returning faulty school shoes - Sports Direct wont refund!

So i bought a pair of school shoes for my daughter from this retailer. On the 2nd day of wearing she came back from school with the whole front on both shoes scraped down right down to the bottom layer of material. At the end of the week, the material on the strap was coming off.

The store manager refused to take them back.The Area manager refused to take them back.

They claim its "a scuff".

my questions:
1) if the product is faulty can a retailer claim the money back from the manufacturer?.

2) as I am adamant that the shoes are faulty (I used to work for the company in management and know full well its a manufacturing fault) what are more options now? Trading Standards?
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Comments

  • takman
    takman Posts: 3,876 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Chris_P wrote: »
    So i bought a pair of school shoes for my daughter from this retailer. On the 2nd day of wearing she came back from school with the whole front on both shoes scraped down right down to the bottom layer of material. At the end of the week, the material on the strap was coming off.

    The store manager refused to take them back.The Area manager refused to take them back.

    They claim its "a scuff".

    my questions:
    1) if the product is faulty can a retailer claim the money back from the manufacturer?.

    That all depends on the contract they have with their supplier. As it's a Business to Business transaction (them buying the shoes) then by default they would have no right to claim money back for faulty shoes.
    Chris_P wrote: »
    2) as I am adamant that the shoes are faulty (I used to work for the company in management and know full well its a manufacturing fault) what are more options now? Trading Standards?

    Trading Standards don't take complaints from individuals so that's not an option. The onus is on them to prove the shoes are not faulty, but it does sound like they are pretty sure they are not faulty.

    You could try contacting the manufacturers and send them photos to confirm if they think they are faulty or not.
  • Fosterdog
    Fosterdog Posts: 4,948 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    How exactly can the shoes being scraped down to the bottom layer of material be a manufacturing fault? They must have had some sort of physical impact to cause the "scrape".
  • deaston
    deaston Posts: 477 Forumite
    Chris_P wrote: »
    So i bought a pair of school shoes for my daughter from this retailer. On the 2nd day of wearing she came back from school with the whole front on both shoes scraped down right down to the bottom layer of material.

    I doesn't sound like they're faulty - they've been scraped down to the bottom layer. That's not a manufacturing fault, but you could argue that they're not fit for purpose if a child managed to do this to a shoe designed for children in as little as two days.

    How long was it from purchase to you going back to the store?
  • Fosterdog
    Fosterdog Posts: 4,948 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    deaston wrote: »
    I doesn't sound like they're faulty - they've been scraped down to the bottom layer. That's not a manufacturing fault, but you could argue that they're not fit for purpose if a child managed to do this to a shoe designed for children in as little as two days.

    How long was it from purchase to you going back to the store?

    What if the child deliberately dragged their feet? Kids do that some times
  • rach_k
    rach_k Posts: 2,236 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Do they have bikes/trikes in the playground? They do at my kids' school and you see some daft kids scraping their shoes horribly. I wouldn't expect any shoes to stand up to that, the kids just need to be told not to do it.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,098 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    The contract between the retailer and manufacturer is irrelevant: your contract is solely with the former.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • z1a
    z1a Posts: 2,522 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Fosterdog wrote: »
    What if the child deliberately dragged their feet? Kids do that some times

    Kids definitely do that if they don't like the shoes.
  • z1a wrote: »
    Kids definitely do that if they don't like the shoes.


    Actually they do it anyway...
  • Fosterdog wrote: »
    What if the child deliberately dragged their feet? Kids do that some times

    How does that make the shoes faulty?
  • AndyPix
    AndyPix Posts: 4,847 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Photogenic
    macman wrote: »
    solely with the former.


    Pun intended ??
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