No-nonsense full commercial guarantees

Some suppliers claim to give a "five-year" guarantee only for you to discover, on reading the fine print, that coverage for labour is limited to three months. In such cases, to retain the validity of the guarantee for the remaining four years and nine months, the consumer is obliged to refer the product to the supplier for all guarantee-related repairs.

During this period the consumer has to pay labour charges which, very often, are a major part of the expense. This means that it is the consumer, rather than the supplier, who is making a commitment. However, as regular readers know, we have a list of suppliers who offer superior commercial guarantees.

Amendments to commercial guarantee laws

Recently, due to the amendments to the law on commercial guarantees, we suspended the regular inclusion of this list to ensure that their guarantees conformed to the following eight conditions, namely that they must:

1) be formulated in at least one of the official languages of Malta;

2) set out the name and address of the guarantor, and clearly state the permanent address of the place of trade or business;

3) clearly state the contents of the guarantee and the duration of the guarantee from the date of purchase;

4) clearly specify the manner how a consumer is to proceed to make a claim and to obtain execution of the commercial guarantee;

5) clearly state whether the commercial guarantee may be transferred to others. Unless stated that it may not, this guarantee may be transferred;

6) provide a clear description of the goods or services covered by the commercial guarantee;

7) clearly stipulate what the guarantor undertakes to do if there is a defect in the goods or if the services are not properly carried out; and

8) state that the consumer enjoys rights at law which are not adversely affected by the guarantee.

We met the relevant suppliers to ensure that they had complied with these amendments before resuming regular publication of the list. However over and above the amendments, we added some conditions suppliers had to adhere to if they still wanted to be included in the list. It proved to be a labor-ious task but well worth the effort.

The current law only obliges suppliers to inform buyers whether the guarantee is transferable or not. They can choose not to make it transferable as long as they inform the buyer accordingly. However, suppliers in our list actually agree to make their guarantee transferable.

With regard to bulky appliances, if their customers come up against faults or breakdowns during the guarantee period, they can call them on the telephone. Should it not be possible to sort the problem out on the telephone, these suppliers will call at their customer's address but will not charge a 'call-out' fee.

Another important aspect of their guarantees is that these suppliers offer coverage for parts, labour and transport for the full guarantee period.

So if you have a problem with them regarding the guarantee terms and conditions, as outlined above, write to me.

Here follows our current list, including details, of the suppliers:

Aplan Ltd managing director Alex A. Mizzi; general manager Lino Apap. Head office (and outlet): Aplan Centre Birkirkara Bypass, Birkirkara BKR 14, tel: 2148-0590; fax 2148-0598; e-mail: admin@aplan.com.mt.

Delta Homecentres managing director: Maurice Mizzi; general manager: James Rizzo; Head office: The Lyric, Antonio Bosio Street, Msida, tel: 2133-1071/2; fax 2138-3920; e-mail: jrizzo@delta.mizzi.com.mt.

Forestals (Appliances) Ltd managing director: Tancred Tabone; Head office: 110, The Strand, Sliema, tel: 2134-4700-7; fax 2134-4709; e-mail: info@forestals.com . Website www.forestals.com.

Oxford House Ltd managing director: John Galea; head office: Notabile Road, Mriehel; tel: 2144-2334; fax 2148-8656; e-mail: info@oxfordhouse.com.mt. Outlet: Notabile Road, Mriehel.

The Phoenix Group managing director: Steve Petroni; head office (and outlet): Old Railway Track, St Venera; tel: 2385-2200; Servicing Dept: 2385-2300; fax: 2144-9216; e-mail: info@phoenixgroupmalta.com. Website: www.phoenixgroupmalta.com.

With these suppliers offering such guarantees I see no reason why we should accept inferior commercial guarantees. While encouraging you to make the most of the situation I urge more suppliers to offer full guarantees as outlined above. They are invited to write to me.