Every day this week we’ll be intervening in your disputes with retailers as part of our Consumer Rights Week in the Money blog. We begin with this…
I bought a refurbished phone in “excellent” condition from Back Market in July 2024. A sound issue was discovered in April and fixed in May. Now it has the same issue again and they’re saying it’s out of warranty. I’ve told them my consumer rights but they’re not budging.
Robyn
Money blog editor Jimmy Rice tackles this one…
Thanks for getting in touch, Robyn.
I ended up having a lot of back and forth with Back Market about your case – and, in fact, their initial statement threw me as it was clearly in contravention of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
We’ll come back to that, but let’s start with the two key issues your case raises: people’s rights with second-hand goods, and warranties.
The first of these is simple – the Consumer Rights Act 2015 still applies to used goods as long as you’re buying from a retailer and not a private individual.
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The same act deals with warranties. It ensures you can’t be fobbed off with an expired manufacturer or retailer warranty – your CRA protections last for up to six years in England and Wales and five years in Scotland.
For this reason, “off-the-shelf” warranties that are often flogged by retailers are a waste of money – you’re usually paying for protection already offered by law.
Let’s delve a little deeper.
The CRA requires products to be fit for purpose, as described, of satisfactory quality and to last a reasonable length of time (up to a maximum of six years, or five in Scotland).
The test with any product is what would a reasonable person expect. I’d argue that in your case, you could reasonably expect a phone in “excellent” condition to last a couple of years.
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How long has passed?
You have a short-term right to reject faulty goods and get a refund within the first 30 days, as long as the products haven’t been mis-used.
(As an aside, when you buy a product online, which was the case here, the Consumer Contracts Regulations give you a 14-day “cooling-off period”. This allows you to cancel your order for any reason and get a full refund.)
After 30 days, any faults found within the first six months are considered to have been there at the point of purchase. The burden of proof is on the retailer to show otherwise. This entitles you to a repair or replacement. If the item can’t be repaired, you can ask for a refund.
You were past both of these junctures when your phone began playing up.
Once six months has passed, the onus is on you to prove that the phone was sold with inherent faults when you bought it.
Annoyingly, the law doesn’t offer any suggestions on how to do this.
You could do this by looking at Google reviews to find people who’ve experienced similar issues, or by getting it inspected by a phone expert.
Consumer disputes expert Scott Dixon advises in cases like this: “Ask a reputable engineer or local repair shop to confirm the fault and provide a written report.
“If they believe the fault is likely to be inherent and present when sold, ask them to put this in writing.
“Even if they cannot confirm it was inherent, they can still confirm the specific fault in a written report.”
What could you expect from Back Market?
You are entitled to one free repair, and it sounds like that’s what you’ve been given.
But the repair was clearly not successful, so you are automatically entitled to a partial refund or replacement, though a retailer may make a “fair use” deduction based on the estimated lifespan of the product.
If they still won’t budge
Sadly, you are past the 120-day limit for raising a chargeback if you paid by debit card, but if you paid by credit card, you could make a Section 75 claim under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 as the card provider is jointly liable for a “breach of contract” under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
We’ve covered Section 75 extensively – find out more here.
You have other “soft” options, such as leaving online reviews on sites like Trustpilot. (As an aside, Back Market’s reviews on that are decent enough, with an average of 4.2 out of 5.)
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Small claims
If all else fails, you could take your case to the small claims court if it is in England or follow the Simple Procedure in Scotland.
Dixon advises: “Before you file a claim, send screenshots of the draft court papers setting your case out and demanding a refund within seven days.
“This may resolve the dispute. If it does not, you can proceed and file the small claim papers online.”
Back Market responds
The initial statement from Back Market stated that while customers were covered for a year, they had to provide “official documentation” to prove there was an inherent fault.
When I pointed out that this wasn’t a lawful position, as no proof is required under the CRA for the first six months, they quickly backtracked – and in fairness, the statement also seemed to contradict the policy on Back Market’s own website.
Even if this was an honest mistake, it illustrates why consumers have so many issues upholding their consumer rights when many workers in the retail sector don’t know their obligations.
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The statement they ended up asking me to use was this…
“At Back Market, our top priority is providing our customers with the highest quality products and services. Every purchase comes with a 12-month commercial warranty provided by the seller, covering both hardware and software defects starting from delivery. This warranty is provided in addition to customers’ statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
“If a product is defective during the warranty period, the seller will repair or replace it. If neither are possible, the customer will receive a full refund.
“Importantly, throughout the entire 12-month commercial warranty period, customers benefit from a presumption that any defect was present at delivery – meaning they don’t need to provide proof that the defect existed at delivery.”
Back Market pointed out, correctly, that this was twice as long as the six-month presumption period provided under the CRA.
“In addition,” the statement went on, “under the 12-month warranty, the seller undertakes to offer an after-sales service that complies with more extensive qualitative criteria than those provided for by the statutory rights (repair and replacement under five business days, pre-paid return labels).”
Reading this made me wonder why you, Robyn, had encountered such trouble getting your phone repaired – but the next bit of the statement explains.
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Back Market’s policy is that after the 12 months is over, the burden of proof is back on you – and they were seemingly classing your second fault as being a new one, hence why they asked for proof.
I would have suggested strongly pushing back on this, given you told me it was the same fault – the CRA is on your side here.
But as it happened, you didn’t need to.
Back Market said that given they could see you’d been to an authorised Apple Store for diagnostics on this, “as an exceptional measure, we accepted this evidence and approved the claim after review”.
You’ve confirmed to me that they’re now repairing the phone – and that if this isn’t possible, you’ll get a full refund.
You told me you were very happy with this outcome.
“I was close to giving up and just buying a new phone (at HUGGGEE expense!),” you said.
This feature is not intended as financial advice – the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about. Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:
