Maplin Electronics, replacement policy

Northants_Simon

I purchased goods from Maplin Electronics two weeks ago. The goods are faulty and also appear to not be new (they have a return label attached).

I took the goods to my local store, who didn't have a replacement, but kindly telephoned the Milton Keynes store who had the item in stock. The MK store took my name, address, phone number etc and said I could collect later that day.

I drove to the MK store (45 minutes each way) to exchange the goods, but was told they would not exchange as the policy is to return items to head office for inspection/repair. This would take at least 14 days.

I wasn't happy with this as I purchased the item for a specific event which is in a week (a birthday party). The store staff just seemed amused by their policy and I started to get rather annoyed and asked to speak to head office. Sure enough, same thing, no refunds given on faulty goods, no exchange either, I'd have to send it off for inspection/repair, even though it appears they sold a returned and faulty item as new.

I phoned trading standards and was told about the Sale of Goods act, and how they should exchange the goods as they would have been faulty when purchased.

Maplin would have none of this, my wife even heard the store assistant manager joking about me to customers while I was outside using my phone.

Having had time to read through the Sale of Goods act, it does say they have a reasonable amount of time to replace faulty goods, but also says in section 48B (2a) "replace the goods within reasonable a time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer".

Where do I stand on this? Reading through various posts about Maplins it looks like you have no chance of a refund and little chance of a replacement for faulty goods.

annodomini2

Did you purchase the goods in the shop or mail order?

Northants_Simon

annodomini2 wrote: »

Did you purchase the goods in the shop or mail order?

in a shop.

Northants_Simon

Had a major disagreement with Maplin head office over this. They claim it's policy not to exchange or refund for faulty goods until they have been tested by a Maplin engineer. This takes 14 days. After the 14 days have passed they "might" offer an exchange or refund, although there are a lot of stories on the internet about people waiting months for a refund.

yorksrabbit

Sale of Goods Act specifies that if goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale, purchasers can request their money back "within a reasonable time".

Sale of Goods Act also specifies that, as an alternative to a refund, customers can ask for a repair or replacement.

Maplin is obliged to abide by SOGA and not dream up get-out clauses of its own.

You asked for a replacement. Maplins offered it then refused it.

Now, you want your refund.

Write to Maplin head office, quote SOGA about refund of monies for items faulty at time of purchase, and state that 14 days is the period you are giving the company for that refund.

And don't shop at Maplin again.

young_victor_meldrew

I recently purchased a spare laptop battery from Maplins as my HP original had died.

My wife has the same laptop model and we tested her battery pack on my laptop to check that it was the battery pack and not the laptop itself.

Maplins had a "generic" laptop battery for sale for about £36,00. However, when I plugged it in, it didnt work. No power, nada, zip.

Called the branch the same day and they gave me the same "no-refunds" BS.

I took the laptop in along with their non working battery, my wifes working battery pack, and my dead one JUST to PROVE that it was their product in that was faulty.

Ended up getting a refund there and then.

Their policy is unlawful, call your local Trading Standards and lodge a complaint.

CIS

I took a phone back to maplins as it stopped working and the manager changed it on the spot.

Northants_Simon

They still claim they are within the law to take two weeks to look at an item before choosing to send it for repair or if they choose to replace or refund. That came from a manager at head office.

I have told them it was required for this Saturday, if they can't get me a working product by then I want a refund.

They have my £180 and the faulty product. I have nothing.

Got nowhere despite mentioning Watchdog and small claims court action. They claim to have the right to inspect items before getting them repaired/replaced. They can't do this in less than 14 days (working days I presume).

I have sent them a notice of intended legal action. Refund in 7 days or I'll use the small claims court to sue them for the value of the item plus interest.

Northants_Simon

The series of events today.

4.45pm A maplin supervisor authorises a credit note for the goods. We spoke directly with the store and they spoke to customer services who said the credit note was on it's way.

5.30pm, store call to say they haven't had the credit note.

5.45pm. Customer services refuse to issue credit note, supervisor "gone home". Told they don't issue credit notes and we will have to wait for item to be tested.

