Consumer Rights: MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

bec22

SuperNashwan wrote: »

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.

apologies for the delayed thanks, but your response was appreciated. cheers!

blue_monkey_2

Hi guys,

I have also postd this elsewhere but it was suggested that it might be better here:

About a year back I asked if anyone else had a problem with Tesco Colour Powder. Basically, where my son was just starting to feed himself with liquid type food (yogurt or porridge for example) when it dripped down his tops and then when washed in this Tesco Colour Powder it turned the stain white.

I took the clothes off to Tesco and then they asked me for a sample which I gave them along with the copy of the complain letter and request for sample (this went on over 6 weeks and I stopped using the powder) but they had no record of my complaint at their stores and I left the powder with a copy of the letter asking for a sample. When I went into the store to take the clothes the CS lady told me she had the same problem and had stopped using it. Before taking them to Tesco I replaced clothes thinking the problem was mine because it was really noticeable and I was not having my son wear clothes that looked like that. of course, when I changed powders I realised that the problem was not mine as when I changed powders the problem stopped. During this time of course I ended up having to replace all of his tops and some trousers and these do not come cheap.

Now, 9 months on I have complained that it is taking too long as no-one returns my calls or they tell me they are waiting for a report from the supplier and will call me back but never bother. So I had enough and addressed my letter to Terry Leahy instead and he has replied. I asked for £150 that was to cover each childs clothes to be replaced during this period (I had 2 under 3's at this time - they are messy) and £100 for inconveneince due to the length of time and the number of times I have had to call and be fobbed off by them and not had messages returned, etc...

Well, this week I have received the grand sum of £50 which doesn't even cover the cost of the clothes I left at Tesco for examination let alone the others that I replaced over the 6 weeks before this. I have looked for the clothes I might have left here but am guessing I have used them as rags or have them well stored as I cannotfind them and they now have the only clothes with evidence on them being these bleach marks. I am so annoyed. What do you think my next move should be? I am in the middle of the letter but what can I tell them? He has suggested that it is bleach or a household cleaner that I have not nocied (over 6 weeks, and on kiddies clothes, sure!) - I am going to point out that these are toddlers clothes and you can see on the clothes that they are food marks and why would food have bleach in them? Can I do anything without having the evidence to take them to court and get this money for my clothes. I do not think I am being greedy as I had to replace loads of clothes during this time - anything that was not white was getting these bleach marks down the front as my son refused point blank to wear a bib when he was a baby and toddler. They tell me that they will not take responsibility for the damage caused to the clothes. Tesco tell me that the £50 is an apology for the inconvenience.

Why do they always fob you aff these big companies and say it is not their fault. Surely if they sell a branded product and it goes wrong it is their fault? Should I ask for the name of their supplier and go to them? Can anyone offer any suggestions as I want to tell them that the £50 card voucher does not cover the clothes I had to replace but my letter is getting a bit sarky and I did not want to put it across like that. Any assistance on what I do from here would be appreciated. Thank you.

SuperNashwan

Kryptonian wrote: »

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.

Be sure that whatever you do, Currys will act exactly the same with any customer who isn't up to speed with their rights. The warranty repair would be less hassle in the short term and is very commendable of Panasonic, but should something go wrong again further down the line it could prove extremely difficult to pin any blame on Currys; how would you show that any new fault wasn't due to some part of Panasonic's repair?
FWIW fixed for free sounds good to me, I'd take the warranty repair, cross my fingers and if you can be bothered write to Currys about your treatment, suggesting some of their staff could do with a refresher course in consumer legislation.

Kryptonian

SuperNashwan wrote: »

Be sure that whatever you do, Currys will act exactly the same with any customer who isn't up to speed with their rights. The warranty repair would be less hassle in the short term and is very commendable of Panasonic, but should something go wrong again further down the line it could prove extremely difficult to pin any blame on Currys; how would you show that any new fault wasn't due to some part of Panasonic's repair?
FWIW fixed for free sounds good to me, I'd take the warranty repair, cross my fingers and if you can be bothered write to Currys about your treatment, suggesting some of their staff could do with a refresher course in consumer legislation.

That basically what I've done now. I just feel crap they Currys will 'get away with it'.

deanos wrote: »

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 burden is for you to prove the fault existed when you bought it which would need an engineers report i guess.

Yeah, TS were still saying Currys should look at it first though so I was hoping (as if) that Currys would do the right thing.

