# Consumer rights and warranties in Spain.



## Expatliving (Oct 21, 2013)

I guess there's bound to be a previous thread, but life is short ... 

So, how does the warranty/guarantee/returns of goods situation differ in Spain to the UK?

Next Spring I will need to spend several thousand buying white goods and other items for my move. Obviously, the UK warranties/guarantees etc will not be valid in Spain, so my question is, how good is basic consumer rights in Spain? You know, a dodgy washing machine ... how easy is it to get the shop, where the item was purchased, to arrange repairs/replacements?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

This is not some third-world country. If the article is genuinely faulty, and you bought from a reliable source, there should be no problems at all.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

We bought a new gas cooker earlier this year. As soon as my OH connected it up we discovered a problem in that one of the burner wouldn't light, so contacted the shop who got the approved service engineer for the brand to come round. He fixed that plus discovered that the oven was difficult to light, so fixed that too. However after he'd left I found that having got the oven lit, and left it to pre-heat, as soon as I opened the oven door to put the food inside the flame went out. Went down to the shop next morning and let it be known I wasn't at all impressed, he got out a catalogue and I picked out a replacement from another brand which he ordered on the spot and it was delivered a couple of days later. It cost an extra €14 but that was because it was a more expensive brand.

Have had no problem having smaller electrical appliances exchanged straight away if faults have developed either, including an iron which was replaced by a local retailer although it was a couple of days outside the guarantee period.

Generally speaking we find the small local independent retailers better to deal with than the large chains or online companies, although it can be slightly more expensive to buy through them.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> We bought a new gas cooker earlier this year. As soon as my OH connected it up we discovered a problem in that one of the burner wouldn't light, so contacted the shop who got the approved service engineer for the brand to come round. He fixed that plus discovered that the oven was difficult to light, so fixed that too. However after he'd left I found that having got the oven lit, and left it to pre-heat, as soon as I opened the oven door to put the food inside the flame went out. Went down to the shop next morning and let it be known I wasn't at all impressed, he got out a catalogue and I picked out a replacement from another brand which he ordered on the spot and it was delivered a couple of days later. It cost an extra €14 but that was because it was a more expensive brand.
> Had a similar experience with a steam cleaner. I wasn't impressed with the way it worked and it was a little broken. I was invited to choose another and went away wih that. This was in a local branch of "Expert", a chain of shops selling electrical appliances
> Have had no problem having smaller electrical appliances exchanged straight away if faults have developed either, including an iron which was replaced by a local retailer although it was a couple of days outside the guarantee period.
> 
> ...


***


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## Trubrit (Nov 24, 2010)

I have bought many things from IKEA both in the UK and here in Spain and have found their customer service second to none with never any squabbles over replacement or refund.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

El Corte Ingles is excellent and white goods are at competitive prices.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Trubrit said:


> I have bought many things from IKEA both in the UK and here in Spain and have found their customer service second to none with never any squabbles over replacement or refund.


Good to hear!

Not the experience of my friend though!


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## Trubrit (Nov 24, 2010)

And strangely enough I have found Alcampo with an excellent refund policy.


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## Expatliving (Oct 21, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> This is not some third-world country. If the article is genuinely faulty, and you bought from a reliable source, there should be no problems at all.


So Spain has a government/local government dept that deals with Consumer Law & Trading Standards, just in case things are not dealt with by the retailer within warranty periods?

:noidea:


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Expatliving said:


> So Spain has a government/local government dept that deals with Consumer Law & Trading Standards, just in case things are not dealt with by the retailer within warranty periods?
> 
> :noidea:


yes it does, of course 

OMIC: OFICINA DEL CONSUMIDOR


& what's more every business has a complaints book (hojas/libro de reclamaciones) which they are obliged to let you fill in if you have a complaint


it doesn't often get that far - generally just asking for it is enough to get the results you want .................


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

We've just got back from dealing with one of our less than satisfactory experiences of dealing with Spanish bought goods under warranty. My OH bought a Samsung Galaxy tablet from El Corte Ingles in Malaga in July, which died whilst we were in Madrid in September.

He took it in for repair to the Samsung repair desk in ECI and they said they would send it away for repair and inform him when it was ready. An email duly arrived 3 weeks later so the next day, off we went to collect it only to be told on arrival that the charger, which he'd been asked to leave with the tablet, wasn't there and they would have to get it back from the repair factory and he would have to come back again to collect it. Now, as it's a 3 hour round trip for us to get there by bus, plus the cost of it, he was none too happy and asked why they couldn't either send it to him by courier or just give him a replacement charger, but they said no. I suppose the guys on the desk don't have the authority to help customers out in that way.

So a week went by and he had heard nothing, and sent an email off asking when it would be ready (having tried to get a phone number for them from El Corte Ingles Customer Service and being given a number which, when I rang it, did not exist). A reply came back saying it was now at ECI for him to collect, so we went off to get it this afternoon.

Arrived at ECI around 1.30 pm to find a whole crowd of people around the Samsung repair desk (which doesn't speak well of the brand if so many people are having to take stuff back for repair) and my OH was advised that the waiting time would be at least 1 hour, so we went away and had lunch and went back later. Thankfully the charger was there this time (although he was told it was a new one as the original had been lost) but they wanted him to sign for the repair without him having checked that the tablet was actually working now - which he firmly declined to do until he was satisfied.

This is why I say the large chains are worse than small local independent shops for customer service. It's so much easier to walk 5 minutes down the road if there's any problem!


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