buyer claiming item faulty after 3 weeks

pinkgem

a buyer has claimed 2 items i sold her are faulty, they were not faulty when received as she left me excellent positive feedback.

3 weeks later she now says they are both faulty, and that they both broke at the same time!? i have asked her to return so they can be inspected, i told her i would like them to be inspected by my supplier/the manufacturer before a 'faulty' verdict is given. i have my suspicions that the items have been damaged by the buyer - but have not told her or even implied this. she also doesn't want replacements just a refund.

first of all she said the items were faulty, then she said they were not fit for purpose and now she is saying she wants to reject the items and have a refund. she also seems to be implying that she wants a refund before the items are returned as she says she wants a prompt refund and she can forward the items to me if i wish.

do i have the right to have the items inspected to see if it can be determined if it is faulty or has been damaged? or do i just have to give a refund whatever? she says it is irrelevant whether the supplier/manufacturer says the items are faulty or not as her contract is with me and not with the supplier. but if the items have been damaged by the buyer then surely i do not have to refund or replace?

i have sold hundreds of these items this year and last year and have not had a single fault reported. yet apparently both items that she purchased from me are faulty. seems a bit too much of a coincidence to me that they are both faulty when i have sold hundreds with no other faults reported. she has also been quite aggressive in her emails which i don't like.

it just seems a bit fishy to me because when i said they would need to be inspected she kind of changed her mind and said she just wanted to reject them, and also that she seems reluctant to return them and is telling me that she can have a refund even if they aren't determined to be faulty. she has been quoting sales of goods act, distance selling regulations and all sorts at me, even things that aren't relevant to make it sound like she knows what she is talking about and trying to scare me in to just sending her a refund. she has also threatened getting ebay involved... who i believe would point her to paypal.

i know if she does a paypal dispute for item not as described she would have to return them to me - but would get a refund once proof of delivery provided wether they are faulty or not, or she could even do an item not received dispute which she would win as they were not sent trackable.

sorry i have rambled on a bit, just want the answer to the question in bold really, and any other advice.

soolin, if you are reading this, i am correct in thinking you had a similar situation with an item of clothing recently? or was it a cd? what happened in the end?

steviebabes

If you are a business seller then you should ask her to return the items and IF they are faulty you will refund including her return postage or replace them and reimburse her costs.
Try not to get into a paypal dispute as you sent untracked and even in a item not as described case they seem to want a tracking number. Just try and spin it out for another couple of weeks.

pinkgem

my mistake, she is not claiming they are faulty anymore (as she clearly doesn't want them to be inspected) she now wants to reject the goods as not fit for purpose and have a refund that way.

she wants me to "refund all money paid and pay compensation for any loss or expense the customer has incurred as a result of the rejection"

after i said i was very surprised that both items were faulty after selling hundreds with no faults she now says "because you think they are unlikely to be faulty, the conclusion that the items are not 'fit for purpose' is one I reach as your customer."

Bromley86

Ignoring PP for the moment, if she wants to invoke the SoGA then she's already out of time. Although it's not fixed, three weeks is unlikely to be within the "reasonable time".

Your only hope is that she's not up on PP claims. Given that she's messing about with this SoGA stuff rather than just escalating, there's reason to be hopeful.

moggylover

Bromley86 wrote: »

Ignoring PP for the moment, if she wants to invoke the SoGA then she's already out of time. Although it's not fixed, three weeks is unlikely to be within the "reasonable time".

Your only hope is that she's not up on PP claims. Given that she's messing about with this SoGA stuff rather than just escalating, there's reason to be hopeful.

SoGA does cover stuff for rather longer than 3 weeks! For instance, if you bought a washing machine, and it was not economically repairable after 18 months then that would be covered by SoGA.

Without knowing what the items are it would be difficult to say. I have to admit that for most things I buy I would be very unhappy if they only lasted 3 weeks with reasonable use!

Brooker_Dave

moggylover wrote: »

SoGA does cover stuff for rather longer than 3 weeks! For instance, if you bought a washing machine, and it was not economically repairable after 18 months then that would be covered by SoGA.

Without knowing what the items are it would be difficult to say. I have to admit that for most things I buy I would be very unhappy if they only lasted 3 weeks with reasonable use!

