Warranties v Consumer Guarantees - Australian Consumer Law Question (Xiaomi Electric Bike)

artxty on 04/05/2021 - 17:38
Last edited 05/05/2021 - 10:51 by 1 other user

Quick question, sorry if this was asked previously.

I'm looking into buying an electric bike Xiaomi but the seller is only offering 1 year warranty, and lets say the bike had major problem (say battery or controller) after 6 months out of warranty, will you be able to exercise your rights to use the consumer law that you paid $1000+ and you are expecting that your product should last as least 2 years?

I'm chatting with a Sydney vendor and he is saying that they will only give 1 year warranty, when I asked about the consumer law warranty he got defensive and said that I can buy elsewhere.

Is the vendor right?

Thanks.

• 

  Godric on 04/05/2021 - 17:46

  +8

  and said that I can buy elsewhere.
  Is the vendor right?

  Is he right about you have the option to buy else where?
  I'd say yes

• 

  spackbace on 04/05/2021 - 17:49

  Not enough info to form a decision. Who's the seller? If it's local stock, sure, but if it's grey import then no

  Mi-Store offers 2yr warranties

• 

  artxty on 04/05/2021 - 19:11

  The shop is pcmarket.com.au

  Do companies need to declare that its a grey import?

  • 

    Mechz on 04/05/2021 - 19:24

    Not really, they just have to give you your statutory rights as laid out in the Australian consumer guarantees.

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  SteveBuscemi on 04/05/2021 - 19:30

  +6

  Legally speaking, there is nothing in the consumer law that doesn't apply equally to local stock and grey imports. Your contract of sale is with the merchant, and they are still legally obliged to warrant goods for a "reasonable" length of time regardless of where they sourced the item from. The main difference being that your remedy might involve the inconvenience of the reseller shipping back to its country of origin for repair.

  Whether the local/official distributor can assist you based on it being a grey import is completely out of the scope of the ACL.

  You are still entitled to remedies beyond 1 year if "reasonable", and I'd say an expensive ebike would easily fall in the 18-24 month range.

  But if you're already getting the runaround from the vendor before you're even purchased the item I'd probably go elsewhere.

  • 

    spackbace on 04/05/2021 - 19:49

    +2

    But if you're already getting the runaround from the vendor before you're even purchased the item I'd probably go elsewhere.

    +1

    And I guess that's why the guy is the cheapest. He's asking $999, when JBs is $1499, Mi-Store is $1599, Kogan is $1199

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  Almost Banned on 04/05/2021 - 19:49

  +7

  Your problem is never going to be whether you have rights - the issue is always going to be whether you can, and are willing to, enforce them.

  • 

    mskeggs on 04/05/2021 - 20:07

    +1

    Surely the ACCC will run a court case on OP's behalf!

• 

  payless69 on 04/05/2021 - 19:55

  Bought the K-mart Black Friday e-bike, it is cheap in each and every way. Still fun but the rear light died after 11 months and they said budget 3 month repair time. The controller failed and the ebay replacement failed too so waiting for a bangood one. One point: The battery performes better than expected!

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  subywagon on 04/05/2021 - 20:09

  Australian warranty laws aren't worth the paper they are written on especially when it comes to smaller, lesser known businesses and companies. I recently had an item fail within warranty period. The seller ignored all correspondence so I contacted NSW Fair Trading (ACC state that they don't help with warranty claims). Fair Trading apparently attempted to contact the company and they too were ignored so they gave up straight away stating they can't help further due to being unable to contact anyone and said I can try and go through NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) which is basically like taking them to court.

  • 

    Chandler on 05/05/2021 - 08:15

    Australian warranty laws aren't worth the paper they are written on

    They are. As @Almost Banned said :

    Your problem is never going to be whether you have rights - the issue is always going to be whether you can, and are willing to, enforce them.

    You contacted the company, you contacted Fair Trading. Did you go through NCAT? Because if you did, you would (should?) have won, as that piece of paper said so.

    Australian warranty laws are worth the paper they are written on - Australian's just need to hold the companies not respecting it accountable.

    • 

      subywagon on 05/05/2021 - 11:45

      Australian warranty laws are worth the paper they are written on - Australian's just need to hold the companies not respecting it accountable.

      Perhaps, but on a scale due to the time and effort required to enforce them. They are not worth the paper they are written on if it costs more in time, dollars and effort to have them enforced than what the items are worth. If I go through NCAT (which is a complicated process and I would likely need legal assistance) it would cost me more in the time and effort and fees (especially if it doesn't end up in my favour) than the items are worth unfortunately. Therefore the laws are useless as they are too much trouble to be put into use and be enforced.

      • 

        Chandler on 05/05/2021 - 12:53

        Therefore the laws are useless as they are too much trouble to be put into use and be enforced.

        So is the issue the law, or the enforcement of the law?

        It's a criminal offence to speed, and yet people speed. Is the law useless?

        • 

          subywagon on 05/05/2021 - 16:53

          @Chandler: Definitely useless if it isn't properly enforced. You can have laws for anything and they will be useless if they aren't effectively enforced.

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  mskeggs on 04/05/2021 - 20:12

  The ACCC/Fair Trading will assess what is reasonable, not what you hope.
  If the vendor is saying before the sale not to expect any service after 12 months, how can you say you reasonably expected it to last for two years?
  The vendor is making it clear you can only reasonably expect 12 months, and you should buy elsewhere if you find this unreasonable.

  You can't make consumer law trump a vendor stating you cannot expect longer. If I spend $1000 on flowers for a wedding, I can't reasonably expect them to last 2 years if the florist says they won't.

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  Melb69 on 04/05/2021 - 20:15

  The consumer law would be applicable, but it really depends on whether you are willing to fight for those rights when the seller has already told you to look elsewhere. If they are a small seller or importer no doubt you will get the run around, and it will be up to you to go to small claims if they don't assist readily. Also if your bike is significantly cheaper than other similar bikes there may also be that likely reliability issue. Tread carefully. In any event you may be lucky and have no issues for 2 years then it craps itself on the day after. Nothing really lasts that long anymore.