The World's #1 Vacuum Cleaner Advice, Repair, Discussion & Information Forum

Author Topic: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.  (Read 60755 times)

Offline MVacs

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6374
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
    • Manchester Vacs - The Independent Dyson Specialists
It has come to our attention that Gtech are very often refusing to honour their guarantees on their vacuum cleaners carpet sweepers.

Last year, we had some Gtech machines in, and it has since come to our attention that customers are having issues when contacting Gtech when the machines break (which seems to be quite often).

Among the excuses we have heard of are:

  • "You didn't buy the machine directly from us so it's not covered by the guarantee" - which is slippery.
  • "Gtechs can only be bought from Gtech and so are not covered for warranty if bought from someone else" - also slippery as they are freely available from places like Costco and numerous online sellers.
  • "Your warranty is with your retailer" - which isnt why people buy machines with a 'manufacturer's warranty' and in any event, the rules on recourse to retailer generally expire in 6 months in all but very specific circumstances.
  • "That serial number comes up as stolen so it is not covered by warranty" - our favourite to date!
  • "It's probably a grey import so not covered by a UK warranty" - er, no. It has a UK plug and serial number.

A quick browse online tells me these are not new or isolated incidents.

This from an Amazon review:

Quote
I bought a Gtech Air ram in October 2012, on line.It was brand new and boxed.

I registered with Gtech, who emailed back to say "You are now covered by our warranty Plan"

Recently the machine began to run noisily, which was unexpected because it has light weekly use in a small household, with no pets.

I emailed Gtech, who said- after 3 days- "This would be covered under your warranty. I would recommend that you call our Customer Service Department on 01905-345-891 and they can arrange to repair the machine for you."

When I phoned them it took some time for them to find me and then they said that it was not covered because it was bought on line and not directly from them. I pointed out that they had accepted the registration, without reservation about where I bought the machine, so they should honour their warranty. They refused and fobbed me off by saying somebody would phone me back. Surprise, total silence since then.

From Trustpilot:

Quote
Bought an ATF 001 Handheld for £150 and the nozzle has cracked due to a poor design flaw. The Mk 2 version fixed the issue so GTech know of the problem but want to charge £50 to repair my Mk 1 version which was within the 2 year warranty. No thanks and I will never buy another GTech product again!

AVOID!!!

From eBay:

Quote
Bought 2 airram vacuum cleaners on ebay (seperate sellers, both new). I registered both on Gtech website with no problem, stating purchased on ebay. No warning, nothing in terms. Bizarrely both broke the same week, 11 months into warranty.
 
I called gtech to collect for repair and they said they won't honour the warranty as they were bought in ebay.

From Amazon:

Quote
We rang Gtech as it advertises a five year warranty, but they do not want to know as we bought it online here they consider we are not covered, although they said nothing when accepting our warranty registration. They will only consider you if you buy from them directly!!

From Twitter:



Their warranty is simply not what a normal customer would expect it to be. And in many cases simply non-existent

As we won't sell poor quality products or products from companies that cause us customer service issues later down the line, we have decided we won't be stocking or recommending any Gtech products in the future.

Caveat Emptor.

Edit:

For those people who are looking to DIY repair the shredded drive cog, we have those here: Drive Cog Shaft Spindle & Bearings For GTECH AirRam DM001 AR01 AR02


Offline Parwaz7862

  • Member
  • Posts: 3412
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Dyson geek 😃
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2017, 06:20:14 pm »
Another reason I hate Gtech now! Overpriced carpet sweepers imho :/

Offline beko1987

  • Member
  • Posts: 5044
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Let's take it apart!
    • My blog
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2017, 06:38:54 pm »
What a bunch of shysters! Means the prices will plummet and I might be able to get hold of one to tear down though.

There's rules and regs covering this though isn't there?
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline MVacs

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6374
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
    • Manchester Vacs - The Independent Dyson Specialists
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2017, 06:53:53 pm »
There's rules and regs covering this though isn't there?

There are several regs relating to this type of thing, and some conflict the others. I can find little that forces a manufacturer to honour their claimed guarantee, although in reality, most do as it's good business practice to do what you say you will do.

