Consumer Rights: MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

steph1956

Can anyone advise me please?
I bought a Belkin router & adaptor from PC World in 2004 - both items have a manufacturers lifetime guarantee.
They are both faulty but PC World would not exchange them as they said they only guarantee the items for a year and I should deal with Belkin direct. I thought as I bought them from PC World, they should honour the manufacturers guarantee - am I right or wrong?

lona43

I've always found Belkin to be a very approachable company.

go to http://www.belkin.com/uk/

There is a link to contact them and I have found them to be very responsive.

bec22

Hi, I'm new on here, would appreciate your thoughts/advice, will be as conscise as possible! -

I bought a purse for a friend for Christmas from a boutique shop. The first occasion she used it the clasp broke. We returned it to the shop who seemed to accept it was faulty and said they would send it back to the manufacturer to be repaired or replaced. However we have just received a letter from the shop stating the following:

'I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to process a refund for the following purchase. Unfortunately, the manufacturers believe the cause of the fault is due to regular wear and tear and therefore have been unable to compensate us with any new stock or credit. As we believe the item was in perfect condition when it was sold, we have no other option than to refuse a refund or credit note. This does not affect your statutory rights and you may pursue this matter with the necessary authorities if you so wish.'

I've swotted up on this site and am ready to quote the Sale of Goods Act to them and point out that the purse was not fit for purpose and not of merchantable quality, also to point out that the law places the onus on the retailer not manufacturer to provide recompense - however, it sounds like we may have a battle on our hands!

I am considering ending my letter to the retailer by requesting a full refund and saying that if this is not received I will go to Trading Standards and the small claims court - however, I don't want to make a threat I may not be able to follow through, given that Trading Standards are unlikely to take action, and the purse was less than £50, so potentially not financially viable to pursue the matter in the small claims court.

Any ideas about the most effective way to deal with this?

SuperNashwan

bec22 wrote: »

I bought a purse for a friend for Christmas from a boutique shop. The first occasion she used it the clasp broke...
Any ideas about the most effective way to deal with this?

As you said really, sounds like you've got a good handle on the situation. It's pretty obvious the goods aren't of satisfactory quality if the clasp broke in normal use shortly after purchase, making the retailer liable. Whether you're prepared to fight it to the end is up to you, it's more a question of time than financial viability; if you win the court fees are awarded to you as well if you've acted sensibly, and there are limited costs you can claim for travel to the court, lost earnings etc (ask the court staff what's claimable if/when you pick up the paperwork for the claim). Bear in mind that it's not an empty threat to point out that in a simple case the retailer could stand to significantly increase their financial loss by fighting it all the way and losing because of this.

djc_slip

Hi..

Wonder if someone could give me advice.

I bought a tent on 1st June 06, I used the tent in August 06, and found 3 broken pieces. Tent was useable, but it was supposed to be brand new.

I went to the shop in Sep/Oct, and reported this, with assurances that replacement parts would be ordered.

It is now Apr07, The shop tells me it is having trouble with replacement parts, and has said it will "repair damage, so as to be not noticeable"

I am not entirely happy with this, as i bought a NEW tent, and expected it to last a considerable time. I also now have no faith in the item.

Do i have the right to a full refund? Do i have to accept the repair? Or do i have the right to ask for a credit note to full amount? (After all - i still need a tent!)

Thanks for looking!!

Kryptonian

Yesterday, my Panasonic TH42PX60 Plasma TV just ceased working. I suspect a fuse has blown inside it after some messing about with it and different cables.

I bought it 12 months and 12 days ago. As an Xbox 360 I owned failed just after 12 months aswell, I learnt about the Sale of Goods Act etc and think I know my rights with this kind of thing.

I phoned up Customer Support and spoke to some unhelpful kid who wasn't prepared to do anything apart from charge me £120 for someone to have a look at it. I phoned the Store where I got it and the Manager didn't help either.

So I went to the Store and I printed out the Sale of Goods Act and highlighted the relevant parts that back up my case, printed a Consumer Summary Sheet and a Small Claims Track form and typed a letter saying that I was unhappy with the customer service for this case and the previous 2 plasmas that I bought there (the first one broke and Mastercare held onto it for over a month without looking at it) I was issued a replacement which then failed after a few weeks. Now I'm pretty sure that under the law I could have got a refund (despite them telling me I couldn't) at that time for the £1500 I paid for the Hitachi so I could've bought a PX60 elsewhere. They wouldn't do that so I had to pay the extra £550 for the PX60 from Currys.

The Manager was so frustratingly annoying though, just blatently wanted to pass the buck and to have nothing to do with it at all. He looked at the Sale of Goods Act I printed and said I'd just 'highlighted stuff that was relevant to my case' so I asked why would I highlight stuff what was irrelevant? He said anyone could do that. I said 'by law, I'm entitled to x y z' and he said 'that's what you say' and I said 'no, it says it RIGHT here' but he wouldn't have it. I showed him it was a government website and we could look it up online if he wanted but he declined. He wouldn't call 'customer services' for me or fax the letter I typed to them. He was basically the most unhelpful guy I could have met.

