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Comment by gambiting | Hacker News Reader

>>One manufacturer even threatened to stop paying for in-warranty repairs if the company offered an out-of-warranty repair service.

That is...100% illegal. Especially if we are talking about EU.

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They were threatening to take their in-warranty service centre contract elsewhere because we offered to fix phones out of warranty. They weren't refusing to fix phones within the minimum warranty period, they were just trying to frustrate out of warranty repairs.

Ah. Well in that case it's just shitty, but not illegal.

Why would that be illegal?

Cause 2 years warranty is required by EU law

That's not really true and is one of those myths that are repeated all the time. The EU customer law says that any defect present at the time of purchase has to be repaired by the seller if found within the 2 years of purchase(it's actually 6 years for most products).

The problem is only faults found in the first 6 months are presumed to have been present at the time of purchase by default - any fault found later has to be proven to have been present at purchase by the customer(and predictably, that can be very difficult). So no, if your iPhone breaks after 18 months in EU, Apple doesn't have to fix it unless you can demonstrate that the fault existed on the day you bought the device(that it's a manufacturing defect essentially).

And even then, it's not on the manufacturer - the law binds the seller, not the manufacturer of the devices(however, obviously whoever sold you the device can use the same law against whoever sold it to them in the first place)

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/gua...

Read the first sample story, exactly the opposite of what you described.

I agree with your second point even though in the case the store it received the product from a European distributor then the store has a 2 year guarantee from the distributor.

?? It's not the opposite. It's exactly what I said. Follow the links on this site for explanation of what "legal guarantee" means. Particularly read the bit under "How to get goods repaired, replaced or refunded". It's only for issues which existed at the time of purchase. If an issue appears after the initial 6 months then you have to prove that it existed from start.

The sample story:

"Carla bought a hairdryer with a 6-month seller's guarantee. When it broke after 8 months, she took it back to the shop. The shop assistant told her that her guarantee had run out and that she was not entitled to a refund.

Carla rightly pointed out that she had a full 2-year guarantee free of charge under EU consumer protection law, and that the seller's 6-month guarantee only offered additional services. The shop agreed to replace the hairdryer."

So it broke down after 8 months, meaning it was not faulty from the purchase time and it was over the 6 month period you are referring to. Either that is wrong or they are not interpreting the law correctly themselves either.

Their own story is wrong in that respect, because Carla is not entitled to a repair or replacement until she proves that the hairdryer had a factory defect. Their own FAQ says as much:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/gua...

"I bought a phone just over a year ago, and it has stopped working. The trader refuses to fix it for free. Do I have a two-year legal guarantee?"

"The legal guarantee covers any defects presumed to have existed at the time of delivery and which become apparent within a period of two years."

Because the seller(in this case, the manufacturer of the device, as the carrier will be their customer) is required to repair a faulty device. They can't provide this service conditionally.

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