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I needed to adjust my brakes (Formula Oro) and sourced a T10 in B&Q. All good so far. I was opening and closing the bleed valve as I was pushing the pistons back until I tried to use the torx driver and nothing.
The tip had snapped off.
I'm not interested in my rights in returning the goods as they were clearly not fit for purpose.
I am interested in knowing whether I can make a claim for damage caused by this piece of crap tool. The broken tip is well and truly stuck and I'm concerned about remendying this problem & who would be liable if I have to replace my damaged caliper.
I say B&Q.
What say you?
Good luck with that one.
I say B&Q, and also what uphillcursing said...
I say you're boned. First question is going to be how much force were you using to a)snap the thing and b) do it in such a way that the tip is now jammed?
I say you're boned. First question is going to be how much force were you using to a)snap the thing and b) do it in such a way that the tip is now jammed?
The answer is that I was using fingers to turn the handle, so not much force at all. Cheese would have been better.
The only thing I can find is this:
53 Remedy for breach of warranty.(1)Where there is a breach of warranty by the seller, or where the buyer elects (or is compelled) to treat any breach of a condition on the part of the seller as a breach of warranty, the buyer is not by reason only of such breach of warranty entitled to reject the goods; but he may—
(a)set up against the seller the breach of warranty in diminution or extinction of the price, or
(b)maintain an action against the seller for damages for the breach of warranty.
(2)The measure of damages for breach of warranty is the estimated loss directly and naturally resulting, in the ordinary course of events, from the breach of warranty.
(3)In the case of breach of warranty of quality such loss is prima facie the difference between the value of the goods at the time of delivery to the buyer and the value they would have had if they had fulfilled the warranty.
(4)The fact that the buyer has set up the breach of warranty in diminution or extinction of the price does not prevent him from maintaining an action for the same breach of warranty if he has suffered further damage.
I'm not clear as to what "warranty" includes, but it appears to link to damages resulting from faulty goods.
That is a lot of pressure applied to a small screw to break the torx bit. Fault would be with the screw being seized in the brake lever body.
You could try tapping the remains of the bit in the hole in the opposite direction that you were turning it in or even try and push a pin inside to try and un-wedge it. Im sure with a bit of patience and fiddling you could get it out
To be honest B&Q will probably offer a refund or a replacement and thats your lot. You have no way of proving you were using the bit correctly and how you used the tool is not really down to B&Q to prove.
This is about consequential losses, I don't know if they are governed by SOGA, might be in B&Q's T&Cs, I would expect them not to be covered
The answer is that I was using fingers to turn the handle, so not much force at all. Cheese would have been better.
By your own admission it was enough force to cause the end of the tool to get stuck into the screw - which means that either yourself or the screw weren't quite right too
They'll give you a new one without any problem i'd imagine regardless, the consequential loss not so much
Look at Consumer Protection Act rather than SOGA in relation to the damage to the brakes.
IANAproductliabilityL
Save yourself a mountain of work. You can waste a lot of time, emails, phone calls and be stressed as you probably won't get very far. Just buy this then go ride your bike.
OK well one thing is, you definitely don't need to replace the caliper, because the bleed screw threads into the banjo not the caliper and it can be removed and replaced separately. So stress less about that. Though the parts still aren't that cheap.
re everything else, considering it's a teeny tiny bolt, and then that bolt's threaded into a larger bolt, the OP really couldn't have put massive force through it. Especially when mid-bleed, the point of greatest resistance would be loosening it in the first place. So I'd definitely say it's a defect in the tool. And getting stuck in the bolt doesn't imply excess force either, if the tool distorted before breaking. I reckon the bit should be removable without too much hassle though.
You've got no chance of getting anything more than a refund/replacement.
It would be up to you to prove the product alone caused the damage, and I can't see any way you could do that.
Playing Devils advocate...what's to say it wasn't the torx bolt out of tolerance, maybe it had been overtightened and the head enlarged?
Formula do use shit bolts(IMO).
You bought it from B&Q. The disclaimer and associated expectation of quality is in the name of the shop.
dirtydog - MemberFormula do use shit bolts(IMO).
They use soft bolts for levers (they're snapoff/sacrificial, and also bastard expensive) but this one's stainless steel and very tough. Hence why the tool's broken not the teeny tiny torq.
This is about consequential losses, I don't know if they are governed by SOGA, might be in B&Q's T&Cs, I would expect them not to be covered
This is kind of what I figured. There has to be a provision to cover this sort of thing, but for the price of a torx driver it's not worth it.
Thanks.
SOGA will deal with Torx driver
CPA will deal with damaged brakes
We got back from holidays and in the post is a voucher for £45.00 from B&Q. I sent them an email and had a chat with them before going away and they decided that they would offer the voucher in order to cover the cost of the repair.
Bit of a result.
That's crazy!
You lucked out there. Absolutely no reason, unless it's a known fault and loads have snapped, for them to accept responsibility.
Is it a voucher to spend at B&Q?
I reckon a few people might use your case to get vouchers now.
Is it a voucher to spend at B&Q?
Of course it is, it will have cost them £20.00 or £30.00, or whatever their cost price is but I get £45.00.
I reckon a few people might use your case to get vouchers now.
Good luck to them, there is a bit of a technique to getting it though which I'm not going to disclose. 😈