I purchased a Vanity Light fitting from Bunnings two and a half years ago. There was an intermittent fault for the past 5 months and the light has now permanently failed. The light has a 2 year plus government statutory warranty. I was told by Bunnings to contact the manufacturer directly to organise warranty replacement. I lodged a warranty claim with the company and 4 weeks later I am yet to be contacted by them. I have tried two times so far to speak with someone only to be told the first time they were understaffed and it will take a while to process the claim, and the second time there was no answer by either staff member that handles the warranty claims when the receptionist tried to put my call through. I had to pay an electrician to have the light installed in the first place and I assume I will have to wear the cost to get the broken one replaced. Can I demand Bunnings deal with the Manufacturer or give me a refund?
Hi @jode, welcome to the forum.
You can say the name of the company if you wish as forum members may be able to find the best method to contact the manufacturer/distributor.
Simple answer yes in relation to Bunning being responsible for resolving. A refund, this may not be possibleâŠread the link below. A light failing may not be classed major fault as light bulbs are usually consumable and replaceable items associated with a fitting. If the bulb canât be changed (which can happen with more modern LED lighting), in such case, the bulb failing could be a major fault.
It is worth noting your consumer rights. The ACCC make it clear that under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL),
The seller also must not refuse to deal with a customer about the returned good and tell them to deal with the manufacturer instead.
If Bunnings wonât deal with the issue, then they are not meeting their obligations under the ACL.
I suggest that you print a copy of the above link showing Bunnings obligations under the ACL, and then approach Bunnings indicating that they have the responsibility to resolve the warranty claim.
Good luck and keep us posted of how you get on.
If you get fobbed off again deliver a formal Letter of Complaint to Bunnings management using the ACCC template and following the ârulesâ. You will see a number of relevant topics on the left of the linked page.
You may be aware Harvey Norman franchisees have had significant fines for telling their customers they had no obligation to honour the consumer guarantee. Just one of them.
Hi @Jode
Welcome to the forum.
I hope that you have some sort of trail of reporting the light fitting being faulty for five months, such as emails you sent or records of visits to Bunnings to report the fault, etc. Otherwise consideration of the fault starts from the day you first report it.
The above quote caught my attention as neither retailers nor manufacturers provide Government Staturory Warranties. Therefore I am assuming that you are talking about the manufacturerâs warranty. In addition, the length of Statutory Warranties varies with the value of the purchase and the expectation relating to the usual life of that range of products.
Manufacturerâs Warranties are always very precise and explicit in the period covered, so I am unclear what the âplusâ means when you say two years âplusâ. What period does the manufacturerâs warranty acutually stipulate? Can you provide a photo of the warranty card?
The light fittings I have bought from Bunnings all came with a one year warranty, so in my opinion two years would be very good for a light fitting.
If as you say you are outside the manufacturerâs warranty by six months. Bunnings donât have to do anything in relation to the manufacturerâs warranty. Instead, you may be able to fall back on the Statutory Warranty which comes under the auspices of the Australian Consumer Law and ask Bunnings to act on that as previous posts have indicatedâŠ
As far as the ACL is concerned, a two year warranty is probably very reasonable for a Bunnings cost level light fitting. Therefore I am not sure you would be able to reasonably argue under the ACL that a light fitting should have a longer warranty unless it was mightily expensive.
Finally, my experience and others who have written on the forum is that Bunnings is usually very good on replacing faulty goods even after the warranty expires, so I am wondering why in this case they are hesitant.
Perhaps it had to be done through the manufacturer as the light is hard wired in by an electrician so not just able to take it back to store. Good news though, this afternoon I called the lighting company again and they are sending me a replacement.
I take this as the consumer quarantee under the Australian Consumer Law.
This is good news.
No, in the case of items fixed or too big (e.g. fridge) to return, a retailer is still principally responsible for resolving any warranty/consumer guarantee claims. A retailer, e.g. Bunnings, must help you when approached and canât push you to contact the manufacturer.
A consumer like youself can chose whether to approach a retailer or the manufacturer (see ACCC link above). It is not the retailer who makes this decision which Bunnings did in this case.
If you feel inclined, it may be worth sending a message to Bunnings head office outlining your experience and how staff at the store in questions did not meet their Australian Consumer Law obligationsâŠin relation to not helping you and pushing you to contact the manufacturer when it was Bunnings responsibility to resolve. Hopefully Bunnings management provide training to the store staff on their ACL obligations.
Thanks for the photo.
It is clear now in that the document is poorly written. What it means is that the product is covered not only by a two year manufacturerâs warranty but also by a statutory warranty.
I am very glad that you have reached what I hope is a satisfactory resolution. You could try to push your luck and ask the manufacturer to send an electrician, or cover the cost of one, to install the replacement.
