Buying from Germany - how to dispute faulty goods?

bigpaws23

I hope someone can help me. I have bought 3 pairs of birkenstock shoes in the past from http://www.footshopping.com and they have been excellent.

This year I decided to prioritise my fitness and bought a pair of trainers through the same company. I wore them a couple of times in the house and noticed the colour was flaking off the front of one foot. I was shocked because it looked like I had caught them on something or tripped. (which I hadn't)

I very gently scraped the front of the trainer with my nail and the colour just came right off. I tried it on the other shoe, and as I would expect, nothing came off at all.

I went for a walk around the field at the back of my house and the trainer looked even worse - they looked about a year old.

I emailed them, explained what had happened and said I didn't want a refund, I wanted a replacement. They said they I could send them back and they would refund my postage if the shoes were faulty.

Two weeks later, I had an email saying "There are no faults of material or any manufacturing errors." and they have sent the same trainers back to me.

I dispute this decision, because I really feel the product is faulty, but as the company are in Germany, is there anything I can do? Are trading standards only for the UK?

DVardysShadow

bigpaws23 wrote: »

I dispute this decision, because I really feel the product is faulty, but as the company are in Germany, is there anything I can do? Are trading standards only for the UK?

Imagine the hoohah if a pan european Trading Standards was proposed

olly300

Trading standards are only for the UK.

You need to investigate German law and European Directives on buying goods and services. (If you can't read German then tough.)

One thing you have learnt is don't buy goods from aboard if you can't afford to lose the money if things go wrong. I only buy stuff from aboard if I know I can cope with losing money if the item is shoddy.

superscaper

You may want to start here: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/kuneva/yourrights_en.htm

If you have no joy then you may be able to pursue it through the Credit Consumer Act with your credit card company, providing you used a credit card and it was more than £100 I think.

bigpaws23

thanks for your thoughts everyone, I think I have found some information that can help me, so I'll let you know.