What to do if you were deceived in the service center? Caution: how they deceive in service centers.

Every piece of equipment fails sooner or later. It is believed that you are lucky if the breakdown happened when the warranty period had not yet expired. But in practice, service centers are in no hurry to repair equipment even under warranty. Why is this happening and how to deal with it similar situation?

In the 1990s foreign equipment began to appear on our market. In those days, there were not so many workshops ready to take on the repair of the same Sony. And if the equipment failed, as a rule, it was either thrown away or left "until better times." Now the situation has changed radically: almost every large hardware store has its own service workshop. Manufacturers are also trying to expand their network of authorized service centers. Therefore, there should be no problems with warranty repairs. Nevertheless, very often consumers complain that service centers refuse to recognize the warranty case and offer to fix the breakdown for money. Let's see why this happens and what to do if service center refuses warranty repairs.

Why is this happening

Let's say a camera you recently purchased broke down. The warranty period has not expired yet. According to the Consumer Protection Law, you can demand free repair of defects, exchange of goods for the same, but only working, or a refund. As a rule, if you contact the seller with a demand for an exchange of goods or a refund, he will send you to a service center to fix a broken item, although he does not have the right to impose a repair (we will talk about this a little later). Actually, the desire of the seller is easy to understand: if he exchanges the goods or returns the money to you, then he himself will have to deal with the manufacturer and seek a refund for the defective item. Thus, stores are trying to get rid of conflicts with the supplier at your expense.

Manufacturers and suppliers of equipment usually do not have their own service centers: opening them is expensive and unprofitable, so suppliers enter into contracts with existing service centers. This process is called authorization. Accordingly, the phrase "authorized service center" means that the manufacturer has entered into an agreement with this service center, thereby officially confirming that this center can repair the goods of this manufacturer and is fully responsible for this.

According to the contract, the device under warranty must be repaired by an authorized service center (including the purchase of all necessary parts) at its own expense. And the manufacturer, for example, once a month compensates the service center for all costs and pays for repair services. But this does not always happen: if the manufacturer suspects that the case was out of warranty, the workshop will not receive a penny for the repair. On average, the manufacturer does not pay up to 5% of all work, and for some positions - up to 10 %.

This is the first reason why service centers do not want to undertake warranty repairs of equipment: there is a possibility that they will not be paid for this work and they will remain at a loss.

The second reason is that it is unprofitable for the service center to repair under warranty. After all, under the contract, he must provide the supplier with a solid discount when paying for the warranty repair. For some groups of goods, this discount can reach 75% of the cost of repairs. Agree, it is not very profitable to receive only 25%. And taking into account the fact that the average profitability of a service workshop is about 3%, performing repairs only under warranty will inevitably entail losses.

For these reasons, the workshops are trying with all their might to prove to you that your case is out of warranty and repairs are possible only at your expense. Then the service center will receive "live" money for work and spare parts, and will not wait for the manufacturer to pay for the repair (and whether it will pay at all and how much is another question).

As a rule, the prices for non-warranty repairs can be compared with the cost of the goods themselves: workshops compensate for their costs associated with warranty repairs (manufacturer discounts, refusals to pay for repairs, etc.), increasing prices two to three times. In addition, spare parts supplied by the manufacturer are very expensive. As a result, a new refrigerator will cost two times cheaper than all the parts from which it is made, taken separately. It is clear what goal the manufacturer is pursuing in this case: you don’t need to repair the old - you need to buy a new one.

What to do

Better not contact the warranty repair. For the reasons described above, it is unprofitable for the service center to perform such work, so it will try to prove by hook or by crook that your case is out of warranty.

So, if the TV broke down during the warranty period through no fault of yours, then according to Art. 18 of the RFP, you have the right to demand from the seller:

■ replacement of goods with goods of the same brand;

■ replacement of goods for goods of another brand with a surcharge;

■ reduce the price of goods;

■ free repair of goods;

■ money back.

If the seller refuses to return your money or exchange the product for another one and sends you to a service workshop (and you don’t want to repair, you need money), then you should know that he is acting illegally.