We see with larger firms like Dyson, their guarantees are transferable even, and they dont make a fuss about fixing stuff under warranty wherever they were bought from.

Gtech are choosing to be slippery with some owners of their products with alleged warranties, and wriggling out of honouring them, and would-be owners can draw their own conclusion from that.


Offline beko1987

  • Member
  • Posts: 5044
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Let's take it apart!
    • My blog
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2017, 06:56:20 pm »
It will bite them. Once twitter/Facebook gets hold of it it will run.

You been on twitter yet? See if it spreads?
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline MVacs

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6374
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
    • Manchester Vacs - The Independent Dyson Specialists
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2017, 06:57:58 pm »
You been on twitter yet? See if it spreads?

The topic is indeed linked there.

Offline MVacs

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6374
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
    • Manchester Vacs - The Independent Dyson Specialists
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2017, 08:36:55 pm »
So I was perusing the Gtech terms and conditions >here<, and here it is:



That effectively excludes from warranty machines bought from independent vacuum stores, Amazon, eBay and any other retailer that isnt "approved" by Gtech (and I can find no list of approved retailers).

This may explain why Tesco no longer stock Gtech and nor do AO or dealers in the Euronics chain.

Offline beko1987

  • Member
  • Posts: 5044
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Let's take it apart!
    • My blog
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2017, 08:43:28 pm »
That's handy, I've had a reply from the lady flogging them on ideal world... Janice Phillips, I hope you're pointing this out in your sales pitch...
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Madrat

  • Member
  • Posts: 2923
  • Country: england
  • Gender: Male
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2017, 08:50:09 pm »
Need Watchdog to get hold of this, they will love it.

Offline beko1987

  • Member
  • Posts: 5044
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Let's take it apart!
    • My blog
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2017, 09:18:15 pm »
Hehe good thinking Mr M. Email sent...
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Elgin

  • Member
  • Posts: 731
  • Country: england
  • Gender: Male
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2017, 09:28:54 pm »
Need Watchdog to get hold of this, they will love it.
Watchdog, facebook, newspapers - this needs spreading... that will show GTech with their absolute shite customer service.

Offline MVacs

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6374
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
    • Manchester Vacs - The Independent Dyson Specialists
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2017, 09:47:52 pm »
From our Facebook page from a chap in the trade.

Quote
Gtech will also not release any spares, had quite a few in workshop for repair and unable to get spares so have contacted them directly to be told that the machines must be returned to them for repair and they do not sell spares, This I believe is illegal trading and spares must be released. They didn't want to know. The machines were scrapped with my customers telling me they will not be buying any Gtech products again.

We however have been able to buy the odd spare from them (@ retail money), we've had to to repair the odd machine that failed within six months under goodwill that they wouldn't honour the warranty on.

Some after-market spares are now coming through. The well-known cog issue they have I know someone now makes, chargers are available now, and I happen to know of a rake of stuff in production. So their monopoly on spares at funny money will soon end.

Offline Madrat

  • Member
  • Posts: 2923
  • Country: england
  • Gender: Male
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2017, 09:54:35 pm »
Sounds a bit like Miele white goods.

Offline Parwaz7862

  • Member
  • Posts: 3412
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Dyson geek 😃
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2017, 11:04:56 pm »
Need Watchdog to get hold of this, they will love it.

Brilliant!  :icon_nod:

Offline Parwaz7862

  • Member
  • Posts: 3412
  • Country: gb
  • Gender: Male
  • Dyson geek 😃
Re: Beware: Gtech Refusing to Honour Their Warranty/Guarantee.
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2017, 11:06:00 pm »
I could rant about Gtech and their air rams in long paragraphs if you want...

 

 

Trade Dyson Spare Parts

 

 

Dyson Spare Parts

 

 

Freestanding Dyson Cordless Vacuum Stand

 

 

Buy a Dyson DC04 Wand Handle

 

 

 

 

Buy a police truncheon

 

 

Instagram

Dyson Spares, Parts, Advice   Follow us on Twitter

Manchester Vacs on Instagram