Thanks guys though

cooder1955

bought a camcorder at jessops to use on hols in usa tour 2 days before we went,got there camera would not read discs completely useless.got home found in box gaurantee ,serial number of camera and adress of someone on merseyside obviously returned faulty, had a full refund of £249.called jessops head office they said it was a managers special and offered £40 in vouchers compo ,got in touch with trading standards about small claims court gave me details of what to do ,i was sold this as working jessops told me court action would be won by them as it was managers special all ican do is go for consequential damages at court and rely on a sympathetic judge,and travel to court at leicester i live in paignton dev,does anyone have any advice do i have a chance of beating them,we saved 2 years for this holiday with granddaughter and wife will never be able to do it again .thanks for replys

Singlemanriot

I bought an lcd tv/dvd combo unit about 11months ago from Comet its was classed as non pristine stock (it was £359) and was reduced, the DVD player went off on one and stopped working completely now nothing at all will play. I bought this tv for uni its was did every job for me inclding my pc monitor. I fear that they will try and fob me off with a repair but am I right in thinking I can refuse that and ask for a replacement?

I am quite desperate as I have work that needs to be done and cant afford a replacement monitor let alone a new tv.

Thankyou all in advance for any help you can provide.

AbbieCadabra

is there 'anything' that governs the amount of credit card info a retailer stores on their systems?

if i'm buying from a company i've used before, either online or over the phone, i've normally had to confirm at least one part of my credit card info before the sale can be authorised - last 4 digits, expiry date, name on card &/or security no.

i placed an order earlier today somewhere i've shopped before & HE confirmed ALL of that info TO me, i didn't have to provide any details at all, just confirm what he was saying was correct.

this is the 1st time this has ever happened to me & it didn't really dawn on me until after i'd put the phone down. i'm not too comfortable with ALL of my info being held on a computer system somewhere.

is this unusual? or am i being too cautious?? if not, is there something i can do about it?

MTIA

SuperNashwan

cooder1955 wrote: »

bought a camcorder at jessops to use on hols in usa tour 2 days before we went,got there camera would not read discs completely useless.got home found in box gaurantee ,serial number of camera and adress of someone on merseyside obviously returned faulty, had a full refund of £249.called jessops head office they said it was a managers special and offered £40 in vouchers compo ,got in touch with trading standards about small claims court gave me details of what to do ,i was sold this as working jessops told me court action would be won by them as it was managers special all ican do is go for consequential damages at court and rely on a sympathetic judge,and travel to court at leicester i live in paignton dev,does anyone have any advice do i have a chance of beating them,we saved 2 years for this holiday with granddaughter and wife will never be able to do it again .thanks for replys

I don't know what Jessops think "manager's special" implies but it doesn't say to me "doesn't actually work"... Unless the specific fault was brought to your attention prior to buying the goods you're still perfectly covered by the Sale of Goods Act, so fit for purpose and satisfactory quality and all that BUT this does depend on all the relevant circumstances and context so any price reduction may determine the standard of quality you'd expect. Clearly though, however much you pay you'd want it to be more than "completely useless". It's well established that any statement a shop makes stating goods aren't returnable (I guess this is what they were thinking about the "manger's special") does nothing to defeat your statutory rights (I think it's in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Act). I would reply to them, stating that they are barred by statute from excluding your statutory rights and as the fault was not brought to your attention prior to sale, and that the fault makes the goods worthless, they are in breach of contract under s.14 of the Sale of Goods Act; set a two week deadline for a refund.
As for your disappointment about not having it working for your holiday, I think that's too remote to claim for, unless you specifically mentioned you were buying the camera for it.

Singlemanriot wrote: »

I bought an lcd tv/dvd combo unit about 11months ago from Comet its was classed as non pristine stock (it was £359) and was reduced, the DVD player went off on one and stopped working completely now nothing at all will play. I bought this tv for uni its was did every job for me inclding my pc monitor. I fear that they will try and fob me off with a repair but am I right in thinking I can refuse that and ask for a replacement?

Sort of. You can't force them to either repair or replace if one is "disproportionate" to the other (see here), but yes, technically the choice is yours. You'll have to hope they'll accept that's the case though because it means nothing without a means to force them to comply (like a Court).

BlackKnight_3

Last year in June I had my classic car stripped to bare metal & repainted by a local auto body shop / paintsprayer. However when I got the car back home I could see many defects. My car has been back to the paintshop twice for repairs & now I've recently noticed a bubble appear in the paint. I contacted the local trading standards office who went down & interviewed the proprietor. He said that he would need to take a look at it. So when I phoned him to discuss this further he was shall we say "not so nice with me". I really don't want him carrying out any further repairs as I have no confidence in him. What should I do?

Thanks,

Art_2

BlackKnight wrote: »

Last year in June I had my classic car stripped to bare metal & repainted by a local auto body shop / paintsprayer. However when I got the car back home I could see many defects. My car has been back to the paintshop twice for repairs & now I've recently noticed a bubble appear in the paint. I contacted the local trading standards office who went down & interviewed the proprietor. He said that he would need to take a look at it. So when I phoned him to discuss this further he was shall we say "not so nice with me". I really don't want him carrying out any further repairs as I have no confidence in him. What should I do?

Thanks,

If I were you I would take the person to the small claims court.

Regards,
Art.