Argos: exempt from 30 day money back guarantee

Colliefrog

hello

I bought an electric blanket at the end of October 2008 for £68.00. There was a wire loose on it so that only one half of the blanket was heating up. I had my receipt and all the packaging and took it back to Argos who refused to replace it. They said that I had to have it sent back to the manufacturers I could not have a replacement even though they still had plenty in stock.

I am disabled and rely on the blanket for my arthritis. This means that I have to do without the blanket for a couple of weeks whilst they post it back to the manufacturer.

Is this normal policy?
I thought that within the 12 months, indeed it is less than 3 months old that if it is not of merchantable quality or fit for the purpose, ie. faulty electrical problem then a replacement would be given.

Could anybody please enlighten me to this? If the above is now what they are doing I will take my business elsewhere.

many thanks

Certain items do have to be sent away for repair and they are well within their rights to have it repaired rather than replaced or refunded.

From the website:

If you bring it back to us within 30 days with your proof of purchase*, we'll give you a replacement or a refund.
If you've had the product for up to 1 year, we'll repair the product or, if that's not possible, give you a replacement or, if that's not possible, a refund.

Nenen

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

Hiya,

I'm thinking of phoning head office Argos tomorrow morning. I am trying to find the telephone number. I have never heard of this in my life. I will not be buying anything from Argos again.

I would contact your local Trading Standards Office first and ask them for advice as I think the seller is responsible for faulty goods under the sale of goods act... but I'm no expert!

Colliefrog

There is no need to contact trading standards because Argos is well withing their rights to repair an item rather than replacing it if they so wish.

Chutzpah

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

hello

I bought an electric blanket at the end of October 2008 for £68.00. There was a wire loose on it so that only one half of the blanket was heating up. I had my receipt and all the packaging and took it back to Argos who refused to replace it. They said that I had to have it sent back to the manufacturers I could not have a replacement even though they still had plenty in stock.

I am disabled and rely on the blanket for my arthritis. This means that I have to do without the blanket for a couple of weeks whilst they post it back to the manufacturer.

Is this normal policy?
I thought that within the 12 months, indeed it is less than 3 months old that if it is not of merchantable quality or fit for the purpose, ie. faulty electrical problem then a replacement would be given.

Could anybody please enlighten me to this? If the above is now what they are doing I will take my business elsewhere.

many thanks

If they send it off to repair (which they are within their rights to do) they should offer a suitable replacement in the interim. Mind you, for such an item I would fully expect any store manager in their right mind would just give you a replacement.

The period for repair should also be reasonable - this isn't defined in law but 'a couple of weeks' on a £68 electric blanket doesn't sound too reasonable to me.

In my experience a customer simply asking for a replacement are always legit - people that shout and scream from the word go and demand a refund CAN be dodgy and trying it on.

I think Argos aren't too clued up in general - my dad took a digital set top box back that became faulty a week later. The customer service assistant was adamant that he had to pay £20 more as he bought it in a sale and "now it's not any more".

Best of luck with getting it sorted out.

Colliefrog

the manager looked like one of the delivery boys with jeans and t shirt on. He came to speak but had no name badge on

We are currently in the process of rebinning the stockroom, which basically is rearranging the stockroom ready for the old lines going out and the new lines coming in. That will be why the manager (and probably several other staff) would have been in normal clothes and probably looking very scruffy (as have I for the last 15 days).

I don't always agree with Argos's policlies, but I do have to follow them. I like to think that we give the best service we can, but unfortunately we cannot always give the customer exactly what they want.

jhodgski

Colliefrog wrote: »

There is no need to contact trading standards because Argos is well withing their rights to repair an item rather than replacing it if they so wish.

Colliefrog, what are you basing that statement on? (Surely, not on what Argos have written in the back of their catalogue?!)

anthonywrobb

OKay - here is a FACTUAL response to most of what has gone before, as opposed to opinion and presumption...

(1) A retailer does not have to offer a refund on goods which are "unwanted".

