Will Argos take it back?

executiverocker

argos policy, after 30 days faulty items are subject to a repair

sk87

Im not claiming to know it. It was what i was told by a reliable duty manager after another consumer outburst.

If i was misinforming people then i would be saying the law IS this not "I am fairly sure" which is what i put. Thus showing an element of doubt.

sainthalo

sk87 wrote:

Im not claiming to know it. It was what i was told by a reliable duty manager after another consumer outburst.

If i was misinforming people then i would be saying the law IS this not "I am fairly sure" which is what i put. Thus showing an element of doubt.

okay lets make it clear then. there is no consumer law which says that after 30 days it has to be repaired not refunded. its argos policy only.

there is a law which states if a fault develops in the first six months then you can assume it was always there and the product was inherently faulty entitling you at law to damages.

hth

Contains_Mild_Peril

I once had to argue with Argos to get a faulty shower curtain exchanged. I hadn't opened it till aout 18 days after purchase, when I discovered a flaw - a sort of bubble where the plastic was extremely thin and would probably have quickly become a hole if I'd used it. The shop assistant said I couldn't return it because I'd had it more than 16 days, and didn't seem to understand when I explained that I was asking for an exchange or refund under the Sale of Goods Act because it was faulty, rather than under Argos policy. After I patiently and repeatedly explained this distinction, she eventually agreed, but insisted on inspecting the fault and then expected me to repack it!

sk87

Thats awful about the shower. Its best in those situations to ask for someone who knows what they are on about. That person should of never been allowed on CS.

It seems that i did get a bit mixed up on the 30 day thing. Sorry guys.

I have done a bit of reading and from what i can make of it (going through all that jargon is hard work) that once the customer has 'accepted' the goods and then returns it to be faulty it is up to the retailer to sort out the problem ie, send for a repair, replace it or refund it. If it does go for a repair and it comes back still faulty or the cnsumer is not happy with it they can 'not accept' it and demand a refund.

It looks like to me that the consumer can only demand a refund if they have not accpepted the goods.

the period of time to accept the goods varies from place to place as the law does not specify a specific time. For Argos the time that they dictate is 30 days.

phew, please correct me if i have misunderstood something.

sainthalo

sk87 wrote:

Thats awful about the shower. Its best in those situations to ask for someone who knows what they are on about. That person should of never been allowed on CS.

It seems that i did get a bit mixed up on the 30 day thing. Sorry guys.

I have done a bit of reading and from what i can make of it (going through all that jargon is hard work) that once the customer has 'accepted' the goods and then returns it to be faulty it is up to the retailer to sort out the problem ie, send for a repair, replace it or refund it. If it does go for a repair and it comes back still faulty or the cnsumer is not happy with it they can 'not accept' it and demand a refund.

It looks like to me that the consumer can only demand a refund if they have not accpepted the goods.

the period of time to accept the goods varies from place to place as the law does not specify a specific time. For Argos the time that they dictate is 30 days.

phew, please correct me if i have misunderstood something.

The time period for rejection is a "reasonable period". The reason it is vague is because we are not a comsumer protectionist society but one that balances comsumerism at law with corporate freedom.

30 days would too long for certain things and not enough for other complicated things but just right for others. Argos are saying 30 days as policy for everything however this does not affect the customers statutory rights which Argos should respect without having to go to court.

Lets say i buy a laptop, it seems to work fine. however I dont have any games and dont buy some until X days have passed only to discover the laptop shows lines all over the screen whenever games are played. The law says if X is less than six months the product must be assumed to be always at fault. Is 30 days enough to determine rejection for this item?

However if I buy a simple one purpose device such as a vacuum cleaner then 30 days may be okay (however i would say that up to six weeks would also be reasonable, wouldnt you?).

The reason Argos dont go into too much detail explaining consumer law to you is that it suits them financially to impose an arbitary 30 day limit. There is a lot of ignorance about the law and confusion, im glad you are taking the time to look into your consumer rights and those of people you serve.

sk87

Thanks sainthalo that was very informative.

But in your examples would it be unfair to the consumer for Argos to try and fix the problem as i would say those goods have been accepted but still faulty(they have used the laptop and are happy with the laptop design and feel etc but just won't run games well). Therefore not unfair to get it repaired instead of refunded

in my view anyway

teb_2

Saw this thread was still going and I've been speaking to Consumer Direct about the same thing this week.

Mates XBox 360 has developed the well known freezing and 3 red lights of death problem and box is dead now.

It's 7 months old, also from Argos.

In this case, as it's 7 months old, Consumer Direct said that Argos can Repair/Replace/Refund in that order. So they are within their rights to repair it first. They also said that the contract was with Argos and not Microsoft so it was up to Argos to arrange repair.

Argos just give you Microsofts phone number and tell you to take the box home, phone Microsoft and go through their procedures.

Mate told them he wasn't doing that as he bought it from Argos and Argos should deal with it.

Argos weren't happy about that and mate thought he was going to have to do battle with them but they eventually agreed to swap his console for a new one there and then.

Argos are the worst shop to deal with. Game and even Tesco are taking the consoles back and exchanging with no hassle if they are dead with this fault.

sainthalo

Yes, as Teb's story reveals, your statutory and contractual rights exist as against the retailer (not the manufacturer). what happens with many retailers is that they have the customer contact the manufacturer who in such practice becomes the agent of the retailer. There is no need for the customer to arrange this themselves as it is for the retailer to make such arrangements. It is probably the case that people in specialised console shops know this is a fault and know what exactly will be done about it (ie Microsoft will pick up the bill). Argos staff deal with many items and so probably wont know anything about the fault in as much detail.

ricflairandy

A friend of mine baught an xbox for his sons birthday tomorrow (today) , found that it was crashing randomly within only an hours play, so he rushed out this afternoon and baught one from toys r us(which is perfectly find aparently). What is his rights now with regards to trying to get his money back from argos? As from what i can tell they dont have to refund, and will offer only an exchange or a repair.