Is this right (247 Refund Dispute)

Big_Momma_3

I ordered a Bissell Vacuum Cleaner which gave up the ghost at Christmas - so I contacted them for my money back, as it was well within 1 year from purchase. After emails and hounding (and eventually finding someone on here who had a direct email contact) this is the reply I received - is it right???

Thank you for your email. We are certainly not attempting to shirk our responsibilities, we are the retailer and as such will take full responsibility. However you accepted our terms & conditions on placing your order and were again reminded of them in the order confirmation. Our terms & conditions are designed to carefully fit within the many statutory instruments under which we must work. They were written and are regularly reviewed by our commercial solicitors who are experts in such fields. I am not and can only paste information from them.

Under the Sales of Goods Act goods must be of a satisfactory quality. There is no time limit on failure or fault it is simply considered within a “reasonable time” which is generally considered to be 28 days, which is why the majority of retailers work to these guidelines. If a product fails within a “reasonable time” they should be put right by repair or replacement or, if required by the consumer, refunded.

If they fail outside a “reasonable time” (28 days) they must be put right which can be by repair or replacement within a “reasonable time”.

However there is also the Supply of Goods or Services to Consumers Act 2002 which further states that goods must be of satisfactory quality for a reasonable time but adds that it is presumed in law that in the first six months (as a guideline), from the date of delivery, failure “could” indicate a latent defect of the product and the onus of proof that this is not the case lies with the retailer. Beyond six months the burden of proof for latent defect falls on the consumer.

If a latent defect is proved a consumer may be entitled to a refund.

However, with mass produced products from reputable manufacturers a latent defect is very unlikely, and this in itself constitutes proof that there was no latent defect. Therefore, beyond 28 days, goods will be repaired or replaced (where repair is either not possible or not economical), in accordance with our obligations under the relevant consumer protections, statutory instruments and our terms & conditions of sale.

According to our records your goods were delivered on 14/04/2005 and the first report of a fault was recorded on 28th December 2005, which was over 6 months anyway.

Therefore in accordance with the terms & conditions you accepted the fault is a matter of warranty and will be repaired accordingly.

We will happily deal with this for you, arrange collection, send it to the manufacturer, receive it back after repair & send it back to you. However we make arrangements with manufacturers where our customers can deal directly with the manufacturer. This is designed for our customers benefit because 1) manufacturers work harder for a consumer than a retailer and 2) cuts out the middleman saving several days in transit times.

If you still wish us to collect and arrange repair then please advice by return and I will have our CS make the necessary arrangements to have your product repaired.

Kind Regards
Debbie McCready
Call Centre Manager

hjb123

It looks like it is right to be honest!

Have you any of your orignal documentation?

At the time of purchase you have obviously had to tick one of those boxes to say that you accept the terms and conditions - and it is this which they are throwing back at you now!

I think your best thing might be to try the manufacturer direct if possible. They maybe able to offer a more helpful solution!

H

mr_fishbulb

Yes it seems correct as it failed after 6 months. They are being very reasonable offering to deal with the manuafacturer.

This bit seens a bit off though (although does not affect your case):
"However, with mass produced products from reputable manufacturers a latent defect is very unlikely, and this in itself constitutes proof that there was no latent defect."

It contradicts itself. It's saying that products from a reputable manufacture have a small chance of having a letent defect, but they also say because the change is so small, they assume it never happens.

Esmerelda

I think it looks right too. You would get exactly the same response if you'd bought it from a chain store like Currys. It wont cost you anything for the repair as it is under warranty but there is no way you'll get a refund unless they cannot fix it.