The Voice - Dear Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice

I bought a Telefunken 74cm Colour TV from Payless at Game City in April this year.

I know a bit about televisions and quickly noticed that the colour balance was not right. I thoroughly checked the set and found out that it wasn’t able to produce any yellow along with the other colours on the screen. The absence of the yellow colour made everything else seem purple. I also noticed that the brightness control did not give good brightness even when set at maximum.

Also the power supply isn’t functioning properly. It turns itself off and won’t go back on. I have to wait 15 minutes or more before I turn it on and then, the standby light comes on for exactly 3 seconds before it goes off and the TV does not go on.

I took the TV back to Payless and they kept it for two days and then said they did not see any problems with it but they would call in their technician. They told me that he said there was nothing wrong with it. Eventually one of the store managers told me that every one of those models is like that. He refused to take it back or to replace it.

What can I do?

Why is it that certain stores fail to understand the simplest of consumer protection rules. The Consumer Protection Regulations are perfectly clear. We’ve said it over and over again so there’s no excuse for not knowing this. Section 13 (1) (a) of the Regulations say that Payless have failed to meet minimum standards of service by selling you a TV that is not of “merchantable quality”. In simple terms that means that the TV should be “fit for the purposes for which commodities of that kind are usually purchased”. Colour TVs are meant to display colours. All of them, not just red and blue. TV owners usually want to see yellow on their TV.

Take the TV back to them once more. Give them your copy of The Voice and show them this page. Give them 24 hours to replace your TV with another that is worth at least as much as you spent and that shows ALL colours, not just the ones they think you deserve.

Update: We spoke to the senior manager at Payless and it’s all sorted. Common sense has prevailed.