Refund after prior replacement

bryanchicken

I've just had a rather frustrating time at PC world and i was wondering whether this behaviour was normal.

I bought a tablet computer with docking station (separate item, in same order) on the 23rd may online. It went wrong on the 16th June so i took it to one of the stores and opted for a replacement.
Today (28th June) the replacement went wrong, so i took it back in. At this point i noticed the replacement receipt i was given only had the tablet on it, and not the docking station.
In the store i was told i couldn't have a refund as i'd previously opted for a replacement. Now if that had been explained to me at refund time i would have got my money back straight away.

Is this standard procedure? So basically its better to always get a refund??

The manager was insistent that his hands were tied. That was until it turned out there were no replacements in stock. I then got a refund on the tablet. So he was basically lying that his hands were tied!

However, i was unable to get a refund on the docking station that was part of the original order due to it being missing from the receipt from the original replacement.

At the end of the day i got back £200 out of £230, however the experience has left a bitter taste and i'll think twice before shopping there again.
I'm probably the one that doesn't know my rights but not being able to get a refund on a product if you've already had it replaced seems crazy!


Cheers

Esqui

It's a bit of a grey area, from what I've seen. Some retailers have the guarantee run from the day you buy the first one, and any replacements issued form part of that. Do you have the same right of rejection on a replacement as you would on the original? Yes would be my preferred answer, but I can see the opposite side.

That said, I'd have had no problem with refunding it - it's within 21 days of your replacement, which in this case, gave you a new receipt, and a new guarantee period.

CoolHotCold

Legally, the guarantee runs from first day you receive your order, regardless of how many replacements you have had in that timeframe. Dixons Retail's systems however count each replacement as having a brand new guarantee from date of replacement.

Point is, the docking station isn't faulty so legally the retailer doesn't have to accept it back, regardless of if it was purchased on the same receipt or separate. It is however bad service, and so long as you produced the original receipt (or Dixons could look it up on Ultima or MCSD) the best course of action would be to refund the dock as well.

Send a email off to knowmore@knowhow.com and see what they say. If it was a online order they might arange DHL to pick it up from your house.

bryanchicken

Thanks for the replies.

I believe the guarantee was valid from the replacement date, that is what i was told when i got the replacement. However i was not made aware i would not be allowed a refund on the 2nd one. A grey area indeed.
I was under the impression that i had exactly the same rights on the replacement as on the original. So, it was just like a new purchase.

I have already made a complaint to PCWorld. We'll see what comes of it.

CoolHotCold

Like I said, if you opened the docking station (for this example i'm ignoring any DSR's) than you have no legal right to return for a exchange or refund, unless the docking station is faulty.

And as I said for the way Dixons Retail Systems work, you could buy a set of earphones, and if they failed every year at 11 months you could return and exchange them until you died (or till Dixons changed their systems, but they won't as its the manufacturer who takes the hit, not dixons).