Failing to live up to a promise - getting locked out

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Principle 1: Observe and Interact

When I built the house I used as many second hand materials as I could, but I didn't skimp on the main door locks. I bought that best that I could, a well regarded brand and a relatively simple and common design. The Lockwood 001 Deadlatch came with a 25 year warranty too, so I felt pretty secure in my choice.

8-9 years later and on of the 2 locks that I bought began to fail, the internal knob wouldn't 'hold back', which meant that we started to get locked outside unexpectedly. Remembering that the lock had a 25 year warranty I started investigating how I could get it repaired / replaced. In the fine print I noticed that I needed to provide proof of purchase, and return it to the place of purchase. Being the person that I am I found a receipt that I tucked away, but it had totally faded to the point that I couldn't read it at all, so I couldn't do that.



I thought I'd give it a go anyway, because I felt that I was sold something that didn't last as I expected, or as promised.

The first response didn't look promising:

Thank you for your email and sorry to hear that you have had some issues with one of our products.

ASSA ABLOY warranty states if you wish to claim on the warranty of a product purchased from a retailer or other reseller, the item must be returned back to the retailer or other reseller from whom the product was originally purchased as per clause # 3a ( refer to attached)

WARRANTY

  • 1. Warranty - ASSA ABLOY also warrants that each of its Lockwood branded products will be free of defects in material and workmanship (including mechanical parts) for a period of 25 years from date of purchase of the product with which this document is given, subject to the limitations and exclusions set out
  • (b) ASSA ABLOY's Lockwood branded products which have not been properly maintained in accordance with ASSA ABLOY's care and maintenance recommendations; (ASSA ABLOY's care and maintenance recommendations can be found at www.lockweb.com.au); when was this lock serviced?
  • (f) fair wear and tear; ( 8 years)
ASSA ABLOY is the distributor and manufacturer of Lockwood however in this instance if you could send us either some photos or video of issue on hand we will endeavour to assist you further.

This was my response, in which I sent the above video as evidence of the failure:

I don’t really see why the 25 year warranty should be retracted because I’ve used the product for 8 years. Surely the product is designed to be used.

I’m not sure what maintenance I am supposed to do on an item like this. That wasn’t clearly indicated on the product.

I have kept purchase receipts and looked through them. Unfortunately the print out has completely faded to be unreadable - see attached. So I’m not sure what to do.

I’m happy to share my experience on social media if necessary. We have a well travelled blog about our house and my experiences - abdallahhouse.com

I would prefer that we could resolve this appropriately, and I could recommend this product and service to my audience.

Unfortunately, they didn't offer to help repair it (which I indicated initially would be my preference). But, to my delight, they offered a replacement instead. Not just one, but two - as I had originally bought a twin pack that used the same key and I'd need to get the new lock rekeyed by a locksmith if I only received one.

I installed the new locks today, doing some minor chiseling work to enure that the lock strike plate sits flush with the door jam. While doing that I also installed a weather strip on the front and side doors. It's now very well sealed, and shuts with a nice solid thud. It's quite a fiddly job getting a door to shut well - but it can be done, even with slightly skewed 2nd hand doors.

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