Faulty goods returned without the credit card used to pay for them

kdk2626

I discovered a battery charger that I paid for on my credit card was faulty - the rechargeable batteries were leaking when I opened the packet- (it cost about £9.99, so well under the Section 75 minimum).

I took it back with a receipt hoping for a straight exchange. Although they acknowledge it was faulty, the shop did not have any replacements at the branch and insisted that as I did not have the credit card that I had used for payment with me they could not put a refund on my card and could only give me a "gift card" to the value.

I refused to accept the gift card and said that as I was prepared to accept a replacement for the faulty item, and that neither the fault or their lack of stock was anything to do with me, they should refund me in cash.

After needlessly protracted discussions I eventually asked their supervisor (who said she was in charge of the store) to phone their head office for clarification. She came back saying that their head office had decided to refund me in cash as a "good will gesture" (but there seemed to be very little good will about this).

I think I was in my rights to demand a cash refund in these circumstances, but I would be grateful if anyone could shed any light on this for me.
Thanks

Mark_Hewitt

No, the shop is to refund you using the method you paid for it. In this case the credit card. There are quite strict rules about this.

Boots was being generous in offering you vouchers, and extremely generous in eventually giving you the cash, I'm not sure if any laws have been broken but they more than likely broke their merchant agreement with their bank. (Actually what they probably just did was just give you a 'gift' of £9.95, which had no real bearing on the item)

kdk2626

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

No, the shop is to refund you using the method you paid for it. In this case the credit card. There are quite strict rules about this.

Boots was being generous in offering you vouchers, and extremely generous in eventually giving you the cash, I'm not sure if any laws have been broken but they more than likely broke their merchant agreement with their bank. (Actually what they probably just did was just give you a 'gift' of £9.95, which had no real bearing on the item)

Thanks for the response, but I do not believe the store (it wasn't Boots) gave me a "gift" or was being particularly "generous" - the goods were faulty and not fit for the purpose for which they were sold, they had a legal obligation to refund the goods or replace it. From what I gather there also seems to be some common law about not causing the customer unreasonable inconvenience or delay in these situations and I would have had to make a 40-mile round trip to get my credit card. All the sites - including the govt site - suggest that you do not have to accept vouchers. In fact, strictly speaking I did not even have to produce a receipt, but could have proved that I had bought it in some other way.

I appreciate that there are company rules that apply if you are taking the goods back for other purposes, like exchange or just don't want it - but in this case, I was prepared to accept (and wanted) a straight exchange for a faulty item; they could not provide me with this.

I couldn't find anything in the Act to say that I needed to produce my credit card to be refunded (they had, after all already charged my account), but I am not a lawyer. It's the "strict rules" that you are referring to that I am looking for - can anyone tell me where they are?

markybaby

I believe there are rules in place like this due to the practice being used to launder money. How I don't know but the company or companies involved would be part of the investigation. Could you not have returned at a later date for a refund onto the card? I know it is all sorted now but I thought I would give you this small insight into why stores seem to do things we customers think is just flying in the face of common sense.

cleo1299

Not sure if the money laundering regulations would apply to such a small transaction, but the Proceeds of Crime Act applies to all transactions.

ihatecaptcha

kdk2626 wrote: »

I think I was in my rights to demand a cash refund in these circumstances, but I would be grateful if anyone could shed any light on this for me.
Thanks

The shop had a duty to offer you a repair, a refund, or a replacement -- their choice. There's nothing in the SOGA that says you're entitled to instant satisfaction. As long as they fulfill their obligation to you within a reasonable period, you have no right to more. For instance, it would have been reasonable for them to offer to send you a replacement.

Esqui

They did offer you a refund though, you just didn't have the card to put it back on to.

It may only be £10, but whatever the price, I'm sure you'd hate it if someone stole an item from you and took it back for a refund. These rules are there to protect you as well.

derrick

The shop did nothing wrong, they are obliged to refund in the manner you paid, in this case by CC, so the refund should be back to the card. I have had small amounts refunded in cash when I paid by card, but that was the shops choice not my insistance.

Also the shop pays a fee when accepting a CC payment, this is refunded when the payment is reversed, which cannot be refunded if they refund the customer in cash!

sujac

I was under the impression that if goods were faulty you were entitled to a cash refund however you paid for them, taking into account wear and tear. If it was a simple 'changed mind' refund then it had to be by original payment method within the time period allowed.

Well this was how I treated returns while I was a retail store manager.

JoBCool

Might help to look up the section on this in "MONEY - Bare Basic Facts. Personal Financial Education" Tarquin Publications. I got it in the uni campus bookshop and found it really useful and actually quite enlightening. It's easy to find stuff.

makapo

JoBCool wrote: »

Might help to look up the section on this in "Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" Yyyyyyyyy Publications. I got it in the uni campus bookshop and found it really useful and actually quite enlightening. It's easy to find stuff.

You do seem to like the book a lot. You recommended the same book in your other thread.

Hmmmm.....