Microsoft only offer 1 year warranty

nathancool · 24-09-2020 4:46pm #1

I bought an Xbox elite controller about a year and a half ago and it has started to fall apart. I was on to MS today and they said Ireland only has 1 year warranty. Is this correct? The controller cost was about 200 euro

Jim_Hodge · 24-09-2020 7:15pm

Warranty doesn't affect your consumer rights though.

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 7:18pm

Contact the retailer, you have a two year minium cover with upto six years to make a claim in Ireland. If you get no joy with them, you can use the small claims procedure but you may be asked to produce a report stating there was a manufacturing defect.

runawaybishop · 24-09-2020 7:21pm

nathancool wrote: »

I bought an Xbox elite controller about a year and a half ago and it has started to fall apart. I was on to MS today and they said Ireland only has 1 year warranty. Is this correct? The controller cost was about 200 euro

Who did you buy it off? If the warranty has expired then you should be dealing with them.

Get on to who you bought the item from and mention a 200 euro controller should not fall apart after 1.5 years and you would like a repair, refund or a replacement.

24-09-2020 9:58pm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Contact the retailer, you have a two year minium cover with upto six years to make a claim in Ireland. If you get no joy with them, you can use the small claims procedure but you may be asked to produce a report stating there was a manufacturing defect.

Is the warranty not dependent on what the manufacturer sets it at? How much an the OP have 2 year minimum warranty if MS only provide 1 year warranty?

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 10:02pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Is the warranty not dependent on what the manufacturer sets it at? How much an the OP have 2 year minimum warranty if MS only provide 1 year warranty?

EU law sets out a minimum two year warranty for products sold in the EU to consumers. This is with the seller/retailer Ireland has to interpret it's own laws which allows claims for up to six years, inline with EU directives. However the manufacturer can set whatever they like unless they sell to consumers directly.

24-09-2020 10:07pm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

EU law sets out a minimum two year warranty for products sold in the EU. This is with the seller/retailer Ireland has to interpret it's own laws which allows claims for up to six years, inline with EU directives. However the manufacturer can set whatever they like unless they sell to consumers directly.

That's interesting, I always assumed it was set by a manufacturer

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 10:09pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That's interesting, I always assumed it was set by a manufacturer

You can go back to the manufacturer if you want and they are free to limit that support. Retailers are bound by consumer law which is quite favourable to the consumer.

24-09-2020 10:24pm

"Warranty" and "Consumer Rights" are completely separate, and basically unrelated.

Your warranty is entirely dependent on what the manufacturer (or sometimes the retailer, depending on who is providing the warranty) says at the time of purchase. The terms of your warranty are exactly what is contained in the warranty: no more, no less. If the warranty says it only covers green products purchased between the hours of 0200 and 0500 on the weekend of a full moon, then the warranty only covers those.

Consumer rights only apply between the customer and the retailer, are set down in law, and are almost always much stronger than a warranty - warranties are written by the company providing them, consumer rights were written by legislators. Most of the consumer rights legislation is contained in the Sale of Goods and Services Act. There are three main rules that a retailer must follow when selling goods/services - they must be:

Of merchantable quality
Fit for the purpose they were bought for
As described

There's quite a lot of case law precedent and ancillary legislation governing the exact details, but those are the fundamentals

The main advantage of a warranty is that some manufacturers are easier to deal with than some retailers. For example, you can get a Google Pixel phone from Vodafone. If it randomly explodes within 6 months, you can deal with Google's customer service and get it replaced within 2 days under warranty, or spend a month chasing your tail with Vodafone trying to get various representatives to understand what "consumer rights" means. The ultimate outcome is the same (phone replaced), but the warranty option is quicker. However, if you're past the warranty period, you could spend two months trying to persuade Google to replace your phone (they won't), or one month with Vodafone.

OP, if you're outside your warranty, contact your retailer and exercise your consumer rights

Darc19 · 24-09-2020 10:29pm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Contact the retailer, you have a two year minium cover with upto six years to make a claim in Ireland. If you get no joy with them, you can use the small claims procedure but you may be asked to produce a report stating there was a manufacturing defect.

Where is this 2 year minimum cover? Did it come in today as I've never heard of it.

To the op. Don't believe everything people say online.

If you can show that it is a manufacturing fault and that the item should last longer than it did, then you have entitlement to repair, replacement or refund. (you don't get to choose which)

Some places do err by quoting a warranty which is in addition to your rights, so it's not the manufacturer warranty you are claiming on, but the consumer protection of the sale of goods act.

So do some checking, see if it's a known problem, show that this is a manufacturer problem and request repair or replacement.

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 10:33pm

Darc19 wrote: »

Where is this 2 year minimum cover? Did it come in today as I've never heard of it.

To the op. Don't believe everything people say online.

If you can show that it is a manufacturing fault and that the item should last longer than it did, then you have entitlement to repair, replacement or refund. (you don't get to choose which)

Some places do err by quoting a warranty which is in addition to your rights, so it's not the manufacturer warranty you are claiming on, but the consumer protection of the sale of goods act.

So do some checking, see if it's a known problem, show that this is a manufacturer problem and request repair or replacement.

Do you understand indirect effect of EU law?

Firblog · 24-09-2020 10:34pm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

EU law sets out a minimum two year warranty for products sold in the EU to consumers. This is with the seller/retailer Ireland has to interpret it's own laws which allows claims for up to six years, inline with EU directives. However the manufacturer can set whatever they like unless they sell to consumers directly.

