Returning Faulty Goods After 7 Days

wwarby

I recently purchased a car stereo from caraudiodiscount.com which is faulty. I reported it to the company by phone 5 days after receiving it, and took it into one of their branches (on their advice) on that same day. When I got there, the guy told me he didn't stock that item and couldn't deal with repairs/refunds (it appears the site I used is some kind of weird storefront for a franchise of privately owned shops). However, he looked at the stereo for me and misdiagnosed the problem as a wiring fault. After investigating and posting on forums and speaking to the manufacturer, I concluded he was wrong, and I reported it a second time to the seller by phone, now 6 days after purchase. They then blamed the problem on my phone and made me seek out somebody else with the same phone to prove it wasn't my phone that was at fault. On day 7 I phoned again and was told to fill out a returns form on their website, which I couldn't find, so I filled out a "contact us" form instead. On day 8 I phoned again because I hadn't heard anything and was told I should have gone to a completely different website - caraudioreturns.co.uk to fill out the returns form, which I did immediately. There is no link anywhere from the seller's website to this site.

Now, caraudioreturns.co.uk are refusing to collect the unit and insisting I send it at my own cost to their depot, citing the 7 day rule. Although this is only going to cost me £7-8, I am incensed by their ineptitude at forcing me over the 7 days by misdiagnosing the fault not once, but twice.

Do I have a case against them or should I just bite my lip and pay for the postage? (I'm thinking this is obviously a very dodgy company and I fear I am going to get my unit sent back to me with a "no fault found" charge or something because I made a fuss).

Even if they provide perfect service from this point on, once I get it back working I'm going to spend a morning getting my revenge on review sites and forums everywhere with warnings about how they treat their customers.

vicshippers

Do they have a phone number or just a contact form? Hopefully they do have one - NEVER buy from an online company that doesn't publish a phone number (and call it before you buy if you don't recognise the company).

Try calling them and explaining that the fault was reported within 7 days - and they referred you to a shop (give details of the referral). It could be a simple admin error, that they haven't matched up the previous referral with your contact through the contact form.

Fingers crossed for you.

baby_fuzz

sounds like the product wasn't 'fit for purpose'. If the company concerned were half-decnet, this should be a no-brainer return.

wwarby

Thanks guys,

They do have a phone number but when I phone it's always the same idiot on the phone who gives one word answers in a monotone that is hard to hear and never helpful.

The only reason I used this company is because it showed it's postal address in the site header and it was local to me so I assumed it was a local shop. This turned out to be a trick - the shop address shown was one of a chain of loosely connected franchise shops - they must use my IP address to detect my location and show the address of my local shop to fool me into thinking it's a small local business.

Anyway, I phoned the number this afternoon to protest at the way I was being treated by the company that handles their returns and he was totally unsympathetic and just kept reciting the same line that the returns company is right and it is my responsibility to return the item. I was achieving nothing except raising my blood pressure.

In the end I decided to just bend over and take it. Although I'm pretty sure what they have done is illegal, they are clearly not minded to be reasonable about it and I fear for the sake of £8 postage I am going to wreck my chances of getting a replacement unit if I take it further. The nature of the fault is such that if they wanted to, they could just send it back to me and say they couldn't reproduce the fault and charge me for the privilege, and I would have no way of proving otherwise.

Note to self: There's a reason online retailers are cheaper: you get no customer service. Don't buy expensive things that might go wrong from unknown online retailers!

baby_fuzz

wwarby wrote: »

Note to self: There's a reason online retailers are cheaper: you get no customer service. Don't buy expensive things that might go wrong from unknown online retailers!

I disagree - it's only cr*p online retailers that give bad customer service. Good ones have excellent customer service - and that's why they will usually do well!

wwarby

baby_fuzz wrote: »

I disagree - it's only cr*p online retailers that give bad customer service. Good ones have excellent customer service - and that's why they will usually do well!

Fair point - I'm just ranting really. The difference is though that when you have a problem it's so much easier to deal with when you can go into a shop and talk to somebody face to face. I buy online all the time and I rarely have trouble but it seems whenever I do have a problem like this it's never with a £5 DVD, it's with an expensive appliance. Grrr!

4743hudsonj

i cant see they have one anything illegal

your only entitled to your delivery under the distance selling regs up to 7 days from the day after you receive the item (working days mon-fri)

thats if you inform them as stipulated by their terms and conditions

as far as i can see they have a return form, (assuming its on their t&C's) you have not filled this out in time and have taken to long to specifically request a refund as requested.

this meaning you are only entitled to your refund for the product as they have offered, not your delivery

sorry.... just how it goes


in future you need to find out what he returns process is asap and follow it.

yummymummy79

But distance selling regs are irrelevant if the product is faulty, Sale of Goods Act takes over in that case and there is no stipulation of 7 days in there. There is no need for a returns form, return to a special website, need to prove the fault or to do anything within a specified amount of days. All that stuff is their policy which they are entitled to have, but it doesn't overrule SOGA.

They have to cover the postage cost (although that can be upfront or something you have to claim back later), and should be offering repair/replacement of refund. I would say you have a good case for rejection as you told them about the prob after 5 days so forget about all the other rubbish they are spouting, tell them you don't care what their policies say (and that they need to brush up on their SOGA knowledge!) and get something in writing to them saying you are rejecting it as it isn't satisfactory quality, and you expect direction as to what to do with it within 7 days.

And see what happens!