A Question For Store Managers.

stugib

sugarbabe861 wrote: »

I work on customer service and yes i do know the sales of goods act it gets quoted to me in many different ways every single week but many customers only read the bit that says "THIS ITEM IS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE" and i get alot people say there solicitors or friends are solicitors and it really gets on my nerves and they blame me cos i wont give them what they want like the other day a telly is 8 months old they come in all guns blazing telling me i have to give a new tv today because the sales of goods act says so and it doesnt and of course i said no but i would arrange an engineer to come out to there home no they were not happy and wanted a manager and the manager expained the same thing i did and even printed of the sales of goods act to show them but they only read "NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE" i have to deal with stuff like this everyday and people can be so mean they think cos a tv is broken its the end of the world and break down in tears cos they cant get what they want half the problems on these threads are completly pointless if you make loads of fuss and shout at us of course were not gonna help you i help people that come and in and are polite and explain the problem to me sometimes i can understand why there annoyed but there is no need for the way that people speak to us..

Do you ever take a breath when you're speaking?

Esqui

To answer both the questions in here...I'm not store manager, but I am frontline customer service and considered somewhat of an oracle

1) We don't get any training on the SOGA or related laws, however, it's easily available on our online operations manual. Through a combination of reading that thoroughly and spending a bit of time reading around here, I'm pretty confident I know the SOGA inside out, and other related ones fairly well too.

2) Any faulty stuff we get back should be immediately labelled as such and put somewhere separate from the other stock. It's then returned to a returns centre in Newark to be sorted and sent back to suppliers. The only reason a faulty item may be resold is if someone does not label it. And that doesn't happen on my watch

moonrakerz

I totally agree with the OP, store managers should have training on the Sale Of Goods Act.. BUT... not for the reason the OP thinks !

SOGA is the most mis-quoted piece of legislation since Stonehenge was built !

Many people, including too many posters on this site, quote SOGA as saying that any boughten item should last for 6 years. This is just incorrect !
SOGA gives the customer the right to claim damages from the supplier for up to six years after purchase; but after the "normal" warranty has expired (usually 12 months) the customer has to prove that the item was of faulty design or manufacture. This is VERY difficult to do !
SOGA actually states that the customer has to prove his case after 6 months so most retailers are actually giving you twice what the law actually says.

This is quite a good summary of SOGA:

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

moonrakerz

EnglandTim wrote: »

Staff would be trained on the company policy for refunds/exchanges etc.

True, but that hasn't any bearing on SOGA. You often see notices up about refunds on certain items (bedding, underwear, software) but they always say "this does not affect your statutory rights".

EnglandTim wrote: »

That policy should tie in with the SOGA.

Exactly ! but far too many people THINK they know SOGA better that the store Manager by stating that everything has a 6 year guarantee.
Only in today's Sunday Times there is a letter from someone complaining that a store won't do anything about their dead 17 month old TV: saying -"isn't there now some new legislation that extends the guarantee beyond 12 months". As I said before, according to SOGA the guarantee on that TV was actually only 6 months !

BitterAndTwisted

sky-blue_pink wrote: »

I'm searching on-line for an answer to a question I have, I hoping you 'in-the-know' people can help me out.

What happens to faulty, returned items - namley Argos? Someone told me they'd try and resell my lamp (that flickers) but I can't see this.

Do they just swallow it and make a loss or does it go back to the manufacturer?

Thx

Dixons, Currys and Comet all put customer returns back on the shelves regardless of fault. I daresay management would blame this on poor procedures at store-level but I reckon it's company policy going by the number of times I've bought things and found the packaging has already been opened. I'm much happier now I've stopped shopping at those stores because the customer service is sh1te as well

Jakg

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Dixons, Currys and Comet all put customer returns back on the shelves regardless of fault. I daresay management would blame this on poor procedures at store-level but I reckon it's company policy going by the number of times I've bought things and found the packaging has already been opened. I'm much happier now I've stopped shopping at those stores because the customer service is sh1te as well

No, they don't - Once something is returned the system (in DSGi at least) automatically prints out a repair label and it is then quarantined before being sent off for repair.

Only if the item is pre-owned (opened or unopened - but still working) does it go back on the shelf. Even then - stuff which has been opened HAS to have a label on it saying so (which should be a white sticky one over the original barcode in a DSGi store).

It is in no way company policy - just sheer lazyness on the part of the store thats done it.

As for Comet - No idea.

Esqui

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Dixons, Currys and Comet all put customer returns back on the shelves regardless of fault. I daresay management would blame this on poor procedures at store-level but I reckon it's company policy going by the number of times I've bought things and found the packaging has already been opened. I'm much happier now I've stopped shopping at those stores because the customer service is sh1te as well

That's a lie. I'm glad we don't have to experience you.

Tribulation

moonrakerz wrote: »

Many people, including too many posters on this site, quote SOGA as saying that any boughten item should last for 6 years. This is just incorrect !
SOGA gives the customer the right to claim damages from the supplier for up to six years after purchase; but after the "normal" warranty has expired (usually 12 months) the customer has to prove that the item was of faulty design or manufacture. This is VERY difficult to do !
SOGA actually states that the customer has to prove his case after 6 months so most retailers are actually giving you twice what the law actually says.

I would say that it depends what you buy. Buying a cheap £6 value iron from Tesco and saying it should last 6 years is just stupid.

On the other hand, buying say PS3 for £300 I would expect it to last a good 3 years and would not expect to have to pay Sony £65 to get it fixed after only owning it for 13 months, especially when the forums are full of people with the same fault.

At the same time I do not think I should be expected to pay an additional £5 a month for Sony's continuous play, which in effect pushes the price up by another £120 for the first 3 years of ownership (happy to do this after say 3 years, but a bit of decent electrical kit should be expected to last more than 12 months)

I would say that a PS3 kept in a well ventilated space, shouldn't cost the owner any money in repairs for at least the first 3 years and that if it did break down, I would argue that it isn't fit for purpose. Had I been the only one to have had the problem it would be one thing, but when the Sony forums are full of people experiencing exactly this fault, that's when I would start quoting the SOGA if I got no joy going the polite route first.

I agree there is a problem with people walking into shops demanding they get their money back, quoting SOGA and then for example not being able to say which bit they are quoting if asked by the store.

At the same time there's a problem (from the consumers pov) with stores trying to get their commission by selling extended warranties when the price of the goods should warrant that the SOGA covers them for a good few years.

biscit

dreamypuma wrote: »

Without sounding dim, how does HASAW affect the consumer? Staff may suffer stress and bullying from consumers, but surely this doesn't affect the consumer. Or am i missing something? I'm intrigued.

I think when you're buying DIY items, some HASAW regs may apply to some of those. Just a guess, mind.