He said he would fax my letter tomorrow - my letter also stated if it was not resolved by 23/04/07 I would take them to the Small Claims Court but he didn't care about that. He had no idea about my rights whatsoever and just smiled and nodded a lot with a really smug expression.

I have emailed the letter to their Customer Services and MD as well as a few directors after reading a few other rants about Currys / DSGi. I am also planning on sending it recorded delivery to their head office tomorrow but really feel as though I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

As far as I'm aware, I'm in the right - 12 months for a £2k TV!? Panasonic state it has a lifespan of 60,000 hours - about 7 years continuous use.

Is there anything else I can do / any other advice?

Thanks - sorry for the long post.

SuperNashwan

If the manager is refusing to pay attention or believe you about your rights your first step should be trying to get your local Trading Standards office involved. Some are too small to get involved in individual cases, but if they have a chance they should be happy to help, hopefully someone more "official" might persuade the manager, but don't count on it.
From the sound of it you may well be seeing this through all the way, DSG are notorious for ignoring the SoGA. Bear in mind that time has weakened your rights slightly, if you're rejecting the TV as being of unsatisfactory quality you may have your refund reduced to take account of any enjoyment you've had of it for the time it has worked. If you're asking for repair or replacement you'll have to show the fault was present at the time of sale, although the nature of the failure may point by itself to a manufacturing defect; an independent engineer's report could be worth considering given the value of the item (I'm not 100% sure but I don't think the cost of that would be recoverable).

sleepymy

Hi guys,
last saturday morning I bought a garden gazebo. When we put it up yesterday I noticed that the cover was not showerproof (as advertised). I've seen this material before and the weave is too big. It can be water proof for the first shower but then when it gets stretched by the wind the rain just comes straight through it.
When we put it up a couple of the bars were bent, we don't know if they were like that or bent when we were trying to put it up. The bars are very flimsy and the paint on them was flaking as we were putting it up.
Hubby took it back to the store this morning. Firstly the till girl said that they couldn't take it back because the box was ripped, hubby explained that it was when we bought it. Then she said they'd have to test it, they took it out the back and wouldn't let hubby accompany them. The brought it back and said that it was waterproof and that the bars were bent and that he hadn't said that first. He explained to them that they didn't give him a chance.
The assistant manager said he didn't have the power to refund under the circumstances :rolleyes: and that we'd have to ring the manager tomorrow. I was just wondering if anyone has any advice how to handle this and if there are any templates for a letter as I think it'd be better to put it in writing at this stage and just hand it to the manager tomorrow.
I payed by credit card.

Kryptonian

SuperNashwan wrote: »

If the manager is refusing to pay attention or believe you about your rights your first step should be trying to get your local Trading Standards office involved. Some are too small to get involved in individual cases, but if they have a chance they should be happy to help, hopefully someone more "official" might persuade the manager, but don't count on it.
From the sound of it you may well be seeing this through all the way, DSG are notorious for ignoring the SoGA. Bear in mind that time has weakened your rights slightly, if you're rejecting the TV as being of unsatisfactory quality you may have your refund reduced to take account of any enjoyment you've had of it for the time it has worked. If you're asking for repair or replacement you'll have to show the fault was present at the time of sale, although the nature of the failure may point by itself to a manufacturing defect; an independent engineer's report could be worth considering given the value of the item (I'm not 100% sure but I don't think the cost of that would be recoverable).

Cheers. I spoke to Trading Standards on Monday and they advised me to write another letter to the Store and give them 14 days to act upon it, basically asking for a replacement or refund.

Currys responded to my original email saying it was out of guarantee, I replied saying the Manufacturers Warranty is in addition to the SoGA, not instead of, she replied saying I needed an independent engineers report. I spoke to Trading Standards again and she said it was unreasonable of them to request that without looking at the TV but also told me to wait for an official reply to my letter. I emailed Currys back and said that what TS said about the engineers report. Currys emailed back saying the same thing again. I then asked if she had read my letter and if her email was an official response to it and if it was, could I have it in writing as that is what the TS wants. I haven't had a reply to that yet.

I really do find them laughable and incredibly frustrating.

In a twist of fate Panasonic said they would treat it as an in Warranty repair if I wanted and fix it for me totally free of charge which is obviously very tempting but I really don't want Currys to get away with misleading and treating customers like this.

Not sure what to do now though.

deanos

I would take the repair from Panny, just because its a quick remedy to your problem and less hassle for yourself.

After 6 months the burdon is for you to proove the fault exsisted when you bought it which would need an engineers report i guess.