'I got a £430 refund for my son's faulty PlayStation after following Martin Lewis' tips' – here's how to enforce your consumer rights

Here's what happened and how you can enforce your consumer rights when goods break.

Martin Lewis: 'Warranty Schmaranty – your legal rights aren't with the manufacturer, they're with the shop'

'This has helped me teach my son to stand up for his consumer rights'

Anna said: "I saw this and thought, it's unreasonable that a 13-year-old should save up all their money to buy an expensive electrical item that then breaks after just over a year."

She wrote to Argos' head office explaining the situation and included a screenshot of Martin's post. In response, Argos told Anna she would need to provide evidence that the console was faulty when she bought it, as it was purchased more than six months ago.

Anna found an electronic repair firm online, which inspected the device and wrote a letter saying that, in their professional opinion, there was a problem with the PlayStation. Dexter and Anna's mum then took the letter to their local store along with the faulty device, and showed them the messages.

Dexter was issued a partial refund of £430, which Argos said included £20 reimbursement for the cost of the expert's letter. The console had originally cost £480, but Argos didn't offer a full refund as Dexter had gotten a year's use out of it.

"It felt like a little victory against the big guys," Anna told us. Dexter has since bought an Xbox with the money. "I wanted to say a huge thank you. You’ve helped make a 13-year-old boy very happy and shown him that he can stand up against big companies."

Bought a faulty item? Here's how to enforce your rights

If an item you've bought stops working and the retailer or manufacturer offered a warranty, it's worth checking that it'll honour this. But if you're out of warranty, you still have some options.

Here's our quick summary of how to enforce your consumer rights to try and get a refund, repair or replacement – for a full breakdown see our Consumer Rights guide.

Step one: know your consumer rights

All goods must follow what we call the 'SAD FART' rules. In other words, they must be: Satisfactory quality, As Described, Fit for purpose, And last a Reasonable length of Time.

If your goods fail to meet any of these criteria, you're entitled to a full refund within the first 30 days. After that, you should be offered a repair or replacement – then, if those don't work, a partial or full refund.

If it's been more than six months since you bought the goods, the retailer will often require you to prove that the goods were faulty (or prone to developing a fault) when you bought them. In practice, this could involve getting an expert to show there was a design or manufacturing defect with the product – as Anna and Dexter did.

Step two: enforcing your rights

As Martin's post explains, your rights are with the retailer, not the manufacturer. So if a company fobs you off by saying "go to the maker instead", it's wrong.

When asking the retailer for a refund, repair or replacement, quote your rights by saying "according to the Consumer Rights Act 2015". Saying this can make a powerful impression.

Retailer unwilling to help or gone bust? If the item cost over £100 and you paid by credit card, you can also enforce your consumer rights against your card provider. Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, the card firm's equally liable if something goes wrong. In other words, you have the SAME rights covering faulty purchases as you do with the retailer. See our Section 75 guide for full info.

What did Argos say?

A spokesperson for Argos said: "We were in touch with Ms Hayden to say how sorry we are for her experience. We explained that in order to support with a product issue outside of its warranty, we would need to review an independent report which confirms the defect. Ms Hayden provided this to us and we offered a partial refund and to reimburse her for the cost of the independent report, which she accepted."