You need to state your requirements in a written claim, referring to Art. 18 of the RFP (read more about this in the chapter "How to return defective goods to the store"). Be sure to sign the second copy with the seller. If he does not accept the claim, send it by registered mail with a description of the attachment and a return receipt. Within 10 days, the seller is obliged to independently conduct an examination and find out what happened to the goods. After this period, he must either return the money to you, or justify his refusal. Remember that for each day of delay, you are entitled to a penalty in the amount of 1% of the value of the goods (sections 22 and 23 of the LOA).

If the seller does not respond to your claim, contact the local branch of Rospotrebnadzor or directly to the court. The store will be penalized for non-compliance with the Consumer Protection Act and will be required to comply with your requirements. However, it rarely comes to court: the store returns the money.

Many fear that before the examination, the seller may intentionally damage the goods, thereby turning the case into a non-warranty one. Then the store will get rid of the need to return the money or exchange the product for another, since the damage was allegedly caused by the buyer.

To prevent this from happening, I recommend even before going to the store with a claim to independently contact an independent workshop, which is a disinterested party, so that it conducts an examination of the goods. A free examination can be carried out by an authorized service center. When you return the device, you must write on the receipt that you refuse to repair and want an inspection to be carried out and the cause of the malfunction determined. The Authorized Service Center is not entitled to refuse such a request. I note that the terms of verification are not established by law and are determined by an agreement between you and the workshop.

In addition, according to paragraph 5 of Art. The consumer has the right to be present during the examination of the goods and, in case of disagreement with its results, to challenge the conclusion of such an examination in court. Therefore, you can require your presence during the examination by the seller or his service center.

But what to do if you still decide to give the device to the workshop for warranty repair?

Before handing over the device, be sure to make sure that all abrasions and scratches are recorded in the receipt, so that later it “suddenly” does not turn out that there was a crack on the case and the case turned out to be out of warranty.

Demand that all visible damage be included on the receipt, and not just the wording “used”.

If the receipt does not indicate the timing of the work, then in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 20, POZPP repairs must be made immediately. You can write an additional application, where you indicate the period during which the repair must be made (for example, 10 days).

If the repair is not completed within the specified period, then you have the right to refuse it, pick up the device from the workshop and demand that the seller return the money to you or not pick up the device, but demand that the service center pay you a penalty in the amount of 1% of the cost of the goods for each day of delay (Article 23 of the LOZPP). At the same time, according to paragraph 1 of Art. 20 of the RFP, the lack of spare parts is not a basis for extending the repair period and does not release the service center from liability for violating this period.

In addition, the general warranty period is extended by the period during which the goods were under repair (clause 3, article 20 of the RFPO).

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 20 of the RFP for the period of repair, you can demand from the workshop or the seller to provide you with a similar product for use free of charge. To do this, you need to fill out an application, which must be signed by an employee of the workshop or store. Your claim must be satisfied within three days. However, the provision of this paragraph of the law does not apply to the following goods:

■ cars, motorcycles and other types of motor vehicles, trailers and numbered units for them, except for goods intended for use by the disabled, pleasure craft and watercraft;

■ furniture;

■ electrical household appliances used as toilet articles and for medical purposes (electric razors, electric hair dryers, electric curling irons, medical electric reflectors, heating pads, electric bandages, electric blankets, electric blankets);

■ electrical appliances used for heat treatment products and food preparation (household microwave ovens, electric ovens, toasters, electric boilers, electric kettles, electric heaters, etc.);

■ civilian weapons, the main parts of civil and service firearms.

"Komsomolskaya Pravda" decided to rectify the situation. In the series of articles "Consumer Club", we, together with lawyers, consumer protection specialists and subject matter experts, tell you how to achieve justice in various areas of our lives. We dedicated the first issues of our "Consumers Club" and, and today we'll talk about repairs household appliances and electronics.

Stop the thief!

Oksana was deceived in a personal computer repair shop. And not in some kind of sharashka office or booth in the market, but in a quite decent service center.

When loading the laptop, the screen remained black, says Oksana. - I called the service center, explained the problem. I was told that most likely your laptop video card is faulty, and they offered to bring it in for repair. I call back in five days. They answer me: a lot of work, not done yet. I called again three days later - the same result. Finally, they called back with the news: they could not repair my computer and offered to pick it up. So they said: it's easier to throw it away and buy a new one! And indeed: now not only the screen, but also the computer itself did not turn on.

