Statutory 6-Year warranty

[HughR]

Our school has a number of printers that have failed outside the 1 year manufacturers guarantee (Mainly HP's). Repairing the printers is financially non-viable, so they usually end up sitting gathering dust for several years then being thrown out. It is unlikely that the technicians here will receive training or facilities in printer repair, so we usually end up just buying a new printer to replace the failed printer.

 

Recently I heard that all electrical (and virtually anything manufactured) equipment sold in the UK is subject to a statutory 6-year warranty (5 in Scotland) under the 'Sale of Goods Act 1979' where the onus is on the vendor to supply goods fit for sale.

 

I was wondering if anyone has made such a claim, if not, why not and if so, what was the outcome. There is a standard letter template provided on one of the BBC consumer rights sites for buyers to make a claim from the supplier. The rules for 'distance buying' are the same as 'high-street' purchases, although if the goods were supplied from offshore, I'm not sure what the outcome would be.

 

Help and consumer advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[teejay]

A school is not classed as a consumer so is not covered by the Sale of Goods act, they are classed as a business so are covered by contract law so unfortunately the 5/6 year warranty does not apply for schools.

[pete]

Schools are not consumers, they are businesses. We've had this discussion before.

 

edit: teach me to refresh before posting.

[somabc]

The sale of goods act is not really a warranty as a printer could probably not be reasonably expected to live 5-6 years.

 

In general, the onus is on all purchasers to prove the goods did not conform to contract (e.g. was inherently faulty) and should have reasonably lasted until this point in time (i.e. perishable goods do not last for six years).

[HughR]

Thank you all for your responses - sorry I searched for a thread like this but was unable to find one.

 

I thought it sounded too good to be true (at least for the school anyway), so back to the drawing board.