Bought at a Gadget Show Live trade stand and unable to return faulty product

dlrpkris

I bought a new battery/case for my iPhone 4 from a trade stand at the Gadget Show Live event at the NEC. Since it needed charging, clearly I didn't realise this at the time, but my product is faulty and I'm having trouble getting it exchanged.

I wonder if someone could outline the standard rights a customer would have in this instance where you can't exactly get back to the store to return it. Assuming I could contact them (if they were to answer the phone/email) could I expect them to cover my expenses in sending it back for example?

I don't feel I'm asking much... just it seems so hard to get hold of a member of staff (only going by the company name on the receipt... nothing else to go by...)

Thanks guys

esuhl

Off the top of my head... If the product was faulty when it was sold and you are acting within a "reasonable" time-frame (probably around a week to a month), then you can either ask for a refund or a replacement. If the company want you to send them the item, they must reimburse you for the return postage costs.

If the item is older, but you've had it less than three months, the product is assumed to have been inherently faulty at the point of sale, and you are entitled to a replacement unless the company can prove that it was not inherently faulty when sold.

If it's over three months old, but less than six years, you can ask for a replacement (or partial refund based on how long you've owned it), but the company may require you to prove that it was inherently faulty when sold.

Have a look at the Sale of Goods Act for the full details.

esuhl

Oh, and if you only have the company name to go on, you may be able to get their registered address by doing a search at the Companies House website.

JasX

you need to track down the company that was running the stand. Either from a CC statement, or reciept. If you have neither you'll probably have difficulty providing proof of purchase to demonstrate you actually bought the item from that particular company

brightonman123

ask www.twitter.com/thegadgetshow

and perhaps @gadgetpolly / @suziperry etc may bring a replacement.. ;-)

esuhl

drone11 wrote: »

Been down this road'
I was legally advised that I was responsible for transit costs to the supplier until the product was deemed faulty. The only way I could demand them to pay in advance was if I had an enginneers report stating the product had been tested and was faulty. The report needs to be on the accredited professional (company) letterhead paper and signed by the engineer who tested it. However, the engineers report will cost you as much or more than the carriage. Sending the faulty product back to the retailer and allowing them to decide if it faulty is a risky business....as I found out. The whole episode was a never ending saga and I ended up at as loss.
Ofcourse the retailer needs to be found first in this case.
Hope this helps

The company can certainly withold the refund for the return postage costs until they have ascertained that the item is inherently faulty. However, the rest of the information you were given only applies if you have had the item for three months or more. Otherwise, the onus is on the company to prove that the item was not faulty when it was sold.

In such cases they will have to pay for any engineers report, not you. And if they cannot prove that the item was functioning perfectly well when they sold it, then they will have to replace the item and refund your return postage.

RussJK

drone11 wrote: »

Been down this road'
I was legally advised that I was responsible for transit costs to the supplier until the product was deemed faulty. The only way I could demand them to pay in advance was if I had an enginneers report stating the product had been tested and was faulty.

If it was within 6 months, then under the Sales of Goods Act the onus is on the retailer to:
1/ Prove that the item isn't faulty;
2/ Arrange pickup from your address at their expense, and same with arranging a return to you.