Me vs. Computer store-Refund or repair?

buel

Hello, 2 months ago i bought a laptop stand with a keyboard built in from my local computer store, earlier in the week it developed a fault where the letters stopped working when it was plugged into the laptop. Today i took it back to the shop with my bank statement as proof of purchase and they told me that two things:
1, their terms and conditions state that if an item is bought back withing a month then they can refund the money if that is what the customers want.
2, Even though i mentioned the Sale of Goods act they said that there is still a period of usually a month where after such a time they are only obliged to offer a repair or replacement!
Please can anyone shed any light on this?

Esqui

Yes, that's correct. Except where repair or replacement would be disproportionately costly to them, or significantly inconvenient to you. And that's unlikely to be the case here

WhiteHorse

Assuming normal and reasonable usage, 2 months is not an acceptable time item for an item like this to fail. The item was obviously not of acceptable quality. You are entitled to a refund.

The mention of 'refund within 1 month' is both true and not true. It means that for up to 1 month they will give you a refund if you don't like it. It does not mean that they can legally sell things that fall apart after 30 days.

Keep till receipts for 12 months!

Esqui

WhiteHorse wrote: »

You are entitled to a refund.

No, OP is entitled to remedy, which could be via repair, replacement or refund

unholyangel

Well as Esqui has already said, they are entitled to a remedy. First remedy is usually repair as this is cheapest option to retailer, if that fails or if it is significant inconvenience to consumer, replacement on a like-for-like basis.

Bearing in mind that price paid for a item is taken into consideration when deciding if it is of reasonable quality and that we dont know if he paid £100 or 10p, its safe to say you should expect what you pay for.

And of course if the time for a refund does arrive, they can deduct money for use the consumer has had of the item.

buel

Wow! Thanks for the replies!! The item cost £50 and the computer shop seemed to be willing to accept that the possible reason it failed was because it was an ex-display model?

unholyangel

I hope that wasnt retail price and you got a reduction for it being previously used :P

Googlewhacker

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Assuming normal and reasonable usage, 2 months is not an acceptable time item for an item like this to fail. The item was obviously not of acceptable quality. You are entitled to a refund.

The mention of 'refund within 1 month' is both true and not true. It means that for up to 1 month they will give you a refund if you don't like it. It does not mean that they can legally sell things that fall apart after 30 days.

Keep till receipts for 12 months!

Reasonable is undefined but for electrical items 2-3 weeks is deemed acceptable to test the product works, if it fails after this the retailer has the choice of least expense to either repair/replace or refund the item.

Ex display is not a good enough reason to not remedy the situation, if they had shown you a damaged part and you knew this on purchase then obviously you cannot take it back due to this fault but any other faults not related to this fault can be a valid reason to ask for a remedy

unholyangel

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Reasonable is undefined but for electrical items 2-3 weeks is deemed acceptable to test the product works, if it fails after this the retailer has the choice of least expense to either repair/replace or refund the item.

Ex display is not a good enough reason to not remedy the situation, if they had shown you a damaged part and you knew this on purchase then obviously you cannot take it back due to this fault but any other faults not related to this fault can be a valid reason to ask for a remedy

I dont think they've refused to remedy, just that they've insisted on being able to repair/replace first (as per point 2 in OP i think it was).

buel

Good news everyone!!
Not everyone will agree with my method but today i went to the computer shop and insisted that the sale of goods act states that there should be a 'reasonable' amount of time before the customer being unable to a get a refund and a must accept a repair/replacement....i also stated that i wasn't going to leave the shop until i got my refund! Result- the refund was given!
If at first you don't succeed......stand your ground and argue your case...repeatedly!!:beer:

Meepster

buel wrote: »

i also stated that i wasn't going to leave the shop until i got my refund! Result- the refund was given!
If at first you don't succeed......stand your ground and argue your case...repeatedly!!

And you wonder why a lot of retailers drag their heels when dealing with "problem" customers. I'd have told you "fine, take a seat, the coffee machine is over in the corner, but it doesn't take 5p's"

If a customer INSISTS they are right, when not having a full understanding of retail law, I INSIST on taking my time and only doing what I HAVE to do, not what I COULD do from a customer service point of view...