Interesting. Is there any official garble I can throw at them that will get their arses into gear?

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: Faulty goods and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On [date of purchase] I bought a [description of purchase] from you for [insert price] which has stopped working.

The problem is [enter description of fault].

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) states that when a consumer buys goods from a trader they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller.

This legislation also states that the seller, not the manufacturer, is legally obliged to sort out a problem if the goods do not meet these requirements.

The law also says I have six years from the date of purchase to claim damages for faulty goods.

My goods are not [delete as appropriate - as described/fit for purpose/of satisfactory quality] and I wish to claim a [delete as appropriate - repair/replacement/refund] of my goods under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended.

Please respond to my complaint within 7 days from receipt of this letter.

Yours faithfully,
[your name]

It's so irritating when people quote the sale of goods act at me.

Sure, if it breaks after the year's warranty you go ahead and try to get it fixed. Just make sure you can prove it was faulty when it was purchased!

You just need to get an independant engineers report. Sure that can usually cost about £60, but the retailer must then refund that cost if the report says it's a manufacturing fault (Basically, anything but wear and tear or accidental damage). If the retailer keeps fighting, you can even claim for costs of the time you spent chasing them when you take them to court.

Not the retailer but the company, you dont expect a shop to cough up the money do you?

That sounds very handy! I think I will go with the Panasonic system. Any good 3D blu rays going that don't cost nearly half a day's wage?!