Law on EU purchased products and UK warranty and back up

[elanfan]

I've been looking into the purchase of a robotic lawnmower (make is irrelevant to the question). The particular one I'm looking at has a RRP of £1199 in the UK but can be found quite easily for £999, again in the UK. It is for sale in Europe including UK delivery for £700 so a significant saving to be had.

I spoke to the UK distributor/agent and he couldn't account for why it was so much dearer here and speculated the EU supplier possibly sells loads of them and so gets a bigger discount.bhe went on to say that if I bought one my support, parts, even returns for work under guarantee would be in Europe and that they wouldn't support it. I can fully appreciate why, why should they not get the benefit of the sale and then be stuck with all the warranty issues, telephone support etc.

What I'm wondering though is. Is this legal or can a manufacturer specify the geographic area that his warranty applies to? I'd have thought this must breach EU regulations?

Anyone with a bit of knowledge care to enlighten me?

Thanks

[marshalla]

AFAIK the manufacturer can put whatever they want in the warranty conditions as the EU regulations, as enacted in national laws, make the retailer responsible for repair/refund.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/sho...

[elanfan]

Seems to be an unfair trading situation. These mowers in the US and in EU are significantly cheaper than here. Rip off Britain again.

[marshalla]

There's no law that stops you buying it from the mainland EU. You'll just have to take any problems to the retailer you choose to buy from.

[elanfan]

Yes but that is the problem. The U.K. Dealer has warned me that support from Europe is made difficult by that retailer plus the costs of sending it back or getting parts is increased. It just doesn't seem fair that the same machine is available in Europe or the US for £300 less. That's a 40% increase here which appears to be a rip off as there aren't any additional costs that I can see here.

Edited by elanfan on Sunday 5th June 15:16

[Magic919]

It's not a surprise that the UK firm tried to scare you.

[Tom_C76]

elanfan said:

Yes but that is the problem. The U.K. Dealer has warned me that support from Europe is made difficult by that retailer plus the costs of sending it back or getting parts is increased. It just doesn't seem fair that the same machine is available in Europe or the US for £300 less. That's a 40% increase here which appears to be a rip off as there aren't any additional costs that I can see here.

Edited by elanfan on Sunday 5th June 15:16

And what's the average income in the country you want to buy it from? Life's not fair, prices and wages both vary from country to country, and I'd imagine the latter has a bearing on the former.

At the end of the day it's not fair that I can buy a decent enough bottle of wine in a French supermarket for under 3€, but have yet to find a decent red below £6 over here. But that's life.

[elanfan]

Not only is the average income nearly £10k per year more (according to Google) there but they get to buy robot mowers cheaper too.

[anonymous-user]

elanfan said:

Seems to be an unfair trading situation. These mowers in the US and in EU are significantly cheaper than here. Rip off Britain again.

Happens n many sectors. Check the cost of mobiles, music streaming, most electronics.

We're not known as 'Treasure Island' for nothing........

[Trabi601]

REALIST123 said:

elanfan said:

Seems to be an unfair trading situation. These mowers in the US and in EU are significantly cheaper than here. Rip off Britain again.

Happens n many sectors. Check the cost of mobiles, music streaming, most electronics.

We're not known as 'Treasure Island' for nothing........

Isn't it more to do with exchange rates and relative earnings?

I don't know where this EU sourced mower is coming from, but if it were from Portugal, for example, 700 quid would be more than many people earn in a month from a full time job.

[mel]

I can make a pretty good guess which Mower and suppliers you are talking about as I've just been down the same path, I ended up talking to the manufacturer who confirmed what I had been told by the UK distributor that after the current stock was exhausted by the cheap supplier they would not be receiving any more. The strange thing was though that at the time I was after a 2016 model RC304 which was showing as "out of stock" but now appears to be back "in stock" which implies someone somewhere is not giving the full story!

However the £300 saving has now shrunk to £150 plus when I spoke to the UK Distributor they agreed to discount by £50 and throw in a blade kit & a deckchair which dropped the discount down into the tens so I went with the UK sourced one. I must say I'm glad I did as although I haven't had any manufacturing problems the thing did start getting stuck and slipping on damp grass (I have a fairly uneven garden and lots of rabbits that dig random shallow holes) a quick chat on the phone and they sent me the upgraded bigger wheels which although I had to pay for they did discount again. Ultimately I liked dealing with the UK place and felt more comfortable should anything go wrong, the best part of a grand is a fair chunk of money to drop on what is in reality a gadget that no one "needs" you just "want". If you can afford to spend that sort of money on things like that then I'd suggest you should be able to pay a little extra for the peace of mind. Alternatively if you're of the ilk that you'd rather save now and feel like you've got a deal then accept that the service further down the line may be a bit ropey then that's your call.

Oh and if it's the same Cheap Supplier that has a .co.uk domain and claim to have a UK service centre I'd be a little doubtful as a quick google of the uk postcode shows that the pretty small office building has 377 companies working out of it! My guess is it's purely a "mail service" address as opposed to a "service service" address!

Edited by mel on Monday 6th June 09:16

Edited by mel on Tuesday 7th June 10:23

[elanfan]

Spot on.

I too have spoken to the UK distributor and been offered a £50 discount code. The daft thing is the eBay and PayPal fees alone would be more than that and I was going direct. I don't want the deckchair it's a waste of money but it's apparently part of the package.

I still reckon the manufacturers are faking the pee with their uk prices for no good reason other than taking advantage of the U.K. Public.

[TooMany2cvs]

elanfan said:

Yes but that is the problem. The U.K. Dealer has warned me that support from Europe is made difficult by that retailer plus the costs of sending it back or getting parts is increased.

Your contract is with the retailer. Your statutory rights are provided by the retailer.

Any manufacturer's warranty is over and above those statutory rights, and they can specify whatever terms they want - EXCEPT they cannot require any routine maintenance to be done by any franchise supplier, only that it be done to the same standards.

If one retailer tells you that another retailer might be cheaper, but they're a bugger for repairs, then you have to make a decision. Are you buying a product which is bound to need lots of warranty repairs? If so, then choose a retailer who is convenient for those repairs - or a different machine that won't break...

elanfan said:

It just doesn't seem fair that the same machine is available in Europe or the US for £300 less.

Then I have a brilliant business idea for you... Contact the European distributor, and start parallel-importing them to the UK. You'll make a fortune! After all, UK VAT rates are no different to the rest of the EU, and there's no duty on anything imported from the EU.

Currently.

[Biker 1]

AFAIK most known branded stuff usually comes with an EU warranty, & sometimes a global warranty.
Some years back I bought a Marantz CD player in the UK, & then moved abroad (non EU) for some years. After a couple of months, CD player failed. I contacted Marantz HQ who directed me to the local sole importer, who then fixed the machine under warranty & presumably billed Marantz HQ.
I believe similar would apply to anything purchased anywhere in the EU, assuming the item was CE marked etc....