Quick questions on Consumer Rights

JPL64

Hi, hope you can help...

I have been in dispute with my house builder for the past 6 months.
To cut my story short, high wind dislodged some ridge tiles from my roof last December. My house was at the time just one year old and was the only affected in my street.
Unfortunately, the tiles fell on my wife's care, damaging the bodywork in several places.
I got a roofer to fix new ridge tiles and when up on my roof, I asked him to have a look at the ones that were still fixed. He told me they were not fixed correctly and he had to secure them all. So basically, the tiles were not fixed properly in the first place, which led to the fall of some of them during 60 miles/h winds.
I told my builder about this, showed them a report from my roofer, but completely ignored all the facts presented to them.
A month ago, I summarised everything in a letter, threatening to take them to the small claims court. I asked them to refund my outlays (£530 in total) and I also said I was waiting for some compensation to cover the inconvenience, time spent and worry.
I got a couple of days ago a reply saying "Having now carried out a background investigation, as a gesture of goodwill, I will arrange for a cheque to the value of £530 to be paid to you. This payment is made without prejudice and is in full and final settlement with regard to this claim".
My question to you all is: should I accept this, biting my tongue and ignore the cheekiness of this reply, or should I reply to them that I am expecting also a compensation?

Any comment would be very much appreciated!

I am not a greedy person, but I think I should also be compensated for the time spent to email these people regularly, sending recorded delivery letters, phoning Citizen advice and others to ask for information etc... The refund of £530 is not a gesture of goodwill: it is what they had to refund me. To me, a gesture of goodwill would be some compensation.

Any thoughts?

wicker.man

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice on my consumer rights.

I bought a PA system from a major music store at the start of January this year. After less than 8 weeks of light use, the system developed a fault. I contacted the store and they arranged for the manufacturer to repair the item. Item was returned, 6 weeks later having internal fault repaired. I have since used it lightly a handful of times and the same problem has recurred. I spoke to the store again today, explained that I did not consider the item fit for purpose or of a satisfactory quality and requested a full refund as I do not trust the reliability of this manufacturer's products any more. They declined, but offered me a replacement. I said OK, as long as it was brand new, not B-stock or second hand, but if the replacement item developed a fault I would be requesting a full refund.

Question: Under what circumstances, would I be entitled to a full refund?

wealdroam

wicker.man wrote: »

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice on my consumer rights.

I bought a PA system from a major music store at the start of January this year. After less than 8 weeks of light use, the system developed a fault. I contacted the store and they arranged for the manufacturer to repair the item. Item was returned, 6 weeks later having internal fault repaired. I have since used it lightly a handful of times and the same problem has recurred. I spoke to the store again today, explained that I did not consider the item fit for purpose or of a satisfactory quality and requested a full refund as I do not trust the reliability of this manufacturer's products any more. They declined, but offered me a replacement. I said OK, as long as it was brand new, not B-stock or second hand, but if the replacement item developed a fault I would be requesting a full refund.

Question: Under what circumstances, would I be entitled to a full refund?

If the product is deemed to be inherently faulty, i.e. the fault was there at the time of sale but not necessarily apparent at that time, the seller must provide a remedy.

That remedy could be a repair, a replacement or a refund. Any refund could be a partial refund to take account of the use you have had.

You can choose the remedy, but you cannot force a seller to provide a disproportionately costly remedy.
That effectively means that the seller can choose the cheapest remedy without causing you 'significant inconvenience'.

In other words, if a repair of replacement is not possible in a reasonable timeframe, then you may get a refund.

It is also worth noting that after six months from purchase the onus is on you to prove that the fault is not due to misuse or fair wear and tear.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights guide for more detail.

Flat_Eric

I thought I would post here rather than start a new thread.... (hope that's ok).

