If I’ve had a device replaced under warranty, does Australian consumer law apply from the date of the replacement or date of original purchase?
I originally bought the item just under 3 years ago and it was replaced ~1.5 years ago. Lasting 3 years wouldn’t be too unreasonable - but of course I wouldnt turn down another replacement if entitled.
@[email protected] may be correct if you’re talking about the manufacturer’s warranty.
Under Australian Consumer Law, however, the statutory warranty does indeed reset when a replacement is received. Note, though, that you are entitled to your choice of a refund or “replacement of the same type of product”. This gets around abhi’s concern that the product may have an underlying design flaw that would mean replacing with the exact same product would end up having the effect of giving you free replacements for life. Instead, they can give you a similar product—most likely the same manufacturer’s newer model.
statutory warranty does indeed reset when a replacement is received
Do you have a source for that? I’ve never encountered that policy anywhere and I couldn’t find it when I searched just now.
The ACCC is pretty strict about companies who make misleading claims about warranty rights, and I wouldn’t expect the big consumer goods products to get away with statements like “2 years from the date of purchase” if some customer are entitled to longer than that - I’ve had plenty of products replaced under warranty and it has never reset my warranty.
Do you have a source for that?
Unfortunately I couldn’t find one. I recall seeing it somewhere in the past, but couldn’t find any reliable source weighing in on this argument either way, except in relation to express warranties, which were specifically what I didn’t want to talk about.
I wouldn’t expect the big consumer goods products to get away with statements like “2 years from the date of purchase”
Of course they can get away with that. All of their statements are about their express warranties. As long as they don’t pretend they’re limiting your rights with respect to the statutory warranty (which applies between you and the retailer, and not the manufacturer), they can put whatever rules they like on their express warranties, and market them as such.
Date of original purchase. If a product has a design flaw, they are not required to provide you with a new one every few months for the rest of your life.
Still, it’s worth reaching out to the company and asking for compensation of some kind. A lot of companies will provide additional cover beyond what they’re legally required to especially if you’re friendly. I once took a three year old iPhone with a cracked screen and they didn’t have parts to repair the phone so they just gave me a new one - for free! They said something about there being no evidence that I had dropped the phone as their reason for the policy… but I suspect there was actually a known issue with the glass on an entire production run (it broke very easily).
