Who fixes it if it fails?
When you buy direct you are the importer, so there is no Australian company standing behind the manufacturer's guarantees. That is the honest trade for the price. What replaces it is a written factory warranty, a held balance and someone on your side.
The short answer
The factory fixes product defects under the warranty written into your order. Your builder or installer is still responsible for their workmanship. Elje Assured is what makes the factory act: defect resolution and a 2-year backstop.
The proof
Under the Australian Consumer Law, a person who imports goods is treated as the manufacturer when the real manufacturer has no place of business in Australia. Buy from an Australian retailer and that retailer's importer carries the guarantees. Buy direct and that role is yours.
In Queensland, the builder's warranty that materials are good and suitable does not apply to materials the owner nominates, where the builder had no reasonable grounds to refuse them or the owner insisted after written advice. The workmanship warranty on the install still applies.
What Elje does about it
- The factory's warranty terms, spare parts and response times are written into every order in the Project Plan.
- Inspection before the balance is released, so most defects are caught in Foshan, not on site.
- Elje Assured: defect resolution with the factory on your behalf and a 2-year backstop.
- Spares: we ask for extra hinges, runners, cartridges and a tile overage in the same container, because a spare in the garage beats a claim.
Questions
Does my builder's warranty cover the cabinets?
It covers how they were installed. A defect in the product itself is usually not the builder's if you nominated it.
Is home warranty insurance affected?
In Queensland, the insurable value of the work still includes owner-supplied items the contractor installs. Whether a claim covers a defect in the product itself is a question for the policy wording.