Am I entitled to a refund?

[Fink]

I had an expensive toothbrush. 1 year warranty. It gave up the ghost just under the 1 year so I was sent a free replacement, which was a new toothbrush. Now 10.5 months later the replacement has also stopped working.

Do you think I should be entitled to another replacement? I can see that on the one hand, the product that was paid for is by now well out of warranty. On the other hand, since they sent a brand new replacement, I do expect it to last more than 11 months.

Incidentally, I had another toothbrush of the same brand (Philips) just before the one that broke a year ago. It lasted 13 months so was just out of warranty. I know I probably shouldn't have bought another one, but it was a mixture of sunken costs fallacy (I already had the accessories to go with the Philips model) and optimism that the first one breaking had just been bad luck. It's now been 3 years, 3 toothbrushes, so I'm less inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

YABU: they can't be expected to give you a free toothbrush once a year forever!

YANBU: they should build a product that normally outlasts its standard warranty, especially if charging £150 for a blooming toothbrush.

I'm asking about your feelings re what the company should do, by the way. I realise that you can't predict how their customer services will actually handle it in practice. Basically - am I being entitled/ cheeky?

I agree with you, but having had similar issues in the past, I've been told the warranty relates to the original date of purchase, and therefore doesn't cover the new item for a year. Still worth asking though! Some places will honour it, on the grounds that an expensive item should last a reasonable amount of time

Most warranty only last one year after the original item was purchased, like my vax cleaner.

Your consumer rights state that you should expect an item to last for a reasonable period, in electrical items, that is normally regarded as six years, perhaps less for a small item such as a toothbrush, say, four years. A manufacturers guarantee does not override this. Contact the retailer and claim repair or replacement - or the cost of replacement less a deduction for the usage you have had.

Are you sure it's the brush? I thought my Philips had died, bought another, when I sat the old one on the new charger, it charged itself and now I have two toothbrushes, but only one working charger.

I’ve just watched a very interesting tv documentary on Netflix about how corporations these days build in something called “Planned Obsolescence “ - I.e their products are only designed to last 18 months or so, and are difficult to repair, basically forcing people to buy replacements for goods that we should legitimately expect to last at least 5 years. It’s disgraceful!

I bought a Dyson robot vacuum cleaner. It had a 2 year warranty and gave up after a year or so. After a bit of tooing and froing, I got a new one and they said it would only have 6 months warranty left. I wasn’t happy and argued it was way more than I would normally spend, and asked for another new 2-year warranty, which they agreed to quite quickly.
so, yes, I agree in principle and I think you should argue the toss if you have to. I would definitely buy Philips thinking it would last until the battery became rubbish

@ThisBrickPombear This is part of my problem. I would happily try a few of the repair hacks I've seen on YouTube, but there are multiple warnings that if you try to repair it yourself it will void the warranty. And I know from a previous model that attempted repairs are visible because getting to the battery involves damaging the casing. So I can't even see if it's something simple like a slightly loose connection.

@unsync Yes, I've tried a different charger, it's not that.

@Fink It's annoying because the Sonic toothbrushes give a really good clean, much better than Oral-B I found. I would try Philips directly, it may be they had a faulty batch, its worth a try.