Receipt needed for faulty goods?

peach18

Last September my 83 year old mother in law bought a cheap T-Mobile pay as you go phone from Asda - just for emergencies! She paid cash but has now mislaid the receipt.

Even though she has probably only used it two or three times to experiment, the screen has now started blacking out. As we live about 15 miles from Asda I decided to first ask in our local T-Mobile store if it could be mended. They said it could be mended under the warranty but they would need proof of purchase to show when she bought it. When I explained the receipt was lost I was told that would not be a problem as Asda would be able to provide a proof of purchase as they should take a record of the serial numbers of the phones they sell.

I then went to Asda and explained all this and was curtly told that they do not keep those kind of records and that they would need a receipt to exchange or refund.

I then emailed their customer service department and explained it all again and even said that although there was no receipt for the phone transaction, I was with her at the time and I spent money on my debit card on that day and so have a record that we were there!

This was the reply:
"I was sorry to hear that your mother in law has had problems with a LG KP100 mobile phone she bought from us. In your email you say you no longer have the receipt. On an item such as this proof of purchase is required. If the mobile was paid for with a credit or debit card this is also proof of purchase and can be used to get a refund or exchange. If you have neither of these I would suggest speaking to the service manager at the store to see if they can help. As again if you don't have proof of purchase its the store decision whether of not they can refund or exchange."

I am now thinking that I should just give up on this. The phone only cost about £15 but it was nice and simple and easy to learn for a lady in her eighties! The thought that it could have been a phone costing a lot more keeps me wondering if we do have any rights? Does anyone know if we do?

PaulLuke

As is usual you do have statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act. However, in order to excercise those rights you really need to find a way of proving the phone was purchased from Asda.

If you can't prove this then Asda are within their rights to refuse to do anything as, from their point of view, the phone could have been bought elsewhere.

Hailz86

Asda do keep records of the IMEI numbers of every phone they sell, ring them, tell them you know this for fact as it is part of protocol of mobile selling for prevention against fraud

xx

OlliesDad

If you paid by card just show them the bank statement!

Hailz86

Read The OP, she paid in Cash xx

dacouch

My mate had a problem with his lap top with no receipt, we went in and asked if they could do a duplicate receipt as he needed it for his "Insurers" they gave us the receipt and we poppped outside for a fag and then went back in armed with said receipt and enforced our rights. You just know that if we had not got the duplicate receipt they would have said they could not find it

Hailz86

LOL try what Dacouch said could be a plan xx

Mark_Hewitt

Buy a new phone. The old one seems liable to breaking.