Consumer Rights: MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

shaggy

the evergrowing argos microwave saga ...

a few pages ago on this thread i posted about my microwave packing up. Argos so far have not responded to my letter, and Art, and others advice on this thread was go straight to the small claims court and sue Argos. I am a bit hesitant to do this, because I have never been to the small claims court before, and i am also a bit apprehensive because i will have to pay my own costs if i lose the case.

For this reason I wanted to talk it over with the local CAB - but it seems they're always closed when I'm at home (weekends, weeknights etc). I know the advice on this board seems to be go to the small claims court. But is this really worth it for a £90 microwave? Have I got a good enough case? What if I lose the case? The costs will soon add up and i may wish i had never made a claim in the first place.

Art_2

shaggy wrote:

the evergrowing argos microwave saga ...

a few pages ago on this thread i posted about my microwave packing up. Argos so far have not responded to my letter, and Art, and others advice on this thread was go straight to the small claims court and sue Argos. I am a bit hesitant to do this, because I have never been to the small claims court before, and i am also a bit apprehensive because i will have to pay my own costs if i lose the case.

For this reason I wanted to talk it over with the local CAB - but it seems they're always closed when I'm at home (weekends, weeknights etc). I know the advice on this board seems to be go to the small claims court. But is this really worth it for a £90 microwave? Have I got a good enough case? What if I lose the case? The costs will soon add up and i may wish i had never made a claim in the first place.

It's up to you of course if you want to proceed with a claim against Argos. If you don't, they win!

Don't be afraid of the Small Claim Court system. It is very informal and very user friendly. Yes, you will have to pay a County Court fee of £30 when you lodge your claim. If you win this will be added to your judgement against Argos. If you lose you will have to pay it but you will not be liable to any other costs.

If you want to talk it over with someone I suggest a call to your local Trading Standards department.

At the end of the day you have to decide if it is worth the effort for a product that you say cost you £90 or do you simply cut your losses and buy another microwave (not from Argos I assume)

Regards,
Art.

stressed_out_wifemum

Art wrote:

Firstly, I must say that I have to assume the laws in NI are the same as in the rest of the UK.

Write to Tesco at their head office in Ware, Herts and tell them your story. Point out that it is unreasonable to expect the TV to break down within 16 months and under the Sale of Goods Act you expect them to deal with it for you. Send the letter, recorded delivery, to Mr.T Leary, Managing director. Tesco are normally very good at dealing with problems.

Regards,
Art.

id like to say thanks to art and frank for the advice they gave me regarding mytv.sorry its taken me a while to get back to you both but had a few family problems. anyway i did what you both suggested and wrote directly to Mr Leahy at Tescos. I received a letter on the 23 Dec saying that he was away on business but he would deal with my problem as soon as he got back.Well i finally received a letter from him on the 12th Jan. He apologised for the delay, and the inconvenie the tv had caused. He then went on to say

I regret that i am unable to assist you further with a repair or a replacement for this tv on this occasion. However i am sorry this has happened and i have enclosed, with my compliments, £12o.oo in a Tesco Moneycard to reimburse you for the intrinsic value of the television. Thankyou for taking the time to write to me.I hope that despite your experience, we may continue to be of service to you in future. Yours sincerely
Terry Leahy
Chief Executive

So thanks again to you both for your help and advice, cos without you i wouldnt of known what to do and my kids would be stuck with a clapped out tv. Your both stars!

Art_2

stressed_out_wife/mum wrote:

id like to say thanks to art and frank for the advice they gave me regarding mytv.sorry its taken me a while to get back to you both but had a few family problems. anyway i did what you both suggested and wrote directly to Mr Leahy at Tescos. I received a letter on the 23 Dec saying that he was away on business but he would deal with my problem as soon as he got back.Well i finally received a letter from him on the 12th Jan. He apologised for the delay, and the inconvenie the tv had caused. He then went on to say

I regret that i am unable to assist you further with a repair or a replacement for this tv on this occasion. However i am sorry this has happened and i have enclosed, with my compliments, £12o.oo in a Tesco Moneycard to reimburse you for the intrinsic value of the television. Thankyou for taking the time to write to me.I hope that despite your experience, we may continue to be of service to you in future. Yours sincerely
Terry Leahy
Chief Executive

So thanks again to you both for your help and advice, cos without you i wouldnt of known what to do and my kids would be stuck with a clapped out tv. Your both stars!

Good to hear you got a result. Thanks also for letting us know how you got on. It's always nice to hear the outcome.

Regards,
Art.

