By RACHEL SPENCER

A WARRINGTON man has issued a warning to consumers in the town to check they get what they pay for when they buy goods with a warranty.

Eddy Cooper from Canberra Square in Orford thought that when he paid £300 for a three year warranty on his new computer which he bought from Tiny in Sankey Street, entitling him to a 16 hour response service, that would be exactly what he would get.

So when his computer broke down on January 26, he called for an engineer, but couldn't get anyone out to fix it. He kept ringing the helpline at 60p a minute but still couldn't get help.

Eddy spoke to trading standards in Warrington, who advised him to write to the store on Sankey Street and also the customer services department. They wrote back, giving him another 60p a minute number to ring.

Eventually, on February 23, almost a month after the first call was made, an engineer phoned Eddy and said he would be round to fix the computer the next day, which he did.

But Eddy wants to warn other users about the sluggish, 16-hour response he received, that Tiny state they will endeavour to stick to, which stretched over four weeks.

Peter Astley, from Warrington Trading Standards says it's important to read the small print in warranties before signing the dotted line.

He said: "Customers should be aware that they do have rights under the Sale of Goods Act when they buy goods and that doesn't end after a year, effectively it lasts for six years.

"Weigh up the rights you have and work out if it is value for money, only a small percentage of goods break in the warranty period."

A spokeswoman for Tiny said the delay was caused by a lack of parts available and an administrative error. She said: "We would like to apologise to the customer, and we will give him an extra six months on his warranty.

"We were waiting for parts and this was further delayed by an administrative error."