On 01/07/2013 10:30, kay wrote:

'Broadback[_3_ Wrote:
;986626']

The stainless steel gardening tools I have purchased come with a
lifetime guarantee. Take it back to the purchase point and tell them it

was not up to the job. You can but try. As an aside, how valuable are
these "life time" guarantees? whose lifetime yours or the product? also

if it breaks many years later can you find the paper work to invoke the

guarantee?

There are two separate things here. There's the guarantee, issued by the
manufacturer. And there's the Sale of Goods act, which say things sold
must be fit for purpose.

Guarantees only apply to the original purchaser, so the paperwork
demonstrates that is you (and you didn't buy it second hand). They're
operated by the manufacturer, so it's always worth going back to them.I
went back to Le Creuset, without paperwork, who pointed out that the
lifetime guarantee had only come in about 30 years after I'd been given
the pot in question, but they offered me a very large discount on a
replacement (and are now getting their reward because I'm telling the
world about it).

Sale of Goods Act - fitness for purpose applies irrespective of any
guarantee and out of guarantee period, but it's a duty on the supplier.
So you go back to your supplier, and you will need proof of purchase
from them, and point out that a stainless steel fork that packs up after
little more than a year of normal digging is not fit for purpose, and
they have to give you a remedy, which I think (but may be wrong here) is
a replacement or a serviceable repair. They'll argue that it's the
manufacturer who you need to speak to - it's not, it's a legal
requirement on the supplier to provide goods fit for purpose. Then
they'll say it's out of guarantee - which is irrelevant. The goods have
to last a normal lifetime, and one expects garden tools to last a good
few years.


Yes but you don't expect a fork to be used as a crow bar.