You've only got 7 days from the day they were delivered to reject them under the distance selling regs.

So laugh at buyer and tell her to get lost.

pinkgem

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

You've only got 7 days from the day they were delivered to reject them under the distance selling regs.

So laugh at buyer and tell her to get lost.

her reasons for wanting a refund have now been given as 1) faulty, 2) not fit for purpose and then 3) wanting to reject them. i asked which of the 3 reasons it was and she said that wanting to "reject the goods as not fit for purpose" was the same thing, and she doesn't seem to think she needs to give a reason other than she believes the items to be "not fit for purpose" and wants a full refund. i have asked her for what reason she wants to reject them as not fit for purpose as it will need to be verified, but no reply to that yet.

i was going to tell her if she just wanted to reject them she had to do so within 7 days.

Hintza

Are the items new? If yes then you will have to take them back and refund or repair. Do not get into any more discussion with them, you have said enough just get the items back and check them over. Persoinally if a customer claims a fault within a month I will either replace or refund, )once it has been back to manufacturer if I think they are at it).

As for their three reasons you could actually argue they are all the same reason, if its faulty by default it is not fit for purpose and of course you would want to reject them.


Keep calm be reasonable and throughly check it out before making your final decision.

I've got an item arriving back 3 days short of the 1 year warranty period and I am at ths pomt in time pretty sceptical about the timing. But I have just asked for return and will then decide how to proceed.

Bromley86

moggylover wrote: »

SoGA does cover stuff for rather longer than 3 weeks! For instance, if you bought a washing machine, and it was not economically repairable after 18 months then that would be covered by SoGA.

Without knowing what the items are it would be difficult to say. I have to admit that for most things I buy I would be very unhappy if they only lasted 3 weeks with reasonable use!

Fit for purpose is distinct from claims for damages (i.e. repair/replacement).

http://www.berr.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

EDIT: pinkgem, you and BD are right about the 7 days to change her mind for any (no) reason, so the DSR can't help her. As I said, she's also out of luck even if the goods aren't fit for purpose, unless someone can make a case for 3 weeks being reasonable in this case. So the only thing you may need to do is replace/repair, which means she needs to return them to you first for evaluation.

Of course, none of that makes any difference to PP, so good luck. BTW, I was assuming that the items were BiN. If not, then the DSRs don't apply (not that that matters in this case anyway).

pinkgem

well i got them both back today. looks like they have both been sabotaged to me. one was fixed from the parts of the other one, but the part that would fix the other one was apparently 'lost' when they 'broke'. basically it's just a clip.

there is NO WAY they would just break like they have done with normal or even excessive usage. i am 110% certain they have been deliberately broken with force. i even tried breaking the one i fixed and it takes a lot of force to pull it apart, loads more force than normal or excessive use would put on them and even when you do manage to pull it apart it goes back together fine with the clip!

unfortunately they have been returned by recorded delivery, so if buyer does item not as described she will be able to use the tracking number to get a full refund from paypal

i am absolutely fuming about this. People should not be able to purchase items, use them, break them then return for a refund. she has said she doesn't want a replacement, she just wants her money back!

tintinlostsnowy

pinkgem wrote: »

well i got them both back today. looks like they have both been sabotaged to me. one was fixed from the parts of the other one, but the part that would fix the other one was apparently 'lost' when they 'broke'. basically it's just a clip.

there is NO WAY they would just break like they have done with normal or even excessive usage. i am 110% certain they have been deliberately broken with force. i even tried breaking the one i fixed and it takes a lot of force to pull it apart, loads more force than normal or excessive use would put on them and even when you do manage to pull it apart it goes back together fine with the clip!

unfortunately they have been returned by recorded delivery, so if buyer does item not as described she will be able to use the tracking number to get a full refund from paypal

i am absolutely fuming about this. People should not be able to purchase items, use them, break them then return for a refund. she has said she doesn't want a replacement, she just wants her money back!

Are you sure they are the one's you sent?
Have they bought any others for a cheaper price?
They may have used them and no longer need them and have concocted the story that they broke.
There are people out there who buy things just to send back after they have finished with them I.E. Buy a dress wear for a night out wash it and then return as it apparently doesn't fit.
Sorry no helpful advice on what to do next but things to think about with this buyer.