranty under sale of goods, I always thought that it was just reasonable expectation of life for the item, so some things will be only 6 months, others much, much longer.

I'd have thought that 35 months for a £700 pump was a bit on the short side.

Slarti

[Clitheroekid]

A friend has told me that I should pursue a claim under the Sale of Goods act which gives a 6 year guarantee.

With friends like that ...

The Sale of Goods Act was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act on 1 October 2015. However, as your pump was bought before the CRA came into force it would still be governed by the Sale of Goods Act

This basically said that goods sold must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. It does not in any way provide a `guarantee'. You have to prove your case. In your situation this would mean proving that the pump was not of satisfactory quality and/or that it was not fit for purpose.

The mere fact that it has broken down after 3 years is not, of itself, evidence of either. In order to prove your claim to the satisfaction of the judge you would therefore have to produce expert evidence from some sort of water pump engineer confirming that the pump was defective. However, bearing in mind that the pump only cost £700 you could well find that the cost of the evidence might well be approaching the cost of a new pump.

Although the court can award the cost of such an expert (up to £750) you may well find that having paid a few hundred quid for the report the expert doesn't support your claim anyway.

If you went ahead without such evidence you'd be taking a high risk of losing. Although I obviously can't comment on the expected life of such a pump my instinct says that you would be wasting your time and money suing the plumber. The average small claims judge would probably take the view that 3 years was quite a long time for the pump to have run and that it had just worn out.

Remember the burden of proof is on you, and that if the judge is in any real doubt he must give the benefit of that doubt to the plumber.

I suspect your friend was inadvertently referring to the limitation period for bringing a claim. The law says that if you want to sue someone for breach of contract you normally have only 6 years from the date of the contract to do so.

[PaulBullet]

As others have said I don't think you will get anywhere with the claim against the plumber

I would call the manufacturer, and say you where recommended the pump and are upset that it only lasted X months and that you would expect more from them. You will probably not get a new pump but may get a percentage from a new one.

[jackdaww]

you could try raising it on social media ie twitter - stick to the facts .

the manufacturer may not like to see their name being called into question.

also try an email to the manufacturer CEO .

these pumps should last c.20 years at least

[JonE]

The serial/model number on the pump provides the date of manufacture - which is how the manufacturer was able to deduce the end of their warranty period when I called them about this.

I'd have thought it unusual for a warranty to be from the date of manufacture rather than the date of eventual purchase.

You say it's 35 months old (presumably per manufacturer's info) but how long have you had it? Perhaps the pump had been sat in the supply chain for over 5 months.

Do you have access to their warranty documentation (on website?) to check T&Cs?

Cheers!

[PaulBullet]

I'd have thought it unusual for a warranty to be from the date of manufacture rather than the date of eventual purchase.

The manufacturer has no control of it in the supply chain, it could sit there for 10 years (unlikely I know)

The 30 months is probably a 2 year warranty + 6 months in the supply chain

Now if we are talking about the person who sold it to the plumber or the plumber and they said a 30 month warranty then this would be a different matter.

remember you have no contract with the manufacturer

Paul