Recent correspondence with Amazon. Their latest response far below, and my reply here.
Dear Amazon
I will start the Small Claims Procedure as previously advised at 5pm on Monday.
I have already explained that an LED screen is expected to be good for in excess of 50,000 hours and that TVs these days are likely to be technically obsolete before they fail. I have already asked several days ago if you wanted written confirmation of this from a TV engineer. I received no reply. The company I dealt with almost laughed at me when I said that it had failed after such a short time and that I needed their report. They didn't understand why I was having this problem in getting the TV replaced as it must have been faulty, or poorly assembled, but not immediately obvious. It was suggested that one or more sub-standard components failed.
I have already stated twice that I decline the offer of £55. I have tried to negotiate a satisfactory settlement on several occasions. Amazon refused to liaise with the mediation company I appointed, so I am quite happy to rely on a decision to be made by the Small Claims Court. I think I will only need my interpretation of the law to be seen by someone who has bought a TV in the last few years and will find the statement by Amazon that it should only last three years to be absurd. I also note that there was no reply to, nor acknowledgement of, my request for a Deadlock Letter.
I realise that the law isn't clear in this matter, but I am going to let someone else make that decision for us. This matter is now out of my hands.
Martin Watson
> Message From Executive Customer Relations
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> Dear Mr Watson,
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> I am from Amazons Executive Customer Relations.
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> I am sorry to hear that the TV became faulty after 3 years of use. I have checked your previous correspondence and I understand that you have requested for a credit refund of £225.00 multiple times in your previous emails. I can see that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 indicates that customers may make a claim in respect of defective goods for a maximum period of 6 years. This doesn't imply that an item has a warranty of six years respectively, but permits an individual to make a claim under certain circumstances within that time period.
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> While Amazon doesn't provide the warranty for this item, we honour our obligations under the Consumer Rights Act, which grants recourse against a seller of goods if those goods were defective at the time of purchase (i.e. if there was an inherent fault in the goods). This may include, in certain circumstances, repair, refund or replacement, but only to the extent that doing so is not disproportionate to the value of the goods, having regard to the use the customer has already had of the goods and the nature of the goods. In addition, in order to be entitled to any repair, refund or replacement 6 months or more after purchase of goods, you must be able to provide evidence that the product was defective at the time of purchase.
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> For more information on your statutory rights, please contact your local Trading Standards Office.
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> I see that you made your purchase approximately 39 months ago and have used it successfully and reported no fault with the product until now. As a result, we aren't able to offer you a repair, replacement or refund of the replacement value. However, as a measure of goodwill in this particular instance, we would like to offer you £55.00 to your gift certificate balance. You can use this towards a future order on the Amazon.co.uk website. Please confirm if you wish to accept this and I will make the appropriate arrangements.
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> Unfortunately, we won't be able to assist any further on this issue, but we'll be more than happy to provide any help you may need in the future.