Faulty Berghaus Jacket, from Blacks store

lucylucky

aheaton46 wrote: »

The fact that the zip has broken after so little time implies that it's either faulty or poor quality. Or been broken by the wearer, possibly maliciously. Either way the onus is on the shop to resolve it, not waste time sending it off for investigation. Why should they not investigate it?

OP, in your situation I would buy a replacement jacket then insist on a refund from Blacks. Good luck with that!

I am not suggesting for a minute that the OP did deliberately break the zip, merely that the shop seem to want to investigate further.

lucylucky

GibsonSt19 wrote: »

If only! The jacket in question has set me back £220 (reduced from £300), so funds aren't as free flowing as I'd like.

The thing is, I've insisted on a refund, and they've not denied it... but they are delaying it with a [potential] 28 day wait.

Are you saying they have said they will refund you?

What is the wait for then if the above is the case?

GibsonSt19

lucylucky wrote: »

Are you saying they have said they will refund you?

What is the wait for then if the above is the case?

The wait is for them to send the jacket off to Berghaus to assess whether there's a fault or not. If Berghaus advise the zip's faulty, I should be able to get a refund or replacement.

My issue is that having to wait for Backs to do this will involve significant inconvenience to me (needing a waterproof jacket with helmet friendly hood tomorrow, and at the weekend). No one I know has a spare either.

Throughout my 'consumer' life, I've never encountered this situation of the shop needing to get the goods inspected by the manufacturer before offering a refund or replacement. It's perfectly clear that the zip is faulty, and hasn't been tampered with. In addition to this, I thought the fact I was initially requesting a straight replacement was evidence enough I hadn't changed my mind about the jacket.

I'm not sure I have the time or patience to take this down any other route, than that offered by Blacks.

It does seem incredibly beurocratic, and not at all customer centric, but I guess it's not something I can change.

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions, as I appreciate them all very much.

pinkshoes

Puts me off every buying anything from Blacks! That's really poor customer service.

My OH bought a waterproof jacket from Countrywide, which he then discovered had a faulty hood. Took it back to exchange it, but they didn't have any more left, so they gave him a full refund. Excellent customer service!

dandm1

I used to work in Millets (same company as Blacks) so can maybe offer a little bit of an explanation - albeit I don't think it will help you much :S
Things may have changed, but certainly when I used to work there we had to send off any branded items to the manufacturer for check if being returned as faulty, however, this was at the insistence of the manufacturer, and not Millets/ Blacks. If they were to refund without it being checked first they would not receive any funds back from the manufacturer (admittedly not your fault!). Hence their insistence on sticking to this rule. They tend to be pretty quick at getting back to the customers though (normally much quicker than 28 days).

If you'd bought a non-branded item with this problem, you'd have walked out with a refund without any questions - their customer service is usually quite good!

I'm not sure if you have already, but explain to the manager about the fact that you need the jacket asap - we used to be able to "hurry things along" a little - sending it next day to the manufacturer, and chasing them daily until we had a response. I'm sure if you explain to the manager they'll be happy to oblige.

Sorry if that doesn't help you much - I know its not what you wanted to hear - but thought it may be worth explaining why their being difficult... and perhaps help you to get it sorted sooner!

Equaliser123

dandm1 wrote: »

I used to work in Millets (same company as Blacks) so can maybe offer a little bit of an explanation - albeit I don't think it will help you much :S
Things may have changed, but certainly when I used to work there we had to send off any branded items to the manufacturer for check if being returned as faulty, however, this was at the insistence of the manufacturer, and not Millets/ Blacks. If they were to refund without it being checked first they would not receive any funds back from the manufacturer (admittedly not your fault!). Hence their insistence on sticking to this rule. They tend to be pretty quick at getting back to the customers though (normally much quicker than 28 days).

If you'd bought a non-branded item with this problem, you'd have walked out with a refund without any questions - their customer service is usually quite good!

I'm not sure if you have already, but explain to the manager about the fact that you need the jacket asap - we used to be able to "hurry things along" a little - sending it next day to the manufacturer, and chasing them daily until we had a response. I'm sure if you explain to the manager they'll be happy to oblige.

Sorry if that doesn't help you much - I know its not what you wanted to hear - but thought it may be worth explaining why their being difficult... and perhaps help you to get it sorted sooner!

Useful explanation. That aside, how come you have been 'Thanked' so many times in so few posts.....?

dandm1

Thanks - like I said unfortunately it likely won't change anything - and I'm not saying I agree with it - but thought it might help to understand.

And I tend post in the competitions thread, and people thank a lot in there (whenever they enter a competition someone else has posted for example). I can't say I've ever noticed before though!

Equaliser123

dandm1 wrote: »

Thanks - like I said unfortunately it likely won't change anything - and I'm not saying I agree with it - but thought it might help to understand.

And I tend post in the competitions thread, and people thank a lot in there (whenever they enter a competition someone else has posted for example). I can't say I've ever noticed before though!

No but some knowledge from 'within' can often help.

Thanks for the explanation as to "thanks". Funny old concept...

geordieracer

dandm1 wrote: »

Thanks - like I said unfortunately it likely won't change anything - and I'm not saying I agree with it - but thought it might help to understand.

And I tend post in the competitions thread, and people thank a lot in there (whenever they enter a competition someone else has posted for example). I can't say I've ever noticed before though!

amazing... thats about 37 per post... no one can top those figures i reckon..

mind you there was a thread in the moneysavers arms a while back about some formula but i cant remember it now..

GibsonSt19

dandm1 wrote: »

I used to work in Millets (same company as Blacks) so can maybe offer a little bit of an explanation - albeit I don't think it will help you much :S
Things may have changed, but certainly when I used to work there we had to send off any branded items to the manufacturer for check if being returned as faulty, however, this was at the insistence of the manufacturer, and not Millets/ Blacks. If they were to refund without it being checked first they would not receive any funds back from the manufacturer (admittedly not your fault!). Hence their insistence on sticking to this rule. They tend to be pretty quick at getting back to the customers though (normally much quicker than 28 days).

If you'd bought a non-branded item with this problem, you'd have walked out with a refund without any questions - their customer service is usually quite good!

I'm not sure if you have already, but explain to the manager about the fact that you need the jacket asap - we used to be able to "hurry things along" a little - sending it next day to the manufacturer, and chasing them daily until we had a response. I'm sure if you explain to the manager they'll be happy to oblige.

Sorry if that doesn't help you much - I know its not what you wanted to hear - but thought it may be worth explaining why their being difficult... and perhaps help you to get it sorted sooner!

Thanks for taking time to explain that. Makes sense, although I'm still left without a functioning jacket that I've paid for, which I need this evening.

I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it!