Problem with sony vat back and sainsburys

al_bundy

Hello,i bought 2 KDL32BX300 lcd tvs from sainsburys on october the 27th 2010,because they were priced at £279.99 and with the sony vat back offer they were a great bargain,one for us,one for my parents.
I sent off all the required paperwork to sony to reclaim the vat and on friday received a letter saying the tv's were not part of the vat back promotion so sony were rejecting my claim.
I rang sainsburys customer care and they said the same thing,so i explained what happened.i saw the promotion in my local sainsburys but they had sold out,so i went home,rang the next nearest sainsburys at durham and asked if they had any of the 32 inch kdl32bx300 tv in stock and asked if they were in the vat back offer,i was told yes.The next day we went through and bought 2,one was on the shelf with the price tag under it and right next to it was the sign saying get the vat back with sony,the other was out the back in storage.One of the guys helping us went to get the other tv and we stood about saying what a great deal it was and trying to work out the vat refund etc,with the other assistant.Nobody said anything about the tv not being in the promotion.
Sainsburys customer care said it was not their fault as it was a sony promotion,so try ringing the store manager.
I have just rang the store manager and she said their is nothing sainsburys will do because it was not their fault,the assistants were not tv experts and she said that the tv i bought was the only sony model in the store not included in the promotion.
Where do i stand?Why did they have the only tv not in the promotion in the middle of a range of tv's that were and why did it not say not included in the promotion on or anywhere near the tv.
It must of been misleading because the 2 assistants would have pointed it out to us when we were talking about the vat back promotion.
Is their anything i can do and who is at fault,me,sony or sainsburys?

CoolHotCold

You sent off the paperwork right? Did you read it. At the very bottom it says which models are included.

http://campaign.odw.sony-europe.com/cross/H164/pdf/VAT-back_claim_form.pdf

al_bundy

Hello,yes i did have that leaflet,but i must confess to not checking if the model number was on there because there was signs all over the shelves and directley under the tv saying get the vat back with sony and was told by someone working in the store that the tv was in the offer.

neilmcl

So let's get this straight, it's not an issue whether Sainsbury's were part of the VAT back promotion or not, it's the issue that the model that was purchased wasn't, which would have been clear had the OP read the accompanying leaflet. Is this correct?

al_bundy

Hello,no,my question is who is at fault here.Its not sony,its my fault i did not read the leaflet,but if i had not seen the tv advertised the way it was in sainsburys i would not have bought it,it looked like the tv was in the vat back offer and the 2 people i spoke to in the store said it was,but sainsburys said its not their fault,i think it was.

wealdroam

This is going to be your word against Sainsburys'.

You can tell them what you saw.
You can tell them what the store people told you.
But you have no proof of any of this.

Sorry, but I really can't see you getting anywhere with this.

POPPYOSCAR

I am afraid this sort of thing happens all the time in stores. Many signs are put up under/by things stating an offer and when you look closely(usually after you have bought it) there is small print saying certain model numbers etc. only are included. A case of buyer beware.

Don't think you will get far, certainly not legally, all you can do is write to Sainsbury/Sony stating your complaint and hope they do something out of goodwill.

al_bundy

Hello,yes,i thought it might comedown to my word against theirs,although my girlfriend and neice were standing next to me at the time.
Consumer direct have advised me to write to sainsbury head office and sainsburys durham,so i will see where that takes me,the store manager did say that other people have been back to complain about the exact same thing but before she could explain any further the battery on the phone went dead.

vyle

Ah yes, the VAT offer - that's been a bit of a headache at work. We were very careful to only put the promo material by equipment which were in the offer, but if Sainsbury's staff weren't careful, I can easily imagine their promo tickets going to everything Sony branded. I had to stop a saturday kid doing that quite a few times.

Even then, customers assumed everything sony was in the offer, thanks to their very optimistic adverts.

I'd send a letter to Sainsbury's and explain the situation. If they have any sense, they'd see that £42 per item refund isn't worth potentially losing a lifetime spend with you.

Hell, my manager gave £200 good will to somebody whose kid threw a remote through their TV because they were too !!!!ing dumb to take out accidental damage insurance.

If my manager refunds outright stupidity, sainsbury's who have a far higher turnover and work in a more profitable sector should be able to spare £84 total.

al_bundy

Hello vyle,i hope they see it like that,i spend about £6000 a year in sainsburys,its peanuts to them i know,but maybe customer loyalty will help me out.

m00nstar

Sorry to hear about your problem.

On the subject of the VAT BACK i would like to know what people think about not getting the full 17.5% back but only 14.89 % the way sony work out the VAT.