Total time on the phone (our cost) 1 hour 30 minutes.

I will never buy anything from Maplin Electronics, there customer service is a joke. It seems the only way to get a replacement for faulty goods is to take them to court, which is exactly what I'm going to do.

Northants_Simon

Letter to Dr Keith Pacey, chief exec. I'll post his response (if any).

Dear Dr Pacey

I hope you are the person who actually cares about your customers, your customer services department certainly don't.

Background -
I purchased a product from one of your stores (Kettering) that is faulty, it
also had what looks like a return label glued across the heat vents
(although your customer service department say the label was for stock
taking, are you in the habit of sticking labels over the heat vents of
products for stock taking? - see attached image).

I returned the item to your store in Northampton (as Kettering had another
broken one in their store) and spoke to Carly. Who was very helpful and
phoned Milton Keynes to ask if they had a replacement. I left with the
impression the MK store would replace the faulty product.

At the MK store I was told this was not the case, it would take at least two
weeks to get the goods looked at by an engineer before you would make a
decision on replacing the goods. I mentioned I had purchased the goods for
a certain date and needed a replacement by then (the following weekend). I
went outside the store to use my mobile phone, meanwhile my wife heard your
staff joking about me to customers, hardly professional? Several phone
calls to customer services seemed to get me nowhere with getting a
replacement that actually worked.

I then returned the goods the following day to the store I had purchase it
from, customer services promised to collect the goods as a priority,
although it seems that by Thursday (two days after being taken back to the
store) nobody was any the wiser as to where the goods are.

Then a breakthrough, Sean in customer services said he would get a credit
note to the store and we could collect a replacement. He and one of his
colleagues (Kerry) spoke to Amy Buckley, a supervisor, who was going to
write out the credit note for the Kettering store. It looked like we would
actually get a replacement in time. An hour later the Kettering store
assistant manager called to say the head office hadn't processed the credit
note, so we couldn't collect a new product. We called head office again to
be told the supervisor had gone home and no notes had been added about
replacing the goods. Instead we would have to wait 14 days for an engineer
to inspect the product.

It seems Maplin are full of broken promises, people never call back when
they say so, staff promise to send credit notes and then don't. You have my
£180, I have nothing but broken promises from your company.

Do I really have to resort to the small claims court to get this resolved?
Do you really care about the way you treat your customers?

I am not interested in a replacement product now as I'll have to buy again
from another shop (not Maplin). It seems I have no hope of getting a working
product from you by Saturday. Could you at least have the courtesy to
refund my money within a reasonable time limit and without any more broken
promises?

Even your free gift of a projector clock (free when you make 3 purchase in a
Maplin store) was broken, it doesn't work.


I look forward to your reply.

patercake

After purchasing an item from Maplins I discovered same day the product was faulty. I Returned it to the store the following day and was told that I could not get a refund unless 'head office' check it out and was also informed that if I had bothered to read the sign above the shop's entrance door their returns policy would become very clear.
I refused to read their sign -( it was small and impossible for me to read anyway without reading glasses). I stood my ground asked for the manager and got absolutely nowhere.Eventually after much insistance he came to talk to me. He quoted me Head Office policy to me on returns but I stated that I was not interested in that but what the Sale of Goods Act said.
After half an hour of somewhat heated discussions about a refund ( there was no replacement item in stock) during which I was told that I had opened the box and connected the device therefore I had given up my my right to a refund anyway - Uh? You buy something you open it and try and use it but it doesn't work but you opened the box to find that out but that was wrong! When I started to try and then get a sensible discussion with the manager I was told to leave the store. An attempt to get him to put his words in writing was refused.
As he went to repackage my product he noted that there was a component missing from the packaging and so then said I could get an immediate refund!
What a shambolic way to treat a customer. I will never shop at Maplin again - no matter how desperate I am - and would suggest potential customers do not leave the store without getting Maplins to test the purchase when you first buy it - as getting a refund later will be an uphill struggle.The amount of time they will have to spend getting items tested in front of the customer before they are purchased might then get them to employ a legal returns policy where the 'customer is right' rather than making the customer look a crook and a fool