Return of faulty goods

[talkssense]

Wonder if anyone can help with a consumer law issue, from the retailers point of view.

Customer purchases electrical item from retailer, who in turn had purchased from a reseller, who presumably had purchased direct from manufacturer.

The manufacturer has their own local service partner who deal with all repair work for them, in or out of warranty and regardless of place or country of purchase.

Item fails after a few months and is returned to retailer, who in turn delivery to service centre. Communication between end customer and service centre is then direct.

12 months later the customer demands a refund from the retailer, as the unit has subsequently been in for further repair whilst under warranty and has now failed again out of the warranty period.

The service agent, manufacturer, and reseller are all saying the item is now out of warranty and any refund should be supplied directly by the retailer - which is me.

Question is, if the consumer has a right to claim against me, surely I have the right to claim via the reseller or manufacturer rather than being the one who ends up £1700 out of pocket?

Does anyone have any advice or experience to offer other than don't be the mug who buys all the display items and deals with all the hassle from customers to generate sales to line the pockets of people who then refuse to support you? It would be much appreciated.

Thanks