Who should replace a faulty kettle?

On 10 June last year I bought a Kenwood toaster and kettle set from an Ebay seller, JJP Enterprises. The set had a two-year guarantee.

When the kettle became faulty within six months it was impossible to get JJP Enterprises to honour the warranty as the company would not reply to emails. Consumer Direct suggested I take the matter to the small claims court.
Roger Gray

Before taking this to the small claims court, Mr Gray asked if we had any suggestions. He said initially JJP Enterprise had been very helpful about replacing the toaster, which was damaged when it arrived, but that numerous emails since about the kettle have not been answered by the company.

First we needed to find out if the warranty is underwritten by the Ebay retailer or offered by Kenwood. Mr Gray also needs to check the terms and conditions of the warranty to make sure the fault he has talked about will be covered.

We suspect the warranty is a Kenwood offer and nothing to do with the retailer as happens in most cases. If this is the case Kenwood is legally responsible for honouring the warranty.

Mr Gray will have to contact the company and if he hasn’t filled in the warranty form that came with the set when he first bought it, ensure he has proof of purchase. If the warranty was offered by the retailer then it must honour this.

Alternatively he can try using the Sale of Goods (SoG) Act for redress and contact JJP and explain that he believes the kettle is inherently faulty. The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations, an amendment to the SoG, states that it is not up to a consumer to prove the fault if it occurs within the first six months.

JJP must prove the damage that caused the fault was accidental, as we don’t believe fair wear and tear would apply after only six months.

The fact that Mr Gray has been trying to contact the retailer and it has ignored his emails should still allow him to apply the six-month rule, even though it is now months outside this time limit.

If this fails to work then he can of course seek redress from the small claims court but must ensure he can prove the fault is inherent.

We have contacted Kenwood on his behalf. Because there are a number of companies called JJP Enterprises, we are waiting for more information from Mr Gray.

Case update
We talked to Kenwood about Mr Gray getting a new kettle under the company’s two-year warranty.

Kenwood was very helpful. It told us that it would be happy to deal with the problem but Mr Gray had to be able to provide it with a warranty slip.

“Because it was bought on Ebay we need to know that it is not second-hand and being sold on by the seller,” the company told us.

This is perfectly fair because if it was being sold on then Kenwood told us that, under its terms and conditions, the warranty would be invalid. We contacted Mr Gray but sadly he only has his Paypal receipt and was not supplied with a warranty slip.

So we again tried to contact JJP Enterprises but found the phone was out of order. We have also again emailed the company and contacted it via its web form.

But we have to be realistic. Unless we hear back from the company there is nothing further we can do for Mr Gray. He told us Consumer Direct had said he could take it to the small-claims court, which he can.

It may not be worth his while and even if he did win his case, getting his money back could be difficult if the company does not abide by the court ruling. If we do hear back from JJP then we will let you know.