Q: I bought an electric toaster which was covered by a two-year guarantee. A week before the guarantee expired the toaster developed a fault and I took it back to the supplier who repaired it at no charge.

Two months later the same fault reoccurred. When I took it back to the supplier he told me that since the guarantee has expired, irrespective of whether any repairs were carried out, a charge would now apply as there is no extended guarantee given on the work done.

Am I entitled to a repair free of charge since the product was fixed by the supplier and the new part could have been faulty? Can I request an extension of the guarantee?

A: When we buy a product we are legally entitled to a free-of-charge repair, replacement or refund, for up to two years from the date of purchase or until the commercial guarantee expires, which in your case is also two years.

Once this period expires any repair or replacement has to be paid by the consumer, even if the same defect has occurred when the product was still under guarantee.

So in your case the supplier is right in saying he is no longer obliged to repair free of charge.

With regard to the new part, even if you suspect that it might have been faulty, you still do not have any guarantee on it since you did not pay for the repair. In other words, since there was no new purchase, a new guarantee cannot be claimed on the new part.

What you can do at this point to ensure that the money you are going to spend on the repair is well spent, is to ask for a new guarantee on the repairs carried out.

However, when asking for such a guarantee keep in mind that such guarantees are given voluntarily, so you cannot oblige the supplier to provide you with a commercial guarantee. If your request is refused you can try to find someone else who may be ready to guarantee the repair he carries out.