TV faulty after warranty expired: how the consumer guarantee outlasts it

Your TV has stopped working. Maybe the screen has developed a fault, or the panel has died entirely. You call the retailer, and the first thing they tell you is that the manufacturer's warranty ran out — so there's nothing they can do. It's a frustrating response, and it's also one that misrepresents your legal position. In Australia, the manufacturer's warranty is only one layer of protection. Underneath it sits a statutory right — the consumer guarantee — that the retailer cannot simply wave away.

Quick answer

Whether a faulty TV gives you a remedy after the manufacturer's warranty has expired depends on a few key variables: how long you have owned the TV, what you paid for it, what went wrong, and whether the failure is major or minor. The consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) apply automatically to goods sold by a business, and they are not tied to the length of any manufacturer's warranty. A TV that fails well before a reasonable consumer would expect it to may still be covered — regardless of what the warranty document says. The remedy available to you will depend on whether the failure is classified as major or minor under the ACL.

What the law actually says

The Australian Consumer Law is Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It applies to goods acquired from a business where the purchase falls within the ACL’s definition of a consumer transaction — including goods of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use. A television purchased from a retailer for home use will almost always meet this definition.

When you buy a TV from a business, section 54 of the ACL requires that the goods be of acceptable quality. That means they must be:

• safe to use;
• free from defects;
• acceptable in appearance and finish;
• fit for all the purposes for which goods of that kind are commonly supplied; and
• durable.

The durability element is the one that matters most once a warranty has expired. A TV that fails after a period that a reasonable consumer would not expect is arguably not durable — and therefore not of acceptable quality. The ACL does not set a fixed lifespan for any product. Instead, durability is assessed against what a reasonable consumer would expect, taking into account the age of the goods, the price paid, the type of product, and how it was used. A budget TV bought at a low price point may be expected to last a shorter time than a premium model bought at a significantly higher price — and in many cases the consumer guarantee period may extend beyond the manufacturer’s warranty, depending on what a reasonable consumer would expect in the circumstances.

Section 55 of the ACL adds a further guarantee: if you told the seller what you needed the TV for — for example, that you needed a screen suitable for a commercial display environment or for a specific use — and it was reasonable to rely on the seller's skill and judgment in recommending a product for that purpose, the goods must be fit for that disclosed purpose.

These guarantees are not optional. Under section 64 of the ACL, a business cannot exclude, restrict, or modify the consumer guarantees. A clause in the warranty document saying "no liability after 12 months" does not remove your statutory rights. It is simply unenforceable against a consumer guarantee claim.

Major failure vs minor failure

The remedy you can pursue depends on whether the fault is a major failure or a minor failure under the ACL.

Under section 260 of the ACL, a failure is major if:

• the goods would not have been acquired by a reasonable consumer who knew of the failure;
• the goods are substantially unfit for their normal purpose and cannot be remedied within a reasonable time;
• the goods are significantly different from the description under which they were supplied; or
• the goods are unsafe.

A TV with a dead panel, persistent display defects, or a fault that makes it unusable is likely to meet the major failure threshold in many cases. A minor cosmetic issue or a fault that can be repaired quickly may not.

For a major failure, section 259 of the ACL gives you the right to choose your remedy: you can reject the goods and seek a refund or replacement, or you can keep the goods and seek compensation for the reduction in value.

For a minor failure, the business gets to choose the remedy — but it must provide one. They can repair, replace, or refund. If they fail to remedy the problem within a reasonable time, you may be entitled to have the fault fixed elsewhere and recover the reasonable cost, or in some circumstances reject the goods and seek a refund or replacement.

You can read more about how this classification works in our guide to what "major failure" means under the ACL.

When this applies (and when it doesn't)

The consumer guarantees are likely to apply to your faulty TV when:

• You bought it from a retailer or business (including an online retailer operating in Australia).
• The TV has failed in a way that suggests it is not durable or not fit for its normal purpose.
• The failure is not the result of misuse, accidental damage, or something you did that caused the fault.
• You have some form of proof of purchase — a receipt, bank statement, email confirmation, or loyalty card record.

There are situations where the consumer guarantees may not apply, or where a claim is less straightforward:

• You caused the damage. If the TV was dropped, exposed to water, or damaged through misuse, the fault is not a breach of the acceptable quality guarantee.
• The fault was disclosed before purchase. If the retailer told you the TV had a known defect and you bought it anyway, you generally cannot claim on that defect.
• You bought from a private seller. The ACL applies to businesses acting in trade or commerce. A private individual selling a second-hand TV on an online marketplace is generally not covered — though it is worth noting that sole traders and small businesses selling goods online may still qualify as businesses under the ACL even if they appear to be individuals. The test is whether they are acting in trade or commerce.
• The TV is very old and the failure is consistent with its age. Consumer guarantees are not a lifetime warranty. If a TV has been used heavily for many years and fails in a way that is consistent with normal wear and tear at that age, a claim may be harder to sustain. Durability is assessed against reasonable expectations given the age, price, and type of goods.
• You bought from an overseas seller with no Australian presence. The ACL can still apply if a seller supplied goods directly to an Australian consumer, but factors such as whether the seller has an ABN, an Australian warehouse, or prices in AUD are relevant — though not necessarily decisive. Enforcement across borders can be difficult in practice. See our guide on online purchases and the ACL for more detail.