Firstly, why do Arg0s and other retailers exclude some purchases from their 30 day returns ??? I bought a phone on Monday only for the lovely people at Arg0s to e-mail me this morning and tell me the phone I bought is now £30 cheaper !! ho hum, just one of those things - obviously if they had e-mailed me and said the price had increased by £30 then I wouldn't be grumbling but it got me thinking. Sometimes items I buy are excluded. I can understand for things like ear rings but I wonder why for items like phones - as if they are returned exactly as purchased - i.e not taken out the box, seal not broken etc then whats the problem?

Oh and is my recollection correct that if you buy an item of clothing and then change your mind - is it discretion of the retailer as to whether they refund? I was wondering about this the other day when waiting to pay.

Pavlodge

Have purchased a Football Season Ticket but want my money back before the season starts . The club only has 8 players(no goalkeeper)less than 3 weeks before the season starts . What are my rights in such a case please ?

Valli

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I thought I would post here rather than start a new thread.... (hope that's ok).

Firstly, why do Arg0s and other retailers exclude some purchases from their 30 day returns ??? I bought a phone on Monday only for the lovely people at Arg0s to e-mail me this morning and tell me the phone I bought is now £30 cheaper !! ho hum, just one of those things - obviously if they had e-mailed me and said the price had increased by £30 then I wouldn't be grumbling but it got me thinking. Sometimes items I buy are excluded. I can understand for things like ear rings but I wonder why for items like phones - as if they are returned exactly as purchased - i.e not taken out the box, seal not broken etc then whats the problem?

Oh and is my recollection correct that if you buy an item of clothing and then change your mind - is it discretion of the retailer as to whether they refund? I was wondering about this the other day when waiting to pay.

If you buy ANY item then the retailer is at liberty NOT to allow you to exchange or refund if you have, in effect, 'changed your mind' after purchase - in other words if the item is NOT faulty or was not misprepresented to you at the time of sale. So Argos offer a 'better' deal than the Sale of Goods Act - they will refund for 'change of mind' within 30 days but exclude some goods from their offer. So, in effect, for most items they are offering the customer rights BETTER than the Sale of Goods Act does; they are not obliged to do this.

As for your second question; same situation, goods not faulty, retailer is under no obligation to refund.

ThumbRemote

Pavlodge wrote: »

Have purchased a Football Season Ticket but want my money back before the season starts . The club only has 8 players(no goalkeeper)less than 3 weeks before the season starts . What are my rights in such a case please ?

You have none. This is the risk you took by buying a season ticket.

meer53

Pavlodge wrote: »

Have purchased a Football Season Ticket but want my money back before the season starts . The club only has 8 players(no goalkeeper)less than 3 weeks before the season starts . What are my rights in such a case please ?

3 weeks is plenty of time for them to come up with the rest of the team.

Tyler_Du

Just wanna check my understanding is correct here :-

Item purchase onlined, 4 months later develops a fault.
As its less that 6 months since purchase its assumed to have been faulty at point of purchase and the onus is on the retailer to prove otherwise.
The retailer must refund / repair / replace (they chose)

Should the retailer pay the postage to return the item ?
They are talking about having the item checked by the manufacturer for a manufacturing fault.
Its only a £10 (ish) item, return postage is going to be about £3

wealdroam

Tyler_Durden_UK wrote: »

Just wanna check my understanding is correct here :-

Item purchase onlined, 4 months later develops a fault.
As its less that 6 months since purchase its assumed to have been faulty at point of purchase and the onus is on the retailer to prove otherwise.
The retailer must refund / repair / replace (they chose)

Should the retailer pay the postage to return the item ?
They are talking about having the item checked by the manufacturer for a manufacturing fault.
Its only a £10 (ish) item, return postage is going to be about £3

Once it is decided that the fault is inherent, the seller should cover all costs involved in providing the remedy. From SoGA Section 48B:

(2)If the buyer requires the seller to repair or replace the goods, the seller must—
(a)repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer;
(b)bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage).

The seller may ask you to pay the postage, to be refunded later when the fault is accepted as inherent... that's what "having the item checked by the manufacturer for a manufacturing fault" is about.