ScottishSapper

stressed_out_wife/mum wrote:

So thanks again to you both for your help and advice, cos without you i wouldnt of known what to do and my kids would be stuck with a clapped out tv. Your both stars!

Glad to hear you got a 'result', thank for letting us know. Hope your family problems are resolved soon.
Take Care
Frank

wombar

Hi All,

I was hoping I could get some advice on one of the electrical products that has developed a fault. It's a MOTU 896HD(8 Track recording device) that allows me to record bands etc.

Here's a run down of the timeline.

- I bought a brand new boxed unit from Digital Village in September '04 for £800.

- That unit developed a fault with 2 of the channels 5 months later. I returned that unit to digital village who sent it to music track(MOTU's UK Distributor) and got a refurbed unit back from Music Track.

- The refurbed unit developed a fault(headphone socket and loose screw inside unit) in August '05. I returned the refurbed unit directly to Music Track for a brand new and boxed version.

- The brand new unit has developed another fault (dead channel) in Jan '07.

Obviously for a unit costing £800 I'm not impressed, and I've had 3 units in just over 2 years. The 12 month warranty has run out on the last unit but ideally I'd rather not have to pay for a repair as something like this should last longer than 18 months.

The problem is, I went straight to the distributor last time and not through the retailer because it was significantly quicker and their premises were only an hours drive away.

Anyway, I'm speaking to Music Track(the distributor) tomorrow about getting a repair/replacement, but should I have to pay for the repair?

Ideally I'd prefer my money back(which isn't going to happen I know) but a brand new replacement would be acceptable so I can sell the unit on and get something more reliable.

Art_2

wombar wrote:

Hi All,

I was hoping I could get some advice on one of the electrical products that has developed a fault. It's a MOTU 896HD(8 Track recording device) that allows me to record bands etc.

Here's a run down of the timeline.

- I bought a brand new boxed unit from Digital Village in September '04 for £800.

- That unit developed a fault with 2 of the channels 5 months later. I returned that unit to digital village who sent it to music track(MOTU's UK Distributor) and got a refurbed unit back from Music Track.

- The refurbed unit developed a fault(headphone socket and loose screw inside unit) in August '05. I returned the refurbed unit directly to Music Track for a brand new and boxed version.

- The brand new unit has developed another fault (dead channel) in Jan '07.

Obviously for a unit costing £800 I'm not impressed, and I've had 3 units in just over 2 years. The 12 month warranty has run out on the last unit but ideally I'd rather not have to pay for a repair as something like this should last longer than 18 months.

The problem is, I went straight to the distributor last time and not through the retailer because it was significantly quicker and their premises were only an hours drive away.

Anyway, I'm speaking to Music Track(the distributor) tomorrow about getting a repair/replacement, but should I have to pay for the repair?

Ideally I'd prefer my money back(which isn't going to happen I know) but a brand new replacement would be acceptable so I can sell the unit on and get something more reliable.

Yes, you are entitled to a free repair. You are right in saying that the unit should have lasted longer than it has.

If you have a problem with the distributor try to enlist the support of the MD at Digital Village. His name is John DeCosta.

Regards,
Art.

wombar

Thanks very much Art. Obviously I'm going to start off as polite and pleasant as possible, but I just wanted to be sure that I can firmly tell them that they're obliged to provide a free repair/replacement under the sale of goods act.

Ideally I'd like a brand new unit, but we'll have to see what happens, I'll keep you posted.

chelvic

my partner runs a catalogue for a few friends and what has happened is a couple have fell behind with payments and my partner has told catalogue one customer will not be paying for their item so can they sort it with them and has given his name and address but while this is going on they have added £15 charge to her account for the slow payments but she herself does not owe them anything and has £345.00 in commission she can spend anytime on anything in the book, but she is the catalogues agent and has been doing this for 10 yrs without a problem so she sort of works for them,can they charge this to her for other peoples debts

Art_2

chelvic wrote:

my partner runs a catalogue for a few friends and what has happened is a couple have fell behind with payments and my partner has told catalogue one customer will not be paying for their item so can they sort it with them and has given his name and address but while this is going on they have added £15 charge to her account for the slow payments but she herself does not owe them anything and has £345.00 in commission she can spend anytime on anything in the book, but she is the catalogues agent and has been doing this for 10 yrs without a problem so she sort of works for them,can they charge this to her for other peoples debts

This all depends on the contract between your partner and the catalogue company. I assume a contract was signed when your partner started working for the company. You need to find the original agreement and see what it contains. It may be worth asking them why they have added the charge to your partner's account.

Regards,
Art.