EU Consumer Law - claiming after moving EU countries.

galwayguy85

Hi Guys.

My laptop computer which I purchased while still living in Ireland has broken down. The manufacture's warranty has of course expired but I am still within the 2 year EU warranty claim period.

I am quite tech savvy and have diagnosed the fault to be a hardware one.

I purchased the machine directly from the seller/manufacture through their online store. I had order numbers to prove the date of purchase etc.

I now live within another EU country and when I called the seller/manufacturer (they're the same in this instance - I know that consumer law is normally taken with the seller) they tried to fob me off by saying that I could only pursue EU consumer law from the country of purchase. The company in question has its EU headquarters in Ireland, but let's not call them out by name please.

Is there any merit at all to what they've told me? I would tend to doubt it. Why have EU Consumer laws in place if you are so restricted in how you may pursue them.

Thanks for any feedback guys.

dudara

The contract of sale was completed in Ireland, that is the jurisdiction that covers it.

In our case, we never enacted the 2 year EU rule, as our law is stronger. I'd engage with the seller again reminding them of their obligations under Irish law, followed by a registered letter.

Tigger

What's wrong with the laptop ?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Tigger wrote: »

What's wrong with the laptop ?

To be honest, the fault is irrelevant to the Consumer Issue raised.

GerardKeating

dudara wrote: »

The contract of sale was completed in Ireland, that is the jurisdiction that covers it.

In our case, we never enacted the 2 year EU rule, as our law is stronger. I'd engage with the seller again reminding them of their obligations under Irish law, followed by a registered letter.

Could they insist that the OP deals with the original retailer back in Ireland?

Former Former

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Hi Guys.

My laptop computer which I purchased while still living in Ireland has broken down. The manufacture's warranty has of course expired but I am still within the 2 year EU warranty claim period.

I am quite tech savvy and have diagnosed the fault to be a hardware one.

I purchased the machine directly from the seller/manufacture through their online store. I had order numbers to prove the date of purchase etc.

I now live within another EU country and when I called the seller/manufacturer (they're the same in this instance - I know that consumer law is normally taken with the seller) they tried to fob me off by saying that I could only pursue EU consumer law from the country of purchase. The company in question has its EU headquarters in Ireland, but let's not call them out by name please.

Is there any merit at all to what they've told me? I would tend to doubt it. Why have EU Consumer laws in place if you are so restricted in how you may pursue them.

Thanks for any feedback guys.

They're right (to some extent).

There is only a Directive - which has to be transposed into national law by each country, only each country does it slightly differently. So while the basic framework is laid down by the EU, the practical application is done at a national level.

So you have to make a claim under Irish law, but I'm not sure why you would physically need to be in Ireland to do so. However, I could understand why the seller would insist that any returns etc would have to be done in Ireland.

What do you want to happen? Are you going to return the laptop?

galwayguy85

I called them again this morning. 
They really put me through the ringer already.  I made my EU consumer law claim in Gemany (where I currently reside) through an independent 'service provider' they employee for such things.  The long and the short of it was I needed to call the seller/manafacturer (the same thing in the case) to get from them a receipt for the product so that I could give back to them(via the service provider) what they had in the first place???  Madness. Of course it took an age to get as they kept sending it to my old email address despite my making clear it has since changed.
Back to the call, I stood my ground with them about consumer law in the EU as well as the debacle in getting the receipt/invoice they had all along so they agreed to back down and give me a free repair.  All in all about 3 weeks from start to finish. 
Maybe it was just plain human goodwill and little to do with directives etc that got me the result.

Lux23

Next time contact the European Consumer Centre - they can actually intervene on your behalf.

http://www.eccireland.ie/

galwayguy85

Cool. Thanks for the tip Lux23