Returning a faulty product / consumer protection ?

dpajur

My apologies if this isn't the right forum for this post, I thought it would be most appropriately placed here.

I have a problem and not sure how to go about rectifying it.
I bought a TV set from Dixons 5 days ago, brought it home, set it up and watched some TV that night. And I noticed a subtle sound like a fly being trapped in the curtain after a while, and went about trying to find out where the darn fly was... After looking everywhere I waited for the sound to show up again and hit mute button for the TV - it was gone that instant!

I gave the telly a good few days to see if the problem will go away, but it doesn't. And I don't think it happens on all the channels, but on the one I've watched most frequently - Sky One, it happens a lot. Just as you lay down and try to relax this quiet subtle buzzing noise appears out of nowhere. And you could be watching the TV for half an hour and thought everything's fine when it hits you again. Needless to say, it's not very relaxing watching the TV with a "fly" buzzing around the room.

I brought the TV back to Dixons today, told them what the problem was and they wanted to check it themselves. They've hooked it up to a Playstation and said they cannot see anything wrong with it. I explained to them that I had it hooked up to cable, and not a Playstation. Then they hooked it up to a DVD player and everything looked well. After a lot of persuasing they hooked it up to a cable that had only two channels. The problem still wasn't showing up. Or at least none of us noticed it, since Dixons is quite a busy and noisy place. They then said that the TV looks fine to them, and that they cannot offer a replacement or a refund, and they told me it must be a problem on my end. Now I have another TV here which works perfectly well, without adding noises of it's own, and I told them that. It didn't take me anywhere though, they only offered to send it off to be tested.

Does anyone have an idea what I could do to get a fully working TV, or is this a lost cause? The problem obviously isn't showing up for them, but then again they don't have the same environment as me - they don't have the same channel, and they have a lot of background noise in the shop.

I'll appreciate any suggestions here.

phaxx

I used to have a monitor here that gave out a high pitched whine - nobody else in the house could hear it, and were wondering why I kept slapping the thing lightly to make it stop. A friend has an old amiga monitor that does the same, only worse, I can hear it anywhere in the house when it's on - nobody else hears it.

*shrug*

As for what to do, I don't know - ask to change the tv for a different model and see if it still happens.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

As a first point of reference check out a laymans explanation of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 here...
http://www.consumerassociation.ie/how_to_complain/know_your_rights.htm

Also see what retailers can and cannot do in dealing with valid complaints here...
http://www.consumerassociation.ie/how_to_complain/retailers.htm

Just for future reference...
If avoidable, dont buy anything in Dixons- Their staff have strict instructions to be picky like this with returns- If you are buying fairly generic electrical goods in the future, may I recommend Argos. Mainly because they operate a 16 day no quibble money back Guarentee, and it really is NO quibble:)

BTW, about 3 years ago I was in the one in Dun Laoighre- in January and someone was bringing back Christmas Toys- Buzz LightYears and the likes,with no boxes or anything, and they just handed her back £100- her excuse was the kids didn't like them, but because it was inside the 16 days they were obliged !

dpajur

Thanks for your help guys. What I'm actually thinking is, the consumer protection act states they must offer a replacement or a refund if the product is faulty. But how do you prove you have a problem with the product? They're saying everything's ok and they can have it tested if I want to. And I'm saying I have a problem with the sound, and the other television doesn't do it, so as far as I can see it has to be the new TV I bought.

I don't think the store will ever send anybody here to check it out, and frankly I couldn't blame them for that. And after I send it out to be tested by their technicians and they say it works fine, I don't really see an option for taking it further.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

OK personally if I were you I would either...

-Go back to Dixons and see if by chance you just speak to a more sympathetic ear or less of a stickler- or even bring it to another branch.

-Try big stick tactics- print off a copy of the above 1980 act and quote the "mechantable quality" provision or threat to go the small Claims Court url]http://www.odca.ie/smlclaim.htm[/url

or try more underhand tactics, of which I couldn't possibly elaborate on
[The Beastie Boys had a song name of said tactic- the one with video of the 70's cop show parody ]

Xterminator

Just a thought.

I used to have NTL cable. When I listened to ITV on my TV there was a buzz sound. I assumed was the quality of the sound from the cable. After all most other channells were fine on the TV. Perhaps its not the TV?

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