Oksana did not take advantage of the advice and did not throw away the laptop, deciding to take it to another service center. It was there that she was told the terrible truth: not only the video card flew, but also the hard drive. Moreover: the hard drive, apparently, is "non-native" on the laptop. Oksana is beside herself with indignation: not only did they not repair the thing, they also brazenly replaced the components! And now it is no longer clear - in the first workshop or in the second. "I could not even think that in our time, because of such nonsense, service centers would risk their reputation!" she admits. And he wants to know for the future: is it possible to insure in such a situation?

First of all, an unscrupulous master can change the RAM and hard drive in the computer, explains Alexander, a computer repair master. - Therefore, in order to insure, the client must clearly know the amount of memory and hard drive in the handed over computer and their manufacturer. If you pick up a non-working laptop from the workshop and the master assures you that it is impossible to repair it, ask you to open the bottom panel right in front of you and check the memory and hard drive according to these parameters.

Formatted...

Our reader Boris told his "computer" story. His computer began to work very slowly and at the same time constantly gave out information that "there is not enough space on the C drive." Boris did not dare to clean the hard drive himself and took the computer to a service center. There he was assured that the problem was solved "at once", and they said that they would bring the computer back to normal within one day. However, in fact, everything turned out to be not so simple and not so fast.

The next day, the director of the workshop called me and started from afar: they say, we hope that all important information was duplicated from your computer and, of course, saved on your USB flash drive or on another computer, says Boris. - It turned out that instead of dealing with the C drive, the guys formatted the D drive, and absolutely all my files were deleted. On the one hand, of course, I myself am to blame for not duplicating the information. But on the other hand, I did not expect such a turn of events. This is the height of unprofessionalism! Not only did they do absolutely nothing useful, they also "killed" the information that I had been collecting for years. Agree: anyone can easily do such a "repair"!

Even despite the partial recognition of his own guilt in what happened, Boris did not put up with the situation and demanded to restore the lost files. I must say that in the workshop they were not too eager to fulfill his requirements, but after he threatened to bombard the "craftsmen" with complaints, they nevertheless set to work. The case progressed with difficulty - most of out of 5 thousand documents was restored a week later. And without the original names - all the files were dumped into one folder with numbers instead of names. However, this story ended more or less tolerably: some of the files were restored, the hard drive was replaced with a larger one, and no money was taken for "services".

Tips "KP"

How to choose the right repair shop

✘ Do not go to a workshop in the city center without first monitoring prices: prices there are often higher than in other areas.

✘ Look for information on the Internet, compare prices (it would not be superfluous to clarify them by phone), read reviews.

✘ Choose a center where they do

free diagnostics.

✘ Do not contact one-day firms - check from what year the service center has been operating.

✘ Choose a service center that has a wide range of repair parts.

✘ No matter how low the price of the service, ask for a guarantee for the repairs performed.

Good to know

Even in the case when the warranty period is not established for the goods, the consumer has the right to present the relevant claims to the seller (manufacturer, performer) if the defects were discovered within two years. This provision is contained in Art. 7 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights". Lawyers say that this article is often used by lawyers in court. But still, it is better to prevent such a development of events and require a warranty card at least when buying expensive equipment.

FEEDBACK

If you took our advice and achieved victory in the fight for your rights with the "repairers", tell us about it on our website or in a letter. most interesting story we will publish it for sure.

In the next issue of our "Consumer Club", which will be released on December 7, 2012, we will talk about how to defend your legal rights in the supermarket.

!WELCOME TO COMPLAINT

Where can you complain about dishonest services provided in a household appliances and electronics repair shop:

1. By legal address this service center.

2. State Inspectorate for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Kyiv, Gorky St., 174).

3. Territorial authorities. In the capital - 04070, Kyiv, st. Terekhina, 8a (State Consumer Inspection) or 04071, Kyiv, st. Upper Val, 42a (Main Department for Consumer Rights Protection of the KSCA).

IMPORTANT!

The relationship between the consumer and the service center is regulated by an agreement, which is provided for by the Rules for Consumer Services for the Population, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 313 dated

05/16/1994 and Instructions on the use of forms of strict reporting documents used for placing orders and settlements with consumers for household services, approved by order of Ukrsoyuzservis No. 8 of 09/29/1995

In accordance with these regulatory legal acts, an order for repair services of a service center is drawn up in three documents: an order, a receipt and a copy of the receipt, which are an agreement for the provision of services for the repair of household machines and appliances. These documents are filled in under a carbon copy. The second copy of the form (receipt) is issued to the customer, and the first (order) and third (copy of the receipt) remain with the contractor.

