Replacement items warranty

[teash]

Bought a tent back in december and upon its first outing last week we noticed some major problems with it. Anyway took it back to the shop today and they replaced it without any fuss. Now my concern is here, when I asked about the new tents warranty starting from today I was told the warranty ends in december which is when the original tent was bought.
Surely this cant be right or is it down to each individual retailer to have their own policies???

Many thanks

[emeritus]

My understanding is that replacement items are guaranteed from the original purchase date not the date that the item is replaced.

[Buenchico]

'Warranties' and 'guarantees' are entirely separate from your statutory rights. They are 'gifts' from manufacturers (or, less commonly, from retailers). As such, they can be as liberal or as restricted as the giver wishes them to be.

For example, a tent company could give you a guarantee which only came into effect when you returned their defective product back to their factory in China in person, between 11pm and midnight on a Thursday with an even-numbered date, while singing the Mongolian national anthem backwards in the nude. Such a guarantee would be perfectly legal but it wouldn't take away your statutory rights (which are with the retailer, not the manufacturer).

Most guarantees/warranties are provided by manufacturers, rather than by retailers, and it's standard practice for the guarantee/warranty on a replacement product to start from the original purchase date, rather than from the date of replacement.

Chris

[teash]

Many thanks emeritus and Chris for your replies. What I should have done is accept the offer of a refund and then bought the tent from them but hey ho :)

[gingejbee]

Although the answers above are correct, you can be lucky with some retailers. I returned a faulty DVD recorder ( one year of it's two year warranty used) to John Lewis and it was replaced without question and I was given a new two year warranty as a "gesture of goodwill". That's why I always purchase this sort of stuff from JLP.

[Mosaic]

I returned an online purchase recently and only got my refund after promising to get trading standards on the case by this weekend. Chris is correct about your statutory rights, but some traders don't half try it on.

[spudqueen]

We purchased a TV from Asda in 2000, with a 2 year guarantee. About 18 months later the TV broke down, we took it back to Asda and got a new one, with a new 2 year guarantee. About 18 months later the replacement TV broke down, we took it back to Asda and got another new TV with another 2 year guarantee. (This third TV is still going strong)
And that's why I like Asda!

[bednobs]

you like asda cause their crappy goods keep breaking down??

[spudqueen]

Ah bednobs, but it wasn't an Asda TV, I just bought it there. I'm not sure I'd have got the same good service, or the willingness to just give us a new one with a new guarantee each time at some other places.