Legal guarantee valid for two years

Chris Magri writes:

'You wrote in one of your columns (The Sunday Times, December 16, 2007) that the legal guarantee is valid for two years. I recently bought a portable hard disk and was told the guarantee (product guarantee?) is for a year. The salesman told me that since the product is electronic hardware, the warranty is only for a year. Is this true?'

This is a perennial issue. Indeed, there are too many traders who exploit confused customers regarding guarantees. However, we will never give up our efforts to keep consumers informed. There are two types of guarantee: legal and commercial. The legal guarantee is obligatory and is valid for two years.

The commercial guarantee is not obligatory. It is intended to encourage competition between traders by offering better and longer guarantees to customers. It was hoped that traders would offer commercial guarantees that are valid for more than two years. However, the opposite has happened.

There are many traders who take advantage of the situation. Rather than offer better commercial guarantees, they offer a commercial guarantee valid for six months or a year and mislead customers by telling them it is the only guarantee.

In Mr Magri's case, he was offered a commercial guarantee valid for a year. At least he wasn't offered a six-month one. However, like Mr Magri, customers are entitled to the full legal guarantee valid for two years. We need to emphasise this right.