Know your consumer rights.

cloud_dog

Hope someone might be able to assist or point me in the right direction.

A feirnd bought a hammock from B&Q just over two weeks ago as a birthday persent for my wife. I started to put it together yesterday and a couple of the cross memebers which should have threaded insers (so you can tighten a bolt in to them) are missing.

Our friend bought it on his credit card and has given me the sales receipt. I took the hammock back to B&Q today to get a refund, who refused. They would do a refund on the original CC or give me a credit note. I said that because the goods were faulty I wanted a refund, i.e. cash, and not a credit note, they also wouldn't make the refund on my CC.

Ok clarification points:

I believe the Sale of Goods Act entitles me to a refund

The issue wrt not having the original CC which purchased the item should be irrelevant to my statutory consumer rights. As the store may be liable in the case of fraud I recognise that it is good practise to only refund on to the original card but the fact that they offered me a credit note negates the reasoning behind this.

Does the fact that I am not the person who made the purchase reduce / remove my consumer rights? Are these rights only applicable to the person who purchased the goods or should the fact that I have the faulty product and proof of purchase (original sales receipt) be sufficient?

Any help / info gratefully appreciated.

Thanks cloud_dog

ScottishSapper

cloud_dog wrote: »

Hope someone might be able to assist or point me in the right direction.



Any help / info gratefully appreciated.

Thanks cloud_dog

Yes, under the sale of goods act the item is not fit for purpose (ie parts missing) so there is an entitlement to a refund. However, this is a contract between the person who paid for the item (ie your friend on his CC) and therefore he is entitled to the refund. It is common (not 100% sure on the legality) for retailers to reimburse in the original form of payment and if this was by CC then they ONLY refund back to the original card, which has to be presented at the time of refund. I know from previous experience with B&Q this is their policy on it. Must admit first time I have heard of them issuing a credit note.

Anyway to your points:
I believe the Sale of Goods Act entitles me to a refund? - No only to the original purchaser.
Does the fact that I am not the person who made the purchase reduce / remove my consumer rights? YES.
Are these rights only applicable to the person who purchased the goods YES
Fact that they offered me a credit note negates the reasoning behind this. I would agree with you!
I would suggest that you go back to B&Q with your friend and get his CC credited

ScottishSapper

suttonhouse40 wrote: »

hi all !!!
i recentley brought a lap top from tescos three weeks later it broke. so i returned it with the receipt but the laptops were now reduced. so does anyone know if i should of got the new laptop at the new price!!! they are saying no. but other store where i food shop says yes as long as i have my receipt .. im now very confused. please help

Sort of 'Catch 22!' Obviously they accepted there was a fault and offered the replacement.
This being the case you should have requested a refund on the item (as is your entitlement under the Sale of Goods Act) then gone and picked up a new laptop and paid for it!
Had it been the other way around and you had got the original cheaper then discovered a fault and the price had increased then you still have the same rights but this time you would have requested a replacement and not a refund.
I think this time you are unlucky and have to accept their decision

maypole

Over a year ago I bought a pure 100% hungarian goose down duvet from John Lewis, it is the best thing I have ever bought BUT, the down has started to poke through the "down proof" cover. Informed the bedding dept in JL about this and they are going to inspect it to see if it needs repair, they say I might have to pay for repair, well as far as I can see there is nothing to repair! and I said after paying over £200 for the duvet I would not be expecting to pay anyway. What are my rights on this, anyone?

twinkle33uk

Hi, I hope someone could offer some advice please.

We bought a shower unit from B&Q after seeing one on display. It was exactly what we needed. It came flat packed.

We got a plumber to come and sort out the pipework needed, as it was going to be put into the corner of my bedroom, rather than in the bathroom, as there wasn't space for it there.

Next the handyman came and tried to fix it together. He assembled the panels, and made the hole for the waste pipe to go out through the wall, following the limited instructions in the packs.

There was some problems with some of the hose clips having stripped threads so couldn't tighten fully, and some of the retaining nuts were cracked.

Yesterday we went back to B&Q with the broken bits, and asked fro replacements. We were told to talk to the person in charge of plumbing, which we did. He told us they didn't have replacements, but gave us some tap washers and jubileee clips.

Today the plumber came back to help the handyman and they discovered that the joint was still leaking, but they managed to make a repair.

They then came to assemble the cross members and posts. The screws provided wouldn't screw into the aluminium extrusion that forms the method of holding the structure together. Both men have said it isn't just a case of the screws not fitting, it was going to be impossible to do the way the instructions said, and they couldn't work out a way to do it at all.

I phoned B&Q and was told a manager would contact me as soon as possible to help sort it all out. Needless to say it didn't happen so I phoned again. Again I was reassured they were trying to get someone to come and talk to me. Half an hour later the receptionist phoned back and told me that I should put all of the problems down in writing, and gave me the name of the person to send it to.

