Warranty Expectations

[Dan Robinson]

Hello peeps....

Had a frustrating conversation with the airsoft shop today... Took the Rapax M7 I bought at the start of December in because the pistol grip had come loose - again.

The day I first brought it home, the grip came off completely, and it was evident that the 4 screws had been stripped in the factory.  Took it back the next day and said that I had tried to put them back in, but it didn't look good.  Shop tech rather abruptly said I might have voided my warranty; but took it out the back and did something to it.

I was given the gun back and no charge etc.   Scroll forward to last week and the gun's 4th time out, and the handle goes all loosie goosy again; so dropped it back to the shop.  Tech guy half pretended he didn't remember the gun and started waffling on about it might only have two screws which isn't enough for a gun that heavy, or I might have been holding to wrong, but would have a look.

Phoned this afternoon to see if there was any chance it was ready for tomorrow, to be told it might be outside the warranty period, and that either way it might not be covered.

I told matey boy firmly, but politely that it would be under warranty and that it was the same fault the gun was sold with.  To whit, he said it would be looked at on Monday and that they'll get back to me.

Won't name them just yet as it might turn out to be a nothing-burger; but "welcome to airsoft" memes aside; do these merchants realistically think they can get away defining their own Consumer Rights Act by stating a two month warranty?  I can understand limited warranties on batteries and gears, but not the structural integrity of the gun itself.

Various terms spring to mind:

• An unreasonable contract is an unenforceable contract.
  
• These [consumer] rights effectively overrule any warranty and guarantee for the product 
  

As an aside, Patrol Base were excellent recently when the boy's L85 shit the house.  They sent a returns label with no questions asked after I sent them a video of the gun sounding like a strangled cat and not feeding properly.  Turned out to be a simple motor height issue and the hop.  All sorted and sent back in around a week FOC and a good 4 months after they sold the pew.  I was expecting and willing to pay for the shipping, but they covered the lot.

Tah in Advance!

 

[Guest]

Unfortunately, a lot of shops are only interested in selling you something, have very rudimentary techs, and poor customer service.

I help out in my buddies place and we always try and help, will always do a quick once over and generally try to do minor repairs like this in front of the customer.

My advice would be, if your local place isn’t great, learn to tech yourself. Most things are minor and easy to repair, and as a  future bonus, you might be able to repair your gun, or somebody else’s, in the safe zone

 

[Rogerborg]

Welcome to airs- oh, right.

Everything that we've come to expect, from airsoft to Apple: "yOu mUsT Be hOlDiNg iT WrOnG." [and it's nothing new*].

Retailers know fine well that almost nobody is really going to see them in court, and that we'll grumble a bit then bodge it ourselves.

In this case you could tap out new threads and replace the screws with larger ones, although you really shouldn't have to. That's what they should be doing, or replacing the gearbox if they can't retap them.  What they almost certainly did was just screw them back in, maybe with a bit of loctite.

You're past the short term right to reject, but two failed repairs wouldn't be reasonable.  I'd get the gun back first in whatever form it's in, then assert that it's not fit for purpose, not of satisfactory quality, and that as it's within 6 months of purchase, the fault was there when sold.  You'll need them to cover cost of having it repaired by an actual tech, e.g. Luke, or Kingdom of Airsoft, at something like £45 an hour, plus postage both ways, plus any parts up to and including a new shell. Then it's off down the usual track of letters before action, and whether you actually want to pay to initiate a small claim in court (which you can do online now).

Best of luck.

[*]H.G. Wells, The War in the Air, 1907

When the [defective bicycle] hirer returned, a heated pedestrian, Grubb would ignore all verbal complaints, and examine the machine gravely.

“This ain't 'ad fair usage,” he used to begin.

He became a mild embodiment of the spirit of reason. “You can't expect a bicycle to take you up in its arms and carry you,” he used to say. “You got to show intelligence. After all—it's machinery.”

 

[Dan Robinson]

Thanks for the advice chaps.  Got a call today to say the fix has been done, and so far no mention of a charge - so that's good if it stays that way.

Not sure if they're reading the forums ?

Of course the repair itself has to hold - apparently it's just the screws coming lose again and the gearbox side of it is fine.

So - looks  like this will turn into a positive thread instead of a moaning one - which is always a good thing. ?