Play.com returns

Hi all,

I often shop at Play.com as its a good clear cheap site with P&P already sorted in the price.

All has been well in the past. This Christmas I bought a present (a remote control car) in November. It developed a fault on boxing day so I I used the online returns system. They emailed back as follows:

"We are sorry to hear that you have been experiencing problems with your
order.

Unfortunately as it has been over 35 days from the receipt of this item,
we are unable to offer you a refund or a replacement. More information on
our Returns Policy can be found here:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=about&page=ret

We are sorry that we are unable to assist you further in this matter.

Kind Regards

Play"

By statute a durable item should have a 12 month warranty, so I emailed them back to point this out and arrange the return - I got a message straight back as it was an unattended mail box! I thought that this seems off, so I gave them a ring. The phone was answered straight away without any long intro, and the gentleman on the phone sorted the problem out and sent me a returns advice email to send it back.

If I had settled for the first communication I would have been left high and dry, my tip for returning stuff to Play.com is give them a call in the first place as the automated system dosent seem to work! I wonder if anyone else has been left stuck by the online returns system?

Hope that this helps someone!