Are manufacturer's warranty repairers allowed to demand your receipt?

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I’ve had an interesting experience with LG. We had an issue with one of their (Choice recommended) TVs; it was loosing it external sound configuration every time the TV was turned off. It was connected to an amplifier and it was meant to automatically start the amp up when the TV was turned on. The TV reverted to the TV speakers. It did this for about a year, and then started to fail, until it never started the amp up.

I went through the manual’s diagnostics, eventually doing a full factory reset of the TV. The sound configuration just wouldn’t work.

Eventually went back to the large retailer, expained the problem and they offered a warranty repair…. They passed the claim on to LG electronically, apparently along with a copy of the receipt which they still had on their computer system.

All good so far. Got a call from LG who asked for the serial number, and confirmed that the TV was under just in factory warranty, and if not then statutory warranty covered it, and would organise their authorised repairer to visit to fix the fault.

The authorised repairer called, but would not proceed until I sent them a copy of the receipt, as that was their company policy. I advised that I didn’t believe this was required as I had proven the warranty bona fides to the retailer, and LG. They insisted they wouldn’t proceed until I sent the receipt to them. I sent it in and the booking was made.

The techs came out and after much testing with their equipment agreed that it was a fault that they had never see, and for my piece of mind they offered to replace the motherboard at no cost. Amazingly, the fault disappeard. Still all good. While they were there, I asked them why the other identical TV took so long for the sound to start the LG soundbar. They advised it was because it was on Bluetooth, and to connect it via HDMI cable. The techs said if there was any problem with the repaired TV to call them.

Maybe a week later the same loss of sound configuration problem started to re-occurred spasmodically on the repaired TV.

Most suprisingly, the other identical TV was now also losing it’s sound configuration. This TV was maybe two months older than the repaired one. So assuming it was the same issue, we went back to the retailer. Again no problem, statutory warranty repair offered. I asked for copies of both invoices, that the retailer said had sent off to LG just in case.

Same again. Provided the other serial number, LG also said statutory warranty applied. I also mentioned to them that their authorised repairer demanded the receipt to proceed. LG agreed that this was not right and said that this issue would be discussed with the repairer. LG then sent the info off to the same authorised repairer for both the TVs to be fixed.

Here’s where it get’s interesting! Again the repairer demanded a copy of the receipt. I explained that they cannot demand a copy of the receipt as the warranty claims have been verified by both the retailer and LG.

I got a call back from someone claiming to be a supervisor at the repair agent who made a number of startling claims:

  • They had very right to demand the receipts as they had to provide a copy to LG, and LG did not provide it to them. So therefor they would not proceed. I suggested that LG passing on a warranty claim should be proof enough.
  • They would not re-repair the repaired TV as it had been repaired once, and the fault has to be with our equipment, even though I explained that the fault had occurred when the techs attached their sound bar instead of the amp. I said that I cannot see how it can be our amp’s issue as it worked perfectly for a week. Anyway, under Australian Consumer Law, I have the right to have the fault (both material goods and/or service) fixed properly even if they attempted to fix it once.
  • She said that the other, two month older, TV which was out of manufacturer’s warranty would not be repaired and they didn’t do statutory warranty repairs. I asked if she was conversant with the Australian Consumer Law, and she insisted she was, and this was not covered by the ACL, because they only did manufacturer’s warranty repairs. Therefore they would not come out unless we paid for the repair of both TVs.

When I tried to explain the difference between manufacturer’s warranty and ACL, she insisted she was well versed in this and told me to take it up with LG.

I called LG back, and apparently they didn’t have copies of my receipts on their system, so their rep contacted the retailer and obtained copies. (Aside: It’s strange as I was told by two seperate retailer staff that the receipts were sent, so I’m not sure where the breakdown occurred.)

Anyway, LG is now going to get on to the repairer and supposedly have words with them, and send through the receipts. Now I will wait and see if the repaired will honour the warranty.

So I come back to my question: Is it OK for manufacturer’s repairers to demand receipts to proceed?

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Sorry to quote AI to you @meltam but I think this time the answer might be the right one? Although others might have a better explanation.
I also thought that having given proof of purchase to the retailer would have been enough, apparently not. And also there’s confusion if the retailer has forwarded your receipt at all.
Anyway, sorry to hear of your problem, hope gets resolved soon :folded_hands:

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The manufacturer can require receipts or satisfactory proof or purchase and date of purchase (which they appear to have). The repairer is contracted by the manufacturer to carry out the repairs (usually a work order). Once repaired, the repairer submits their invoice to the manufacturer to be reimbursed for their work. The ACL has been satisfied by the buyer providing the receipt or other satisfactory proof of payment to the manufacturer. The repairer has no need to sight the receipt, they are not contracting the work with the purchaser.