(2) Your statutory rights mean that while the item is faulty and under warranty (usually 1yr) the retailer has a responsibility to (a) Repair (b) if it cannot be repaired, to Replace (c) if it cannot be repaired or replaced, too replace it to an item of the same or higher specification (d) if a,b,c is not possible to provide a refund to the consumer.

In the case of Argos' 30 Day Money Back Guarentee - Argos go above and beyond the consumers statutory rights by basically saying "if you decide you do not like the product, and it is UNUSED, IN IT'S ORIGINAL PACKAGING (so it can be resold) AND ACCOMPAINIED BY A VALID RECIEPT, we'll give you your money back within 30 days". They do however retain the right to apply this to some products and not others.

Typical exemptions:

Cameras / hard drives / computers / MP3 players - because they save information, Argos cannot check to see that they are UNUSED in store so they cannot guarantee that they are new. Consider that if they take back a camera that a customer says is unused and they have lied - if they sell it to another customer and there are pictures on it, Argos have broken the law by selling a used item, advertised as new. Seals and plastic wrap mean nothing - they can be simply resealed in any home using an iron.

Bedding / animal products / earings - these are exempt for health and hygene reasons - similar to the above, if they were to re-sell an item that was previously returned and it was to cause an issue Argos would be responsible, therfore they don't take these items back.

Comsumables or Video games etc - items like video games which come in plastic wrap. A customer could buy the game, carefully open it, take the disc out. Re-seal it using an iron and then refund it. For that reason they are exempt. Sometimes a Manager will let a refund go through but they are not obliged to and it is very uncommon.

Why items are sent to be repaired rather than replaced;

(1) To identify if there actually is a fault

(2) To ensure that the manufacturer is happy that the item has not been tampered with to create a fault for the customers gain.

(3) Low cost/margin Retailers such as Argos will use this more often as it is of lower cost than giving a new one. What you need to consider is that if they replace an item straight off the bat, the "faulty" item goes back to the manufacturer who often comes back and says - "actually, there was nothing wrong with the product, it was not charged / a piece of dirt was stuck on the port / the customer wasn't using it correctly / the customer damaged it, so we are not going to credit you back the money as there was nothing wrong with it" - that is Argos' loss, all because the customer in some instances is wrong. Low cost retailers cannot hold out to that in the current economic climate.

Yes the Seller is responsible - they are responsible for ensuring that you have a fully working product whilst the item is under guarantee, but the law agrees that it is reasonable for the retailer to send the item to the manufacturer to be repaired - the retailer cannot be expected to repair it themselvces as they do not / are not expected to have the know-how. The retailer is not responsible for providing you with a replacement in the meantime regardless of the prodict - it can be a TV, washing machine or anything else - they will not do this.

I work in a similar retailer but also I am an Argos shopper - I think that their 30 Day Money Back Guarentee is great. Only yesterday I was in my local Argos, I was sitting waiting on my item coming out from their stock room and I whitnessed a customer giving a massive amount of abuse to a Manager over this same thing - it was totally unreasonable - hense why I decided to post this.

The customer is only right when they've got their facts straight.

anthonywrobb

Just to follow up on the previous post...

For those people who seem to think that retailers are not entitled to do this, lets walk through it logically using Argos as the example.

Q. How many stores do Argos have?
A. About 600ish?

Q. How many people do they employ?
A. 51,000 (wiki)

Q. What is their yearly revenue?
A. £4,282bn (wiki)

Q. Do you think that they have a legal department?
A. For a company that size, I guess so.

Q. If they are wrong and you are right, do you think you are the first person to bring this to their attention?
A.


Okay, so you think that a company who have 600 stores, employing 51,000 people, lifting £4,282bn and have their own legal department to advise them, have got something so fundemental wrong. They have somehow missinterpreted the law? Its a good job you are on the case to keep them right - its a pitty that their legal department was unable to do this, especially considering their level of expertise in this area.

My goodness maybe you should suggest that you could head up their legal team for them.

Well done :j :T :j