Bought a vacuum from a retailer in Melbourne. The sales rep said the vacuum is labeled commercial and only carries 3 month warranty.
It is my understanding all electronic goods have a "fit for purpose" 12 month warranty by law in Aus. Am I wrong?
Is This Legal? 3 Month Warranty from Retailer for a Vacuum Cleaner
LEpicSpaceLord on 17/02/2022 - 17:05
Comments
Correct
12 months is only for domestic appliances and applications
I purchased the vacuum for home, even though it's labeled commercial.
How is the retailer supposed to know if you used the item for commercial or personal home use?
Pubes
From my experience, pubes on a pool table in a pub do not indicate domestic use 😂
Its a commercial vacuum cleaner and comes wit a commercial warranty
Tough cookies, wrong choice
Voluntary warranties usually apply for a set period typically of 12 months but I dont recall ever seeing a mandatory minimum.
Here you go. Enjoy. https://consumer.gov.au/sites/consumer/files/2016/05/0553FT_…
TLDR - ACL is different than a product's warranty.
I cant see a minimum time frame.
Quoted from ACCC
"Statutory rights are not limited to a set time
period. Instead, they apply for the amount of time
that is reasonable to expect, given the cost and
quality of the item.
This means a consumer may be entitled to a
remedy under their statutory rights after any
manufacturer’s voluntary or extended warranty has
expired.
For example, it is reasonable to expect that an
expensive television should not develop a serious
fault after 13 months of normal use. In this case,
the consumer could argue the item was not of
merchantable quality and ask for it to be repaired,
even if the manufacturer’s voluntary warranty had
expired."https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Warranties%20and%20refu…
ACCC applies to consumer purchases.
If the store is a business to business store then there would be different rules/guidelines.
What store was it?
Godfreys and it was a entry level vacuum.
https://www.godfreys.com.au/work-hero-10l-dry-canister-plast…
It reviewed well and just needed it for one room.
Is it actually broken?
That does clearly state the 3 month warranty but if you bought it from an actual store I would be more likely to kick up some noise if it was broken already and the salesperson did not explicitly detail the warranty terms for that specific vac (considering most of their vacs in store would not be 3mth warranty).
If it's not broken, no idea why you'd care. It's a $79 basic cheap vac. If it lasts a year that's about what you can hope for
It might say commercial, but what distinguishes it from a standard home vacuum? It's sold by a retailer to consumers, that means it's a consumer product to my reckoning.
@macrocephalic: So you are saying consumers going into retail stores don’t own commercial businesses?
NOTE: It's got very short 32cm cord so you need to supply own extension cord
Firstly, it looks like a normal motor head with an on off switch without any extra electronics that governs the speed. So it's a relatively simple unit. The common fault electric motors have is overheating. So if you are only one room then it would probably last for years and years until the commutator brushes worn.
I wouldn't trust those reviews. Looks heavily moderated based on stars.
Difficult to prove and when industry standard is 3 months its difficult o argue otherwise
I clean and maintain vacuum cleaners all the time and am very good at getting them back to peak performance.
I can tell you that with vacuum cleaners its a totally different ball game.I have seen good vacuum cleaners fail quickly because people just keep using them without emptying out the dust, let alone removing and cleaning the filters and dust canister after every use.
So a vacuum cleaner is much like a car.
It must be maintained properly to be covered by a warranty.All vacuum cleaners come with such instructions but the majority of users never read to take notice of these important instructions
Then they complain because their vacuum cleaner has lost suction after several uses….seriously!
You read this on Productreview.com.au all the time.
And they give the product a bad rating when in fact the user should be getting the bad rating.
So just remember that user abuse and lack of maintenance (which is very common with vacuum cleaners) is not covered by any warranty
The question is,
Would someone actually buy a vacuum if it were only to work for 3 months?Yeah i'd say min of 2 years would apply depending on price as per ACL.
if it were only to work for 3 months?
What if they use it 8 hours a day 5 days a week … for 3 months?
That's what commercial use is.
Still wouldn't buy it if i was only expecting to get 3 months of full time use out of it.
Too many issues with down time etc.Have a look at the item. This is not the sort of item that someone uses 40 hours a week.
The reviews look pretty good, i wouldn't worry about it
yea its over 4.5 stars. If you really want teh piece of mind with warranty you can get a wet/dry vac from bunnings with a similar foot print for similar $$. The ryobi we bought was $50 and is nearly 10 years old when they were still a blue colour scheme
The statutory warranty is entirely different from any express warranty offered.
The supplier can offer a 1 second express warranty, or a 1 million year express warranty.
Your statutory warranty is determined by reference to a reasonable period for the item in question.I thought standard statutory warranty was 12 months for some reason. Thanks to those that replied. Looks like there is no minimum statutory warranty.
Warranty and guarentee are not the same thing.
Manufacturers offer a warranty for their products (generally 1 year but can differ)
ACL provides consumer guarentee for products but with no set terms (just reasonableness)
Both have different limitations. So many people get these 2 concepts confused.
The ACL consumer guarantees are also known as the statutory warranty or statutory conditions. This differs from the manufacturer's voluntary warranty/express warranty.
The sales rep said the vacuum is labeled commercial and only carries 3 month warranty.
Yes.
Yes warranty can be any period.
Sounds like you have not shopped for very much as 99% of commercial products have a smaller warranty period as they get used allot more than for non commercial use. Bunnings warranty on products is null and void for some products for commercial use and is sometimes one month for some.
Yes, it is legal to have warranty less than <12 months. But if it is considered a consumer good, you can rely on statutory guarantee for a longer period.
They are two different things, so don't confuse them like you have
Page 12 of the product manual has the usual statement re ACL rights - so this complies with the law.
The benefits conferred by this warranty are in addition to all other rights and remedies in respect of the product as outlined under the Competition and Consumer Act and other State and Territory laws.
“Our goods come with guarantees that cannot
be excluded in the Australian Consumer Law.
You are entitled to a replacement or refund for
a major failure and for compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure.”
As a Maintenance Manager for a hotel chain I often had to source some stuff from Godfreys as no one else had the stuff, spares and filters mainly, while there I'd often look at their offerings and prices and found that very similar stuff was available elsewhere for aprox 1/2 price and from places that you could simply walk in, say not working, it's not what expected or it's just not good enough and get an exchange or refund, places like Supercheap Auto, Aldi, Kmart and BigW etc
Not only was similar stuff available elsewhere when we needed Vacs I'd get a quote from Godfreys, our local Mitre10 who we had an account with and one other retailer for a particular brand and model and never was Godfreys the cheapest.
Buy that vac below and if you want to take it back for any reason you can and won't be given any stress.
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/toolpro-toolpro-wet-dry-…
Make your view known here
https://www.godfreys.com.au/work-hero-10l-dry-canister-plast…
Commercial…. expected to be used all day every day. Commercial.
Don't tell me you bought a "commercial" for simple "domestic"
Do you run a business? cause the 3 month warranty for businesses is pretty common practice, it used to happen to my old boss all the time