That EU Law has never been transposed into irish law, so retailer only has to offer 1 year warranty (afik); never have been able to figure out what 'your statutory rights' are, they don't seem to be actually defined anywhere, (anyone willing to post link to where they're defined will be thanked)

Varik · 24-09-2020 10:35pm

There's no 2 year minimum, and the 6 years is from when the issue occurs. It's not an upper limit on how long it should last.

A €200 consoler would be expected to last longer than a standard one, and that's how any scc decision would go.

No controller should outright "fall apart" even after a decade so it depends on what you mean, dirt get's everywhere and can cause buttons to stick and inputs to either not work or give false inputs/drift.

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 10:37pm

Firblog wrote: »

That EU Law has never been transposed into irish law, so retailer only has to offer 1 year warranty (afik); never have been able to figure out what 'your statutory rights' are, they don't seem to be actually defined anywhere, (anyone willing to post link to where they're defined will be thanked)

The national courts have to interpret Irish law as if the Directive was properly transposed. They can do that quite simply due to the six year limitation period we have.

newirishman · 24-09-2020 10:39pm

Firblog wrote: »

That EU Law has never been transposed into irish law, so retailer only has to offer 1 year warranty (afik); never have been able to figure out what 'your statutory rights' are, they don't seem to be actually defined anywhere, (anyone willing to post link to where they're defined will be thanked)

Wrong.

Look here https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer/consumer_laws/your_rights_as_consumer_in_ireland.html

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 10:39pm

Varik wrote: »

There's no 2 year minimum, and the 6 years is from when the issue occurs. It's not an upper limit on how long it should last.

A €200 consoler would be expected to last longer than a standard one, and that's how any scc decision would go.

No controller should outright "fall apart" even after a decade so it depends on what you mean, dirt get's everywhere and can cause buttons to stick and inputs to either not work or give false inputs/drift.

The six year limitation is from date of purchase.

24-09-2020 10:41pm

Firblog wrote: »

That EU Law has never been transposed into irish law, so retailer only has to offer 1 year warranty (afik); never have been able to figure out what 'your statutory rights' are, they don't seem to be actually defined anywhere, (anyone willing to post link to where they're defined will be thanked)

While it's true that it hasn't been transposed, the only reason it hasn't been is that Irish law is deemed to already have the same effect. If it turned out that Irish law did not already have the same effect of the EU directive, you could appeal to the EU courts and have it overturned (with the side effect that Irish law would need to be re-written).

Your statutory rights are (largely) set out in the Sale of Goods and Services Act

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 10:44pm

28064212 wrote: »

While it's true that it hasn't been transposed, the only reason it hasn't been is that Irish law is deemed to already have the same effect. If it turned out that Irish law did not already have the same effect of the EU directive, you could appeal to the EU courts and have it overturned (with the side effect taht Irish law would need to be re-written).

Your statutory rights are (largely) set out in the Sale of Goods and Services Act

This was discussed in Legal Discussions. The EU directive lays out a guarantee period not a limitation period as I used to think due to the wording of article 5.

Darc19 · 24-09-2020 10:47pm

A console should last more than two years if not abused. But a cheap recharger?

Hence its the "realistic expectancy" of a product that is the key and certainly not some made up two year rubbish that will be laughed at by anyone with even a cursory knowledge of consumer law

Firblog · 24-09-2020 11:01pm

newirishman wrote: »

Wrong.

Look here https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer/consumer_laws/your_rights_as_consumer_in_ireland.html

So if I buy a controller/any electronic item for €10, it should last 6 years? Isn't it more whatever the judge thinks the warranty should be based on the price you paid? so not really defined?

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 11:12pm

Firblog wrote: »

So if I buy a controller/any electronic item for €10, it should last 6 years? Isn't it more whatever the judge thinks the warranty should be based on the price you paid? so not really defined?

Should last two years unless that's unreasonable given the nature of the goods. Something like a disposable razor wouldn't be expected to last two years in fairness, something like a charger, would.

Sorry that should have said at least two years. You're right that after two years it's not defined and a 3000 quid TV should last longer than a 200 quid one. The purpose of the directive was to establish a baseline (two years) for the quality of goods being sold to consumers in the EU.

Samuel T. Cogley · 24-09-2020 11:59pm

OP for what it's worth theres a lot of discussion on reddit about the same issue and them giving a two year warranty in other member states. It might be worth trying to get the problem escalated by linking them to the Citizens Info link provided in thread assuming you get no joy with the retailer.

Varik · 25-09-2020 12:21am

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

The six year limitation is from date of purchase.

The six years is from when the breach occurred not from when the contract began, and is based on the statute of limitations for recourse and isn't limited to just the sales of goods and services act.

Samuel T. Cogley · 25-09-2020 2:03am

Varik wrote: »

The six years is from when the breach occurred not from when the contract began, and is based on the statute of limitations for recourse and isn't limited to just the sales of goods and services act.

Yes its Section 11, but the breach or rather lack of conformity has to be there at the outset so the accrual date is the start of the contract. Usually the date of purchase or delivery.

Edit: Also see the Citizens Information link.

Grab All Association · 17-10-2020 4:09am

Wouldn’t happen to be this product?

Microsoft only offer 1 year warranty

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