Refund Advice

PHIAN01

Hi All,

I really need some advice. I had had a washing machine 10 months and now Comet has finally declared it as dead so are willing to replace the machine.

Now here’s the tricky bit:

1. I can have a refund however this is in the form of a Gift Card.
2. I can have a new washing machine but to obtain the new machine I will need to stump up £100 as the old machine was on offer at the time I purchased it, I do not want this machine anyway as it is always causing faults according to the comet engineers who have repaired it three times already.
3. I can have any other machine that they stock but I will have to pay the difference for that machine, their cheapest machine with the same features is over £200 more expensive.

I think I have had enough now and would like to get a refund, which trading standards agree I am entitled to, however the real question that I have is can I get a refund in real money and not being locked in to comet again? (I.e. not in gift cards?)

Morty_007

Do you have the original receipt? If not, ythis might be why comet won't refund you except onto a gift card. If trading standards think you are entitled to a refund, prehaps get them to put it in writing to Comet?

Esqui

If they want to replace, they are within their rights to do so. However, if it's like-for-like, they shouldn't expect you to pay the difference just because a product has gone up in price

The_Miser

PHIAN01 wrote: »

Hi All,

I really need some advice. I had had a washing machine 10 months and now Comet has finally declared it as dead so are willing to replace the machine.

Now here’s the tricky bit:

1. I can have a refund however this is in the form of a Gift Card.
2. I can have a new washing machine but to obtain the new machine I will need to stump up £100 as the old machine was on offer at the time I purchased it, I do not want this machine anyway as it is always causing faults according to the comet engineers who have repaired it three times already.
3. I can have any other machine that they stock but I will have to pay the difference for that machine, their cheapest machine with the same features is over £200 more expensive.

I think I have had enough now and would like to get a refund, which trading standards agree I am entitled to, however the real question that I have is can I get a refund in real money and not being locked in to comet again? (I.e. not in gift cards?)

This is the subject of EU Law ( EU Directive 1999/44/EC to be precise which came into affect January 2002) which has become included in the UK Consumer Protection Regulations (or similar).
If any consumer product fails within 2 years (yes,24 months) then at their option they must repair it OR replace it. Simple.
I cannot see that they can be required to give you back more than you actually paid for the machine but I would NOT accept a credit note; you may be able to get the same machine elsewhere for less than today's price by looking round.

Read http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/05/consumer-rights-returned-goods and follow up from there. Also Google the EU Directive.

gordikin

Alternatively rely on the superior SOGA instead of 'EU law' and also I would not rely on newspaper articles.

Mankysteve

If they chose to replace they cant charge you any more for the item. But how long have you has the item? have you got the original receipt?

djb215

It may be that they are only offering a FULL REFUND in the form of a gift card. If you want a refund via your original payment method then it may be a PARTIAL REFUND, taking into account the usage that you have had out of the machine.

Having said that though I agree with the other posters about not having to pay extra for a like-for-like replacement. At Argos (at least within the 12 month guarantee) we would replace like-for-like if it was available, regardless if the current price is £100 more than you paid (for example).

solodanceparty

Just get the gift card and get another washing machine. No big deal.

Storck

solodanceparty wrote: »

Just get the gift card and get another washing machine. No big deal.

Except the same machine would cost at least £100 more. If that is no big deal to you then lucky you, it would be to most people.

Scarlet_Fever

djb215 wrote: »

It may be that they are only offering a FULL REFUND in the form of a gift card. If you want a refund via your original payment method then it may be a PARTIAL REFUND, taking into account the usage that you have had out of the machine.

Having said that though I agree with the other posters about not having to pay extra for a like-for-like replacement. At Argos (at least within the 12 month guarantee) we would replace like-for-like if it was available, regardless if the current price is £100 more than you paid (for example).

well it sounds like the OP has had more problems than use.... will the company pay them for the time hanging around for a repair man/lady(ofc) to arrive? for that odd day off work... or arranging for someone else to sort the kids etc? its not just monetary...

i think they should replace with a similar model with no charge (and then the op can tell us how great the company is!!!)

Esqui

Storck wrote: »

Except the same machine would cost at least £100 more. If that is no big deal to you then lucky you, it would be to most people.

If it's the same machine, then really they should give it to you for no extra. They seem to have you over a barrel here, and that's unfair IMO.