Dead Pixels - Your Rights

[Azure]

This is specifically about dead pixels but can be widely applied to anything really, know your rights...

There is a ton of confusion as to whether or not something with dead pixels is something you can return, after using the sales of goods act I was told that is null and void because these panels are all made to an ISO 543534-6456546-4645Nbollcks standard and xyz dead pixels is acceptable under these standards.

So I did some homework for all you bad children.

Sales of goods act.

Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet
URN No: 05/1730

Subject: Sale of Goods Act, Faulty Goods.

Relevant or Related Legislation: Sale of Goods Act 1979. Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994. The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002.

Key Facts:

• Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale).

• Goods are of satisfactory quality if they reach the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking into account the price and any description.

• Aspects of quality include fitness for purpose, freedom from minor defects, appearance and finish, durability and safety.

• It is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract.

• If goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale, purchasers can request their money back "within a reasonable time". (This is not defined and will depend on circumstances)

• For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement).

• A purchaser who is a consumer, i.e. is not buying in the course of a business, can alternatively request a repair or replacement.

• If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can seek a partial refund, if they have had some benefit from the good, or a full refund if the fault/s have meant they have enjoyed no benefit

• In general, the onus is on all purchasers to prove the goods did not conform to contract (e.g. was inherently faulty) and should have reasonably lasted until this point in time (i.e. perishable goods do not last for six years).

• If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty)

• After six months and until the end of the six years, it is for the consumer to prove the lack of conformity.


Now the interesting bits really are the first four points.

You as a consumer are entitled to something that is of satisfactory quality, satisfactory quality is defined as something that conforms to description and money paid for it. Quality is then further defined as

Aspects of quality include fitness for purpose, freedom from minor defects, appearance and finish, durability and safety.

So for something to be quality, and then of satifactory quality and therefore "conforming to contract" they have to adhere to these rules.

My reasoning is as follows for dead pixel screens in monitors, televisions, PSPs, DS screens or whatever goes like this.

Is this pixel *here functioning correctly?

no

So it is functioning incorrectly?

yes

So this XYZ has a minor defect?

yes

Sales of goods act therefore deems this product as a breach of conformity to contract [take the conversation where you will].

Some companies do not accept that a dead pixel is a fault and say this is a normal manufacturing margin of error [despite that wording contravening the above law lets carry on].

Unless the product was advertised to you that it may have defective pixels on then you made an uninformed purchase and are still entitled to a refund or repair or exchange. This happened not a million moons ago with my PSP, Gamestation said that sony do not accept a dead pixel as a fault and that that is clearly stipulated in the manual. I asked if they had any manuals at the POS for me to look at? Answer was no obviously. The box makes no reference to possibility of dead pixels and so I argued that [alongside SOG act] that their claim was null and void because I had no means of accessing that until after the sale had gone through. I got a new PSP with pixel perfext screen :)

Sometimes companies won't budge even after all that and will quote some ridiculous "ISO xxxxxxxxxx-x" standard to conformation and that the pixels being dead are ok to within that conformity [despite this still contravening SOG act].

Well after a mug of coffee and some research I ended up with this about ISO;

Updated in 2001, ISO (International Standards Organization) 13406-2, the standard that all monitor manufacturers refer to, stipulates an array of ergonomic requirements on the quality of liquid crystal display images. The criteria involved are brightness, contrast, reflection, uniformity of brightness and colors, flicker, character analysis and ... defective pixels.


The standard also defines four levels of quality. Class 1, the highest, allows no defects at all. Class 4, the lowest, allows up to 262! Fortunately nobody refers to it. Apart from some exceptions, all manufacturers refer to Class 2. If they do not specify, the monitor is Class 1 by default and you can have it changed at the smallest pixel defect.

So, if you bought a monitor and the manufacturer says "ISO bullshit" then unless specifically you bought the product labelled as "class II" then it is inferred to you that the product is Class I and just one dead pixel is sufficient to break its ISO conformity down to class II, which you did not buy and therefore is mis-representative. Most consumers wouldnt know this as accessing ISO's page about this brings you here (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=25670&ICS1=13&ICS2=180&ICS3=) where you cannot even view the mighty 147 page document and so get unwittingly fobbed off and think they are in the wrong, when ironically the ISO standard that they quote to get you off the phone shoots them down in one.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page24700.html
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2003/03/19/penalty/page7.html

Now my good children, don't take any **** when you are paying top dollar for products.

[KninjA]

I was wondering, what if all the pixels work when you get the screen, but some die after, say, a weeks use. Does your logic still win there? Or can they claim you damaged it?

[Azure]

You can use the same argument.

After 1 week suggests that that pixel was inherently faulty when it was created. It depends on the product and what you would expect of it if you were a reasonable person.

If anything like a Console broke on me within 2 years I would demand a repair under the sale of goods act, for the PS3's price I would demand it within 3 years. A guarantee or warranty does NOT go over your statuatory rights [sale of goods act].

I can use the logic that when I buy an intel processor it has a warranty on it for 3 years, a processor should last for around 3 years as what I, a reasonable person would expect it to. That then gives me weight on my view of the sale of goods act.

Same thing, the harsh thing about sale of goods is that it is relevent and not set in stone. I would be on the phone for a dead pixel within a week, within 3 months or 6 months? It isn't so clear.

If the stand broke and smashed the entire panel withing a year then that is also different, it is about your perception of what is a reasonable amount of time for whatever it is to stay working at 100% efficiency, typically your view and the manufacturers view will be quite different.

[sub]

Any defect/fault which becomes apparent within the first 6 months of purchase is automatically assumed to be faulty at purchase, and it's upto the store to prove otherwise says so in the sale of goods act.

[Azure]

^There you have it. Go pop a cap in their ass.

[benandrews]

^There you have it. Go pop a cap in their ass.

:D :D :D :D :D

[Corky20]

Nice post man. Hate buying something only to find out it has a tiny dead pixel on the screen that makes you wanna chuck it at the wall everytime the screen goes black! :mad:

[Urcky]

The most important section of SOGA 1979 for the purposes of contesting dead pixel policies is s.14(2B)(b)&(c). See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1979/cukpga_19790054_en_2#pt2-pb5-l1g14

A dead pixel is, of course, a minor defect. Recourse could also be had to the provision on appearance and finish.

By inserting "dead pixel policy" statements into the contracts and/or websites, manufacturers try to exclude liability of the implied terms. Unfortunately, for the manufacturer that is, it is forbidden. It is not possible to contract out of the implied terms if, and only if, it is a consumer contract.

Consumer contracts are defined by s.25(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (amended in 2002). In these circumstances, any attempt of the supplier to exclude the implied terms under SOGA will be void. Authorityf for this is under Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 s.20(2)(i).

New remedies for (and only for) consumers put into SOGA (see specifically the new Part VA: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1979/cukpga_19790054_en_6#pt6) by the 2002 Regulations include:

1. Require the seller to repair or replace the goods
2. Require the seller to reduce the purchase price by an appropriate amount

These remedies apply where the goods do not conform to the contract of sale at the time of delivery (see s48A(1)(b). s48A(3) provides that "goods which do not conform to the contract of sale at any time within the period of six months starting with the date on which the good were delivered to the buyer must be taken not to have so conformed at that date"...basically it gives a 6-month window. Don't let manufacturers tell you that because you didn't bring it to their attention straight away then it is void. For example, you may find that you get a dead pixel after the first few weeks of having the monitor. It's OK...it is still covered by the Act.

Other usual remedies include; (1) rejection of goods, (2) damages, etc