Returning an item without a reciept

graemepark

I recently purchased an orange mobile broadband dongle.

I am still within my 14 day cooling off period and would like to return the item due to bad coverage.

my problem is my 5month old dog set his teeth into the box, it is still intact but visibly damaged.

can i still return the item and what are my rights?

thanks in advance!

derrick

graemepark wrote: »

I recently purchased an orange mobile broadband dongle.

I am still within my 14 day cooling off period and would like to return the item due to bad coverage.

my problem is my 5month old dog set his teeth into the box, it is still intact but visibly damaged.

can i still return the item and what are my rights?

thanks in advance!

Your thread title mentions "without receipt" although your post doesn't?

How did you purchase it? If it was at a shop in person then they will require the packaging and proof of purchase which does not need to be a receipt, could be a bank statement or even their own computer records.

If you purchased it online or over the phone, i.e. "at a distance", the DSRs are in play, ( 7 WORKING days beginning the day after receipt of goods), and they cannot demand the packaging to be returned, however some form of proof of purchase will still be required! Do you have the receipt or not?

stuvee02

derrick wrote: »

they cannot demand the packaging to be returned,

I wonder about the validity of this DSR point. I know it is law but it has yet to be tested and I feel certain that it is in many cases an excessive and unfair advantage to people buying online.

Before I go on please let no-one misunderstand me; anybody who sells online thinking they can rip people off, give bad service or just plain defraud people should be banged up and have their computer access removed - they create a bad situation for everybody, consumers and other online sellers alike.

But how is it that you can buy something online that might cost over £100 yet you can open the box, break sealed retail packaging, you can install it on a device you already own if it's an accessory and play around with the item. You can then decide up to 7 days after you receive it that you don't want it and then send it back and get your money back in full. You are, according to many, not obliged to return it as it was delivered to you (i.e. with the packaging it was supplied with and in pristine condition) and yet this all costs the seller.
It costs them

• to send it out to you (they can't deduct the postage they charged you from a refund)
• to administer the return and refund (nothing in business is free; it costs someones time at the very least)
• they are possibly unable to resell the goods or return it to a supplier because it is not faulty.

The seller ends up out of pocket, very often because the customer simply didn't check the suitability of the product before hand. This is clearly not applicable in the case of the OP but why should a small business bear the cost of someone being ignorant of the product specification?

One possibly saving grace for sellers in the DSR (according to OFT) is that DSR allow a customer to examine goods "as they would in a shop"... If I go into any shop and take something off the shelf, physically break open sealed retail packaging and then test it with, for example, my camera could I really just walk away without expecting the shop owner to ask me to pay for the item whether I wanted it or not? For this reason theoretically it is possible to request return of an item in perfect condition.

The DSR sadly consider the ability to resell an item as irrelevant but for many small business owners a few hundreds pounds a month (easily possible if you are selling items that range from £50-£100) can make a difference between profit or loss and the fewer sellers there are, the less choice a consumer has and the more they will pay in the long run.If a small business has to increase their prices to cover such potential losses then they will become uncompetitive compared to the large companies who could absorb them or have the volume buying power over suppliers to persuade them to accept non-faulty unboxed and possibly damaged returns.

Whilst the aim of the DSR is admirable it seems to be happy to let small businesses lose what small profit they may be able to acheive giving customers very good service and products.

I don't doubt there are many people who work in companies that operate under the DSR who feel the same way but sadly most would be unable to suffer a test case against them. I would be amazed if the legislation actually stood up to being questioned on the above basis.

Stu

PopeSock

The fact the OP mentions a cooling off period makes me wonder if this is not a pay as you go dongle, as we're all assuming, but a contract one? If it's the latter, I'd imagine he'd have more leeway since he was paying for a service he may not be getting, but that would depend on the wording of the contract, and whether the OP's getting slow service or no service.

Esqui

It's unlikely they'll accept it back damaged. They may well claim that the poor coverage is due to the damage, although they'd have to prove that.

Either way, they'll want proof of purchase - how else would they know you bought it within the last 14 days. Or even from that store?

(OK, they could probably check the IMEI, but in reality, this probably won't be feasible)