Sony VAT back offer

djmsemcgrath

I bought a Sony VAIO laptop and applied to get the VAT back (this was before Christmas). Sony wrote to me and said I had been accepted and it would be paid into my account via BACS.

Now I've received this - what's stopping me returning the item to Amazon for a full refund, thereby earning myself £100 profit (the value of the VAT), and then buying a different laptop in the January sales for a cheaper amount.

Do Sony/Amazon stop this somehow?

2010

Why would they give you a full refund when there`s not a fault with the product and you`ve apparently been happy with for a month.

The other thing about the Sony vat back offer is they whacked the prices of their products up on the day the offer started.
So even after getting your vat back you probably paid more for the product than before the vat back offer started.
In short you`ve been conned.

John_Gray

Have you read carefully the Terms and Conditions of the offer? I can't see Sony giving out what would effectively be Free Money...

2010

John_Gray wrote: »

I can't see Sony giving out what would effectively be Free Money...

Hardly free money when they increased their prices to cover the vat back offer in the first place and a bit more besides.

Kingsd316

2010 wrote: »

.

The other thing about the Sony vat back offer is they whacked the prices of their products up on the day the offer started.

Sony 100% didnt do this with the TV i purchased, i had been monitoring the prices of it since sony first released it, and even now the VAT back offer has stopped its still the full price i paid

djmsemcgrath

Amazon have a 30-day returns policy and it clearly states on their website that you can return for any reason within this time. Furthermore, they have extended that timeframe to Jan 31 for any items bought after December 1st, so I have plenty of time, and Amazon have already agreed to refund it.

I gave a legitimate reason for return anyway - the specs werent as I thought.

Sony have already paid the VAT back into my account. Amazon will accept the return and pay the refund, so I can't see what's going to go wrong with it, although I'm sure something will!

I think Sony will be giving out free money, which makes it all the sweeter when I buy a Dell replacement

Also, the Sony VAIO I bought was £625 before the VAT offer, and £645 after, so it did go up a bit, but not substantially, and not anywhere near the £100-odd I got back.


Can anyone see where this is going to go wrong - do Amazon and Sony speak to each other? Will Amazon deduct Sony's VAT back figure from my refund, do you think? Are they allowed?

djmsemcgrath

John_Gray wrote: »

Have you read carefully the Terms and Conditions of the offer? I can't see Sony giving out what would effectively be Free Money...

The Terms and Conditions say:

A Cashback claim cannot be validly made in respect of an item where a customer returns it to the retailer/reseller and receives a full refund.

However, bearing in mind the amount is sitting in my bank account, how can Sony get this back off me? And how will Amazon know I've made a claim unless Sony tell them, which I can't see them doing.

John_Gray

2010 wrote: »

Hardly free money when they increased their prices to cover the vat back offer in the first place and a bit more besides.

It really doesn't matter how much was paid originally, if the OP gets the full amount refunded, and an extra £100! :j

[Deleted User]

Committing fraud isn't exactly the kind of money saving Martin promotes..

John_Gray

It should be a nice easy one to solve, though! +1 in the crime statistics...

djmsemcgrath

It's not exactly fraud. Martin recommends getting money off a credit card and putting it in a high interest account to earn money. That's probably not allowed under some Banking terms and conditions.

There's plenty of "work the system" type things on this website and this is something that I happened across quite legitimately.

I got the VAT back by using the Sony deal - that was allowed.
I then wanted to return the laptop as I wasn't happy with it and saw Amazon could refund the entire amount - again, not my fault and something that's perfectly allowed.

I just happen to be making a small profit - which will ultimately go back to Amazon when I buy a new laptop so it's hardly a huge scam, but I just thought if any group of people would have taken advantage of this, it would be the MoneySavingExpert crowd, and I wanted to know if anyone had been stung by Amazon/Sony getting in touch and withholding some money?