When placing an order, the contractor indicates in the form:

the name of the economic entity, its identification code, address, telephone number (or affixes the stamp of the enterprise with these data);

• the date of receipt and the deadline for completing the order;
• customer data (name, address, telephone number);
• name of the order, its description, characteristics of the work;
• order value according to the estimate or cost calculation.

In addition, these documents include data on the used components, spare parts, materials (customer or contractor) and their cost. The cost of the order is confirmed by the signature of the customer, and the amount of funds received is confirmed by the signature of the representative of the workshop.

STORIES FROM LIFE

Instructive stories from the life of customers of service centers and repair shops were commented on by lawyer Natalia LYSENKO.

Story 1. "We have been living without a refrigerator for a month now!"

Bought a refrigerator well-known brand However, he worked for three weeks, our reader Natalia says indignantly. - I can’t say more precisely, because two weeks after the purchase we went on vacation. When we returned, a terrible stench from spoiled food awaited us (something was left in the freezer). After lengthy negotiations with the service center, which initially offered us a call from the master in three weeks, nevertheless, with grief in half, they made a “diagnosis” by phone: the compressor failed. We waited 10 days for the compressor, now we are waiting for the master. Despite the considerable money that this unit costs, we have been living without a refrigerator for almost a month, but it seems that no one cares!

Expert comment:

The procedure for warranty repair (maintenance) or warranty replacement of technically complex household goods is regulated by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 506 dated April 11, 2002 and the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights". If the electrical household product is under warranty, the defects must be eliminated free of charge within 14 days from the date of the consumer's request (or by agreement of the parties within another period). For the period of repair, the client is provided with a product of a similar model free of charge, and with delivery. To do this, the seller (manufacturer) is obliged to create an exchange fund of goods. In accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 172 of March 19, 1994, the exchange fund consists of refrigerators, televisions, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, electric irons, electric mixers, washing machines, electric juicers, telephones, including mobile communications, personal computers and their components, electric coffee makers, etc. For each day of delay in the provision of goods of a similar brand and for each day of delay in eliminating deficiencies beyond the established period (14 days), the consumer is paid a penalty at a rate of 1% of the value of the goods.

The requirements of the consumer are considered after the presentation of a technical passport or other document that replaces it, with a mark on the date of sale. If the stated requirements are not satisfied within the time limits established by law, the consumer has the right, at his choice, to demand from the seller (manufacturer):

1. proportional price reduction;

2. gratuitous elimination of defects in the goods within a reasonable time;

3. reimbursement of expenses for the elimination of defects in the goods.

If significant defects or falsification of goods are detected during the warranty period, the consumer has the right to demand from the seller or manufacturer:

1. Termination of the contract and return of the sum of money paid for the goods. According to Art. 8 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" the money is returned to the consumer on the day of termination of the contract or at another time as agreed by the parties, but no later than 7 days.

2. Replacement of goods with the same or similar one from among the goods available to the seller. If the goods are available, the consumer's demand must be satisfied immediately (if necessary, quality control - within 14 days or by agreement of the parties), in case of absence - within two months from the date of submission of the relevant application. If the price of this product has changed, the cost is not recalculated. If we are talking about a product of a different brand (model, article, modification), then in the event of a price increase, the calculation is made based on its value at the time of exchange, and in the event of a price decrease, based on the value at the time of purchase.

Story 2. "Diagnosis - is it necessary?"

Back in the summer, I handed over a non-working printer for repair to a service center. They took 100 UAH from me. for diagnostics, assuring that without this procedure they do not take printers for repair, ”says Olga. - The result of the "diagnostics" was a grandiose conclusion in terms of scientific courage - "does not work." But I knew about it even without them! But they are in no hurry to repair the printer - they say there are no necessary spare parts. Three months have passed, but there is no progress. Do they really have the right to repair equipment for years? Or is this a business - to make money on pseudo-diagnostics without repairing anything?

