A warranty is a contractual promise for a period. It is not the outer limit of your rights as a consumer, and sellers routinely present it as if it were.
Keep an ordinary defect or deficiency claim distinct from a product-liability action. Section 2(22) excludes harm to the product itself alone and specified commercial or economic loss from the Chapter VI definition of harm. A failed appliance may support repair, replacement or refund without satisfying the additional product-liability conditions.
Where you still have a case
- Inherent manufacturing defect. If the product was defective when it left the factory, the fact that the defect showed itself in month thirteen rather than month eleven does not convert it into fair wear and tear.
- Product liability. The 2019 Act allows a claim against the manufacturer, seller or service provider for harm caused by a defective product. It is not tied to the warranty period.
- Unfair trade practice or misleading advertisement. If the product was sold on a representation about life, durability or performance it never had, that is actionable independently.
- Deficiency in service. Where the failure is really about bad repair or servicing.
What the product liability chapter gives you, and what it does not
The phrase is used loosely, so be precise. A product manufacturer is liable in a product liability action where the product contains a manufacturing defect, is defective in design, deviates from manufacturing specifications, does not conform to the express warranty, or lacks adequate instructions or warnings. It is liable even if it proves it was not negligent or fraudulent in making that express warranty, which is a far stronger position for a consumer than having to prove negligence.
A seller who is not the manufacturer is liable more narrowly: where it controlled design, testing, manufacture, packaging or labelling, altered the product, gave its own express warranty, failed to pass on the manufacturer's warnings, or, most usefully in practice, where the manufacturer is not known, cannot be served, or cannot have an order enforced against it. That last limb answers the retailer who tells you to take it up with a factory in another country.
A product liability action compensates harm, and harm is defined to exclude damage to the product itself and any commercial or economic loss. If your appliance simply stopped working and nothing else happened, product liability is not the route to recovering its price; that is an ordinary complaint about a defect in goods or a deficiency in service. Product liability comes into its own where the defective product caused something further, such as a fire, an injury, damage to other property, or illness.
The Act also names the defences. No product liability action lies against the seller where the product was misused, altered or modified, and a manufacturer need not warn about a danger that is obvious or commonly known. Expect all three to be pleaded, so deal with them in the complaint rather than in the rejoinder.
Out-of-warranty claims turn on establishing that the defect is inherent rather than the result of use, misuse or age. That usually means an independent technical opinion or a laboratory report. Without it, these claims are hard. With it, they are often straightforward. Decide early whether the value of the product justifies getting that opinion.
Practical sequence
- Write to the seller and manufacturer setting out the defect and what you want. Keep it factual.
- Get the product examined, and keep the failed part and all service records.
- If there is no resolution, file before the appropriate commission within two years of the cause of action.
The letter in step one does more work than people realise. Set out the date of purchase, the date the fault appeared, every service visit with its job card number, and what you want. Send it to the seller and the manufacturer together. A reply admitting a known fault or a design revision is worth more than any expert report. Where the item was bought online the listing matters too, because the claims on the product page are part of what was promised; the wider position on buyer rights against an e-commerce seller applies, and the marketplace can be joined with the seller.
You may not have to fund the expert yourself
The proof problem is real, but there is a route around it that is consistently under-used. Where a complaint alleges a defect in goods that cannot be determined without proper analysis or testing, the Commission itself can take a sample from the complainant, seal it, and refer it to an appropriate laboratory with a direction to report, ordinarily within forty-five days. You deposit the laboratory's fee, and either side may object to the findings. A report obtained through the Commission carries more weight than one you obtain privately, because the opposite party cannot say you chose the expert. Ask for that direction in the complaint itself.
Two related situations worth separating
An extended warranty or annual maintenance contract is a separate contract with its own terms, often with a different counterparty. Read who is promising what before you accept that cover has lapsed.
Different again is the case where the goods should never have been sold in that condition at all, which is not about warranty periods but about a product that was unfit when it changed hands. Our note on a seller's liability for expired goods works through that situation and the regulatory complaints that sit alongside the consumer one.
The warranty has expired. Do you still have a case?
- The defect is inherent to manufacture or design, not wear? Product liability under the 2019 Act is available irrespective of the warranty period.
- The product failed far sooner than a product of that kind reasonably should? That is evidence of a defect, and the shortfall against reasonable expectation is the argument.
- The seller or maker gave an express assurance beyond the printed warranty? That representation is actionable on its own terms.
- The failure is ordinary wear after normal life? There is no case, and an honest answer at this stage saves a wasted filing.
- In every one of the first three, an expert or laboratory report is usually what converts an assertion into a finding.
Where to take it
The forum is fixed by the value of the consideration you paid, not by the repair cost, and limitation runs two years from the cause of action. Our guide on filing a consumer complaint covers the form, the affidavit and the annexures. For a low value item the written demand is often the whole strategy; for anything substantial the technical opinion is the case.