So, here I am two weeks since the project started, left with a hole in the wall where the waste pipe goes to the outside, holes in my wall into the bathroom for the water pipes, a half errected shower cubicle, glass doors and panels that can't be put together, my bedroom carpet cut to the shape of the shower tray, an ever increasing tradesmens bill, and high blood pressure!!

At this stage I am so fed up with it all. I dread to think how long B&Q will take to reply, and meanwhile I am unable to do anything with the shower unit. It can't be taken apart as the side and back panels are already glued into place.

I'm disabled and can't use the bath, and have spent months going backwards and forwards to a friends house to use their shower. This shower was going to make things much easier for me, well in theory anyway!

I presume that I can claim the goods were not fit for purpose under the sale of goods act, and that I could ask for a refund. However I've also spent money for tradesmen to come and fit the shower unit, and do the plumbing. My bedroom carpet has also been cut to accomodate that particular shape. How do I stand on claiming for those things to be included too?

Any help/advice would be greatly received before I write and hand deliver the letter tomorrow.

Thank you

Chris

liz_lyons

This is my first ever posting so I hope I'm doing it right! This looked like the closest thread to my problem.

I'd appreciate any help with an outrageous scam directed at a very small business by PC World. My hubby rented a PC and OHP from them as he was setting up in business 3 years ago and now that he's sold the business has been told that all payments he made to the finance company (through PC World) have been allocated to the price of the fixed term warranty/service contract on the goods and he still owes the price of the goods. They say they cannot offer a redemption on the service contract even and he must pay nearly £1000 AND return the goods in order to be in the clear. The goods are worth around £400 now.

Can anyone suggest anything?

ScottishSapper

Hi Liz
Never heard of this before. Can you give any other info? Maybe a link to their T&Cs or a link to a similar scheme

liz_lyons

Thanks for your reply. I've asked them for a breakdown of how they've come to the redemption figure but have had no reply. I'm going to chase this up and see what they say but I suspect they're going to ignore me and send a further demand for payment.

It's really good to know that I've got somewhere to air this!

jondiamond_2

Hi all, I have just tried to return a faulty product (within 7 days) to a high street retailer. I was told by the sales guy that they cannot issue immediate refunds and that they must send the product must be sent back to head office where they will then issue the refund. Does anyone know my rights on this how long can a retailer delay giving a refund?

LEA-422

Hi, I hope someone could offer some advice please.

In November '07 the company called housejob.co.uk came, he had a professional website which we were impressed with. Main reason we went with him was we needed a qualified electrician to move the fusebox the cheapest quote we had was 500pounds, but Vincent said he was qualified and would do this cheaper as he was doing the whole flat, so we went with him. As soon as he started doing the kitchen he wanted to get paid, on the very first day he wanted 1000 pounds deposit,we refused to give him that as it was not part of our agreement. After that he insisted that we give him money for paying his staff cash for there salaries, paying for materials which he was meant to pay for as he had no money. Everything about the job just went from bad to worst, he did not seem to know what he was doing and kept asking us what to do, and what order to do everything. So instead of taking 1 week to finish the kitchen he took more than 3 weeks, and still not finished. He did'nt do some of the main jobs which we had to pay someone else to do, and what was done was of very poor quality. Draws would not shut propery, sink was leaking, floor was not level + not cut propery, extractor fan not working since he put it on the wall + no hole for the extractor fan vent. Plus,attempted to move the fuse-box. While doing the kitchen we had no water for 1 week and unable to cook for 3 weeks. Once he had moved and fitted the new fuse-box we had someone else check it, and we were told not only was it illgal but he also had not installed the fuse-box correctly so the flat was not as safe as it was before he started. He also disconnected the Earth which meant that if anything went wrong, then we would die,we have since lived in fear that if we were to touch anything then we would die. This man came into our flat done a very poor job on the kitchen, then endangered our lives by lying about a qualification that he does not have. On the day that we had a qualified electrician come and examin his work and tell us of the bad news, he packed up all his tools, and we have not heard back from him since. We questioned him why he was packing, but he said it was so that he could clean the lounge. He has left us with a big hole in the wall with exposed wires, wires that are not joined correctly or even legally, and with a flat that is now unsafe. He has also taken money from us, as we paid him money as he said he had none to get home, paid for his staff (by cash), and also paid for materials which where not part of the deal. He also stole the materials we paid for, our extractor fan hood and some other things that were in the lounge. Plus we had to pay someone else to do all the jobs that he either did not finish or did not start so we are out of pocket with a kitchen looking not the way we wanted it. We tried to call him for 2 weeks after he did not show up, but his mobile was turned off, we left messages but we did not get any call back from him. Please can you help us stop this man as he is a danger to anyone that chooses to use his services.
We did not get any responce from him as all the numbers that we were given were turned off. We have been unable to get hold off the man since and have since got a competent builder to finish the work for us.

Any help / info gratefully appreciated.