Returning faulty toaster - my rights

Davegeo

Hi all,
I bought a toaster last year and it came with 1 year RTB warranty.
It's started playing up 11 months into the warranty (won't stop toasting until the plug's switched off - nice and dangerous!), so I'm going to send it back.

The seller (business seller on Ebay) has said I can return it, but has said that because it's over 11 months old, I'll need to send them a cheque for £6 to cover the courier cost to send the toaster back to me when fixed.

Now there's two costs I'm questioning:

1 - The cost for me to send the toaster back to the seller: the seller doesn't mention this, and Distance Selling Regulations seem to contradict themselves by saying:

"If you want the consumer to return the goods and to pay for that
return, you must make it clear in the contract and as part of the
required written information – see paragraph 3.10. If the consumer
then fails to return the goods, or sends them at your expense, you
can charge them the direct cost to you of the return, even if you
have already refunded the consumer’s money. You are not allowed
to make any further charges, such as a restocking charge or an
administration charge."

But then saying:

"If the goods are faulty or do not comply with the contract, you will
have to pay for their return whatever the circumstances."

So which is it? I also don't remember any mention of return costs from the listing when I bought the toaster, just the fact that it had 12 months RTB.

2 - The cost to return the fixed toaster to me, the £6 charge because it's over 11 months into the warranty. This seems a bit dodgy to me, but I could be wrong.

What are people's thoughts? Since the warranty's up on the 23rd, I need to get the toaster sent off on Monday, but wanted to check before I paid out money I didn't have to.

- Davegeo

McKneff

Was it an expensive Toaster.

You can buy toasters now from Asda, Tesco for less than a fiver.

The cheapo ones still do the same as a £50 one.

So is it worth the hassle

Davegeo

It cost about £25, and I bought it because it toasts well, unlike most toasters! It's also a decent size and you can have 2 or four slots toasting.

- Davegeo

unholyangel

The part of the DSR you've quoted are with regards to the cooling off period of 7 working day - which obviously your toaster isnt covered by.

First question though, did you buy it as result of buy it now or an auction?

Davegeo

Ah yes, you are right - I'm not used to reading such documents!
It was a buy it now listing (I know auctions aren't covered)

- Davegeo

unholyangel

Davegeo wrote: »

Ah yes, you are right - I'm not used to reading such documents!
It was a buy it now listing (I know auctions aren't covered)

- Davegeo

Just checking

With faulty goods, the seller should cover all costs involved. However, usually within 6 months the fault is deemed to be inherent and it is up to the seller to prove otherwise.

After the first 6 months, the onus is on the consumer which is usually done by an independent report to prove the fault was inherent and not something that has occured due to misuse or wear n tear.

What i'm basically getting at is that if you start getting demanding with the seller, they may ask you to provide this report. If found to be inherent the cost of the report would be refunded. If not, then you would be out of pocket for the report and wouldnt really have any standing in trying to get the repair/replacement/partial refund.

I'm not an electrician or knowledgable about the inner workings of toasters but the latter does seem (IMO) unlikely - however still possible.

You could politely enquire as to the postages costs but i wouldnt be forceful or start quoting legislation, otherwise you *could* potentially shoot yourself in the foot.

Just as a matter of interest, have you tested the socket to make sure thats not at fault or changed the fuse? Cleaned it to make sure no debris is stuck? Checked theres nothing jamming the lever down etc?