Argos didnt care about product safety issue because i had no receipt. (long sorry)

Sootzer

hi everyone,

a few months ago i bought a cheap hairdryer from argos.............it only cost £4.99....................its only been used a handful of times...........on switching on yesterday within seconds it started to blow really slow, i turned it round to look at it and the element was bright red inside and there was smoke starting to come from it...i had to immediately drop it and pull the plug out.....it was very frightening as its only ever on the other times been used by my niece when she visits with me and it could have been her using it at the time.
i couldnt find the receipt..........but as i bought it from argos.....and it states in their catalogue "only at argos" i decided to return it and see if they would replace it and notify the possibility of a potenially dangerous product..........

their css assistant told me bluntly
no receipt or box and they wouldnt do a thing.........thats what receipts are for...........i could have bought it from a market...........even though it states in the catalogue "only at argos" that didnt mean anything ........only under my persistence he did ring to find out if there had been any other suggested faults or product recalls on these but said there wasnt so he wouldnt do anything about it as i had no receipt...........i asked him what should i do with it as it was dangerous and i was very unhappy with things.his suggestion was ..........."bin it"......

daughter then rang customer services...............
same response..wouldnt override store,,,,,,,,,,,,no receipt ..nothing we will do..

I find it very distressing that noone seems interested that something bad could have happened whilst using this product nor anyone noted details of a product which according to argos only they sell which could have potentially caused harm.

anyhow, i am now trying to figure out what to do about this next....i dont care about the £4.99 im only concerned about the principal.

thanks in advance for any thoughts.

hollydays

I can see where they are coming from about the receipt.
If you want to make a complaint why not contact trading standards.
Also be useful to let us know here which model it is so others might be able to idetify problems with it in future.Think i would ring cs again and ask what there procedure is to escalate a complaint-you are going to have to forgo the refund,i am afraid,so let them know you are not interested in getting your money back primarily.You dont have any record of the sale on your bank statement do you.That would be enough for proof of purchase?

Sootzer

item number 440/0015 visiq 1400 compact dryer.
paid cash as it was a small amount.........been hunting for receipt and i have receipts probably for everything ive bought in last 10 years except for this !! Tryin to email customer services through their link unsuccessfully at the minnute.

penrhyn

Sadly it would appear that these are also for sale on Ebay
http://search.ebay.co.uk/visiq_W0QQfnuZ1
Have you got the box with the Argos code number on it as proof?

hollydays

on argos customer service page there is a section called product recall. visiq hair straightners have been recalled.I am trying to get u an address for them.says of that product-exposed live parts could lead to the user getting an electric shock.

Sootzer

penrhyn wrote:

Sadly it would appear that these are also for sale on Ebay
http://search.ebay.co.uk/visiq_W0QQfnuZ1
Have you got the box with the Argos code number on it as proof?

unfortunately i didnt keep the box as it was such a low price purchase.

Sootzer

hollydays wrote:

on argos customer service page there is a section called product recall. visiq hair straightners have been recalled.I am trying to get u an address for them.says of that product-exposed live parts could lead to the user getting an electric shock.

hi, thanks for that info, that is scary stuff, i found it very strange when the css instore told me there was no complaints whatsoever on the hairdryer model i brought back.

Sootzer

hi again,
just an update, after further searching i have found the receipt...although now i am unsure of returning to argos store with this for the refund of 4.99 which means nothing to me compared to the fact this item is clearly unsafe...and my concerns may not be registered. ..any thoughts?

Horasio

Sootzer wrote:

hi, thanks for that info, that is scary stuff, i found it very strange when the css instore told me there was no complaints whatsoever on the hairdryer model i brought back.

They always say that, you are the first one to say.:mad:

hollydays

keep it and report this to trading standards.Hopefully they will do the tests and prosecute if necessary.I believe these products are made in the far east.

IvanOpinion

I have managed to blow up several hairdryers including, on one occasion causing a major fire alert on a cruise ship. What you are describing is typical of an element burning out. All a hair dryer is is a heating element and a fan .. if you look down the end of any hairdryer then the element will glow red when fully heated. One of the most common reasons for them blowing up is somebody deliberately or accidently changing the voltage selector from 220 to 110 ... all you Brainiacs out there will have tried this I am sure

Modern electrical appliances have all sorts of safety devices built in. Heating elements (particular on cheap hair dryers) are notoriously dodgy .. most of the time they will be fine but occasionally they are lucky to last long enough to get it out of the box. Don't panic about what happened .. you did right .. unplug it (just don't leave it lying on something that could on fire).

In this modern disposable society something that costs £4.99 isn't even worth looking at (it wouldn't even pay the P&P to get it to an engineer) so they just recommend dumping them.

BTW you can thank all the liars, cheats and scam artists that went before you for mos companies policies related to returns. If we were all more honest then it would be a simple case of 'sorry to hear that, have another one'.

Ivan