machine needle found in Primark shorts

eneville

Wife went to take some vests back to Primark at the customer service desk. The chap on the desk seemed to be either following strange orders or in a very peculiar mood.

When we handed the vests over for a exchange, he questioned just about everything. We pointed out that there were threads coming loose. He ended up having to ask for his manager to approve the exchange, which seems silly and we've not experienced this before, normally those at the refund/exchange stations have the rights to do this as a business as usual thing.

The manager comes over and points at the vest and says that we'd washed it, which we hadn't. I call them pathetic and they give me a bunch of excuses, eventually they say they wouldn't normally exchange it but on this occasion they would.

What's the deal here? Don't we have a statutory rights which state that providing you have the receipt of purchase and the item is either faulty or in a resellable condition then you are entitled to refund? Even if you just decide it was bought in error or not able to do the job which you intended it for.

wealdroam

eneville wrote: »

Wife went to take some vests back to Primark at the customer service desk. The chap on the desk seemed to be either following strange orders or in a very peculiar mood.

When we handed the vests over for a exchange, he questioned just about everything. We pointed out that there were threads coming loose. He ended up having to ask for his manager to approve the exchange, which seems silly and we've not experienced this before, normally those at the refund/exchange stations have the rights to do this as a business as usual thing.

The manager comes over and points at the vest and says that we'd washed it, which we hadn't. I call them pathetic and they give me a bunch of excuses, eventually they say they wouldn't normally exchange it but on this occasion they would.

What's the deal here? Don't we have a statutory rights which state that providing you have the receipt of purchase and the item is either faulty or in a resellable condition then you are entitled to refund? Even if you just decide it was bought in error or not able to do the job which you intended it for.

You are wrong.

You have no statutory right to a refund or exchange unless the thing is faulty.

In other words, you have no statutory right to an exchange or refund just because you have changed your mind or not able to do the job which you intended it for.

Thats the deal on statutory rights.

You may however have a contractual right to an exchange or refund just because you have changed your mind if the store offered that facility at the time of sale.

The shop are of course perfectly entitled to inspect returned goods and decide whether the fault, if there is one, was actuallt present at the time of sale, or appeared due to 'user error'.

If I were the manager and you called me pathetic, I wouldn't give you a refund.

halibut2209

No you don't have a legal right to exchange or a refund on goods bought in error. You only have legal rights to goods that are faulty. You are entirely at their goodwill and their own policies.

It sounds as though you were quite aggresive with them - you admit to insulting them - so that won't help your cause.

eneville

halibut2209 wrote: »

No you don't have a legal right to exchange or a refund on goods bought in error. You only have legal rights to goods that are faulty. You are entirely at their goodwill and their own policies.

It sounds as though you were quite aggresive with them - you admit to insulting them - so that won't help your cause.

Yes indeed, the person who was serving pretty much called us liars, insisting that a garment with threads loose was in fact ok, to me that's not acceptable. It was clearly faulty. We were not wishing to exchange because we'd changed our minds, but I always thought you could on that basis alone, appears I'm wrong on that point. The "pathetic" was towards their comments about requiring managerial approval on all exchanges and refunds.

Valli

eneville wrote: »

Yes indeed, the person who was serving pretty much called us liars, insisting that a garment with threads loose was in fact ok, .

erm primark...

not known for high quality

maginot

As wealdroam states, just because you have a receipt doesn't give you a right to a refund if you bought in error.

The sale of goods act would allow you to return your goods because the item was faulty, you can also return if the item was not as described or not fit for purpose. You have further rights if you bought the product without seeing it first e.g. Online or over the phone. You can then return these if you change your mind and get a full refund under the distance selling regulations.

McKneff

There are often peices of thread hanging off garments when bought new. All they take is snipping off, so not faulty.

Next are major culprits of this.

If your wife wanted an exchange it would probably have just gone smoothly if she had said just that.

Why shouldnt they get managerial approval, they are risking their jobs for someone who has stood there, been defensive from the off and called them pathetic.

Rudeness gets you absolutely nowhere, fast.

Pretty much sums it up really.

Can you imagine the reverse, some young person coming on here and saying we had this ........... come to the counter today and.....etc. etc.

System

I don't use primark but my friend does and she regularly takes stuff back to swap and never has any problems. I believe that if you exchange within 7 days you have no problems. The fact you had problems sounds more to do with how you treated the staff than anything else.

arcon5

Primark could of course argued you had the opportunity to inspect such obvious defects as time of purchase and therefore accepted the goods.

Wisewelsh

The staff have to check the garments before accepting back with or without tags on - as items can only be returned in re-sellable condition so the fact he checked doesn't seem to be much surprise as every other store in the same market does it - (Ever tried returning something to River Island?!)

Goods only get taken back faulty if it is a manufactoring faults, people can unpick threads so this again is standard. If staff have any doubts or issues it is good practice to confirm with a manager, why should they risk getting into trouble for taking something back they shouldn't? Better to be safe than sorry.

The attitude of calling them pathetic this is just disgusting, do you not understand how hard it is to work in retail? Its so pressurised with a number of different customers, these people are doing their job sticking to policies and have customers giving them attitudes calling them pathetic? To me its the customer thats the pathetic one in that case. Try treating them with respect and you might get some back.