In the case of a retailer, it is almost the same. Once the proof of purchase has been provided to the retailer, then the retailer seeks reimbursement from the supplier for the refund cost, they pay for the repair or the replacement and seek reimbursement from the supplier, or they send the product to the supplier to decide what level of fault it is (and whether covered by ACL), and then supply the remedy required by the ACL (if it is a fault covered by the ACL).

Sometimes a serviceman is dispatched before proof has been provided and then the repairer as an agent for the supplier may need to sight the proof of purchase.

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This would be a situation of taking item back to the retailer and requesting the remedy. The repair business may only be contracting with the supplier, they may not take on ACL covered repairs at a retail level with a consumer. They are within their rights to ask for payment for a repair when they don’t have a work order to carry out the repair. If payment has been made for the repair, that cost might have to be sought from the retailer or supplier, by the consumer. This situation may be one where refusal to cover the cost of repair by the retailer or supplier, becomes difficult unless there have been unreasonable delays by the retailer/supplier to resolve the problem and so alternative solutions have been made.

When a supplier is unable to repair goods

If a supplier cannot repair the goods (for instance, because the supplier does not have the requisite parts) or cannot do so within a reasonable time, the consumer can:

• reject the goods and seek either a refund or replacement; or

• have the goods fixed elsewhere and claim reasonable costs from the supplier.

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Thanks for looking for answers for me.

I was happy to provide the retailer and the manufacturer copies of the receipts if requested. Neither wanted me to provide a receipt.

This is why it was so incongruous for the repairer to demand receipts.

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The repairer is acting as an agent of the manufacturer, and in effect is the manufacturer who is carrying out the repair. Being the manufacturer’s agent, they have the right to ask for proof of purchase no differently to the manufacturer.

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LG not having copies of the receipts might be the reason the repairers were asking for one.. :thinking:

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So the agent acting for the manufacturer, presumably engaged by the manufacturer (?) doubts the manufacturers request. Of course if they sub-let the work, the body to which the work has been passed to presumably request proof of purchase also…and then if they also pass on the work……REALLY? One would assume that the responsibility for verifying proof of purchase rests solely with the manufacturer, full stop.

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I would contend that the repairer should have sorted this out with LG.

If the repairer politely asked if I happened to have a copy, it would have been different. My issue was their demand for the receipt, and refusing to proceed unless I complied.

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No that is incorrect.

If a manufacturer’s service agent subcontracts out the repair, this is different to the situation at hand. The manufacturer isn’t subcontracting out the repair. If we assume a manufacturers service agent subcontracted the repair, a consumer would still deal with the manufacturers service agent and not the subcontractor.

It is common for manufacturers to have service agents. These are authorised to act on behalf of the manufacturer to do repairs. They in effect are the manufacturer and can ask for proof of purchase.

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The repairer is not the manufacturer. They are repair agents only. The manufacturer did not advise me otherwise. LG checked my claim before passing me on to the repairer for them to fix my TVs

If the manufacturer had devolved responsibility for checking the bona fides on my warranty claim to the repairer I would agree with your assertion.

In this case, the manufacturer was satisfied it was a valid warranty claim. The repairers were only the agent for determining if there was a manufacturing fault, and if there was a fault, the repair work.

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That is correct and what I stated above.

Being an agent of the manufacturer, they represent the manufacturer for the repair being carried out.

A manufacturers service agent can request proof of purchase for a number of reasons, no differently to a manufacturer or retailer. This is to:

  • confirm the faulty product is within the manufacturer’s warranty period (date of purchase)
  • confirm the product in question is that which has been outlined (the receipt details match that of the product).
  • confirm where the product was purchased (wasn’t second hand, bought overseas or a grey import for example)
  • confirm the product isn’t second hand (the person now with the product was the purchaser)

Say we assume LG has a service department at their head office. If one took a faulty product to this service department, they will most likely also ask for proof of purchase for the reasons outlined above. This would be irrespective of whether the same proof of purchase was provided to the retailer or manufacturer.

It is also worth noting that in relation to repairs, the ACCC states:

The product does not have to be in its original packaging, but a business is entitled to ask consumers to provide some form of proof of purchase, such as a receipt.

The ACCC doesn’t state that it is the retailer and manufacturer, not the manufacturer’s (or retailer’s) agent, who can only ask for proof of purchase. A manufacturer’s service agent falls under the term ‘business’ and thus is entitled to ask for some form of proof of purchase.

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Agree with your post above @phb especially in the light of the failure by LG to provide a copy of the receipt to the repairer. As you indicated proof of purchase is much more than a ‘paid’ receipt, it has date of purchase for warranty claims, items purchased, where purchased, total cost, and should have serial number of the item bought.

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