Not all modern household appliances are reliable. What to do if the purchase refused to work from the first weeks, the malfunctions were discovered much later, and the faulty product cannot be returned / exchanged, since it is included in the list No. 575, or the seller company no longer exists? In these cases, specialists of service centers (SC) come to the rescue.

choose me

Service centers are ordinary and authorized (ASC). The ASC may conclude an agreement with the manufacturer or its representative in Russia, which pays the repair work to the ASC. If the warranty period of the broken equipment has not yet expired - a direct road to the ASC.

In an authorized service center, your equipment with a valid manufacturer's warranty should be repaired free of charge, using only branded spare parts and accessories, if the defect is not your fault. However, repairs are often delayed here.

Delivery of parts, as a rule, is carried out from abroad - few manufacturers have spare parts warehouses in Russia. Add time for various diagnostics and examinations necessary to recognize the case as warranty. So it turns out that the equipment given for troubleshooting in the ASC can stay there for a long time. longer term established for this by law.

Remember that if you violate a written deadline, you have the right to claim your equipment in its current (faulty) condition and file a claim with the seller for a refund, because. the deficiency in this case becomes significant, which cannot be eliminated without disproportionate costs or time.

It is much easier to build work in ordinary unauthorized service centers. Here, any malfunction will be fixed as quickly as possible, but only for money. The disadvantages include the frequent lack of original spare parts and the use of repair methods that run counter to the manufacturer's service bulletins.

There is also a third category of service centers - these are SCs, which are also not authorized by manufacturers of goods, but can perform free warranty service for equipment under contracts with sellers. For example, service centers at some online stores or retail outlets that install their own guarantee on the goods sold. As a rule, this approach is applied to equipment illegally imported into the territory of the Russian Federation, and it is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty, but it also costs a little cheaper than officially supplied.

Attention! Warranty card

The most important document for household appliances is the warranty card. It indicates the period of validity of the warranty for the product, established by the manufacturer. Sometimes stores can set their own warranty period in the absence of a manufacturer's warranty. Remember, according to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, it cannot be less than that set by the manufacturer!

The warranty card is filled in the store after the buyer has inspected the goods.
It must be correct and clear.
indicated: model, serial number of the product, date of sale, stamp of the seller, signature of the buyer. The coupon must be kept throughout the warranty period. After all, only upon presentation of it, your equipment can count on free repairs.

Quite often, it is in the warranty card that the addresses and telephone numbers of authorized service centers are indicated, to which the manufacturer has entrusted the right to carry out warranty service for the goods produced by him. Or you can find this information directly in the store.

Written to believe

Making out the equipment for repair, be on the lookout! At the ASC, you will be required to present a warranty card and a cash receipt for the purchase of goods. You should also carefully read the documents that you sign in the process of communicating with a representative of the service center. They should contain: the malfunctions you claimed, a description appearance goods, as well as the timing of the work.

By law, repairs must be carried out within the minimum time objectively necessary to eliminate them, taking into account the method usually used. However, service centers, depending on the possibilities, set their own time. If it is not defined in writing, your technique can “lay on sick leave” for an arbitrarily long time.

In addition, according to paragraph 3 of Article 20 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, “In case of elimination of defects in the product, the warranty period for it is extended for the period during which the product was not used. The specified period is calculated from the date of the consumer's request to eliminate the defects of the goods until the day of its issuance at the end of the repair. When picking up equipment from repair, do not forget about the receipt, which should indicate which spare parts were used for repair and the terms of acceptance and issue from the SC. It happened that the craftsmen did not even bother to indicate the model of the goods, after which the equipment was deprived of the warranty on terms.

The stipulated period has expired

What should I do if the fixed repair period has come to an end, and the service center is in no hurry to issue the goods from the repair? The Consumer Protection Act offers two ways out of the situation. The first one is, in accordance with Article 23 of the RFZPP, to submit a claim for payment of a penalty for violation of the deadline for eliminating defects in the goods, agreed in writing - 1% of the cost of the goods per day, starting from the day the claim was submitted until the day the repaired goods were returned.

However, as mentioned above, the ASC may not necessarily conclude an agreement with the manufacturer, and then, based on the preamble of the RFP, it is not an authorized organization and cannot be responsible under Art. 23. The second is to pick up the equipment and demand that a certificate be issued on the terms of its stay in the service. In this case, the seller is obliged to return the money for the defective goods, but at the same time he retains the right to conduct his own examination.