faults outside warranty

[tricot39]

We have a tv computer combined unit which was expensive. We got it a month before ds turned up and we never really got to grips with niggles. That was 3.5 years ago. Last year it blew a 10A fuse. We paid 150 to have it serviced and checked out. There were no obvious faults and it was assumed to be a power surge. By then we had a youbg dd and didnt have time to chase up an insurance claim. Last night it blew another fuse. This could be borderline dangerous.As we are out of warranty i called the insurance company. They say we are covered for power surge or accidental damage but not wear & tear.Basically this was a bad purchase that has had problems which would have warranted return if we had been on the case but this fuse thing is the final straw. If insurance will not cover it are we too late to take this up with the retailer. Sale of goods should still apply?

After 3.5 years it is far too late to reject the goods and demand your money back. You may still be entitled to demand that the retailer repairs or replaces the item but, as it is over 6 months old, it will be up to you to prove that the fault (if there is one) is not ordinary wear & tear or damage you caused and that the unit should have lasted longer than it has. You may therefore need to get a report from an expert to back up your case that the unit has always been faulty or has failed earlier in its life than it should.

Against you is the fact that it was examined last year and no faults were found. If it does have a fault that existed at that time you may have a claim against whoever serviced it.

Thanks for the reply. I will speak to the guys who serviced it last year. They are the manufacturer's prefered people. They were happy to write a report last year but all our efforts went into getting the data backed up and i didnt follow up. I will see what they can write for us now.

The faults we found too late come up on Google as affecting other units. The dvd unit seems to be defective. Grrr