What to do today

If your TV has failed and the retailer has pointed to the expired warranty, here is a practical sequence that tends to work:

1. Gather your proof of purchase. A receipt, email confirmation, bank or credit card statement, or any record that shows you bought the TV from that retailer. You do not need the original paper receipt.

2. Document the fault. Take photos or video of the fault. Write down when you first noticed it, what the TV does (or doesn't do), and how you have been using it. Note the model, the price you paid, and the date of purchase.

3. Write to the retailer. Email is better than a phone call — it creates a record. In your email, state the date of purchase, the price paid, the nature of the fault, and the fact that you are making a claim under the consumer guarantees in the ACL — specifically, that the TV is not of acceptable quality under section 54 because it is not durable. State what remedy you are seeking: a refund, replacement, or repair.

4. Set a reasonable deadline. Give the retailer 14 days to respond with a proposed remedy. Make clear that if they do not respond, you will escalate to your state's Fair Trading body and, if necessary, the relevant consumer tribunal.

5. Keep the TV. Do not dispose of it. The retailer may want to inspect it, and if the matter goes to a tribunal, the goods will be relevant evidence.

If drafting the letter feels daunting, fairgo can generate one for you in about 90 seconds. The tool identifies the relevant ACL sections automatically and produces a letter you send under your own name.

What if the business refuses

If the retailer refuses your claim or does not respond within your deadline, you have several escalation options:

• Your state or territory Fair Trading body. Each state and territory has a free conciliation service that will contact the business on your behalf and attempt to broker a resolution. A full list of contacts is at /agencies. This is usually the right first step after a direct approach fails.

• Your state consumer tribunal. If conciliation does not resolve the dispute, you can often file a claim at NCAT (NSW), VCAT (Victoria), QCAT (Queensland), SAT (Western Australia), SACAT (South Australia), or the equivalent in your territory, typically under the state-applied version of the Australian Consumer Law or related state consumer legislation. Filing fees are modest, the process is designed for people without legal training, and tribunals regularly hear exactly this kind of dispute — a retailer pointing to an expired warranty while the consumer relies on the ACL. Our guide to choosing the right tribunal explains the process for each state.

• The manufacturer directly. Under section 271-276 of the ACL, you may also have rights against the manufacturer (not just the retailer) for a failure to comply with the acceptable quality guarantee. This can be a useful parallel path if the retailer is unresponsive.

One thing worth knowing: a well-drafted demand letter that cites the ACL specifically and sets a clear escalation path tends to prompt a response far more reliably than a general complaint. Retailers and their legal teams know what a tribunal outcome looks like on a durable goods claim, and many prefer to resolve before it gets that far.

Common mistakes

A few patterns come up repeatedly in TV and electronics disputes:

• Treating the warranty as the only protection. The manufacturer's warranty is a contractual promise from the manufacturer. The consumer guarantee is a statutory right against the retailer. They are separate. The guarantee does not expire when the warranty does — it continues for the period a reasonable consumer would expect the goods to remain durable in the circumstances, which may be longer than the manufacturer’s warranty.

• Accepting "the warranty has expired" as a final answer. This is the most common mistake. Frontline retail staff often quote warranty terms as if they were the law. They are not. Politely but clearly reference the ACL and ask to speak with a manager or the business's customer relations team.

• Waiting too long to act. The ACL does not set a single fixed warranty-style expiry period for consumer guarantee claims. But timing still matters. The longer you wait after a fault appears, the harder it can be to demonstrate that the fault reflects a lack of acceptable quality rather than wear and tear. Rejection rights — the right to return the goods and get a refund — may also no longer be available if too much time has passed. Act promptly once you notice the fault.

• Claiming for damage you caused. A consumer guarantee claim is about an inherent defect in the goods, not accidental damage. If the TV was physically damaged, that is a different matter — possibly covered by home and contents insurance, but not by the ACL.

• Contacting the ACCC expecting them to resolve your individual dispute. The ACCC investigates systemic conduct and takes action on behalf of consumers broadly. They do not intervene in individual disputes. For your specific case, your state's Fair Trading body and the relevant tribunal are the right forums.

• Asking for a remedy that doesn't match the failure. If the failure is minor and repairable, demanding a full refund may undermine your credibility. Understand whether the failure is likely to be major or minor before you write your letter, and frame your request accordingly. Our guide to replacement vs repair vs refund explains how to think through this.

Related reading

• Phone broken after warranty expired? Your ACL rights explained
• Laptop faulty? How the consumer guarantee applies to computers
• Consumer guarantees vs warranty — what's the difference?

This article is general information about Australian Consumer Law, not legal advice. The ACL is complex and your situation may have details that change the analysis. For advice on your specific case, see your state's Fair Trading body — full list at /agencies.