WINCTRL (WINWING) REFUSING TO HONOR THE UE LAW (SHOCKING!)
TL;DR: WINWING refuses to honor the Article 14 of Directive (EU) 2019/771 on the sale of goods.
Two years ago I've had some issues with the TDC on my F-15EX throttle grip. I've contacted support and got a new part sent free of charge, or so I thought.
A couple of weeks later the part arrived, there was a hiccup with an incorrect e-mail address provided by WINWING on the shipping label, forcing the parcel to get stuck at customs. After receiving an e-mail about 3 days after the package arrived in the country, I've got an e-mail from WINWING saying that FedEx was trying to contact me, but failed (who knows why!). I've promptly sent a reply, but resolved the situation with FEDEX on my own quicker than WINWING could reply, of which I also informed them. After some back and forth with FEDEX I got the package the next day, no payment required upon collection, sweet.
Or so I thought.
A couple of weeks later I get an Invoice from FEDEX for around 50$ - of which around 8$ is the customs fee, the rest is warehousing fees. After e-mailing FEDEX I got the impression that the Invoice was cancelled - I assume an internal e-mail got sent to me by a mistake. Fast-forward a few years and FEDEX woke up, demanding payment.
Upon contacting WINWING multiple times, quoting the UE law that states that all warranty repairs are absolutely free to the customer, they still failed to pay or even escalate the issue, and that's why I've decided to post this publicly.
Article 14 of Directive (EU) 2019/771 on the sale of goods:
>Repair or replacement of the goods
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>1. Repairs or replacements shall be carried out:
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>(a) free of charge;
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>(b) within a reasonable period of time from the moment the seller has been informed by the consumer about the lack of conformity; and
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>(c) without any significant inconvenience to the consumer, taking into account the nature of the goods and the purpose for which the consumer required the goods.
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>2. Where the lack of conformity is to be remedied by repair or replacement of the goods, the consumer shall make the goods available to the seller. The seller shall take back the replaced goods at the seller's expense.
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>3. Where a repair requires the removal of goods that had been installed in a manner consistent with their nature and purpose before the lack of conformity became apparent, or where such goods are to be replaced, the obligation to repair or replace the goods shall include the removal of the non-conforming goods, and the installation of replacement goods or repaired goods, or bearing the costs of that removal and installation.
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>4. The consumer shall not be liable to pay for normal use made of the replaced goods during the period prior to their replacement.
The following is the full e-mail conversation with WINWING: