Shoes from Office Sale store - torn after 1 wear!

xellieqx

Hi All, hope you're well.

I bought some shoes from the Office Sale store in Manchester. At the time of buying, the lady who served me said that there was no refund or exchange for products bought from that branch. I agreed that this was fine as I didn't expect to have any problems with the shoes (in my experience Office always make good quality shoes that last). However! The shoes (suede style brogues) have torn after me wearing them yesterday - admittedly I did do a lot of walking, but I don't think a day is a reasonable amount of time to expect something to tear! I wasn't climbing hills!
I read through the MSE article about my rights, but am slightly confused.... I want a refund, but am I entitled to one despite the store telling me when I bought them that there was no refund or exchange?

Any help or advice would be welcome. Thank you.

Kind regards.

david39

They've presumably sold you goods that are not fit for purpose, so they are obliged under the SOGA to refund your money whatever was said at the time of sale.

xellieqx

Thanks David - I did think so, but I didn't want to return to the store and start spouting rights that I wasn't sure I had. I think I'm going to call them up first so that they're aware of the problem.
Thanks again for the reassurance!

xellieqx

Just realised this could have gone in the 'quick questions' part - sorry if it's annoyed anyone!

Flyboy152

I am hoping that the sales assistant was referring to returns due to a change of mind, rather than a fault. If it was the latter, then the store is in breach of the Sales of Goods Act in attempting to curtail your statutory rights. So, it doesn't matter a jot what the sales assistant told you at the point of sale, the shoes were clearly not of merchantable quality and therefore your are entitled to a refund.

xellieqx

Thanks Flyboy, much appreciated input!

fluffnutter

It matters not one jot that they were in the sale - if they break after one use, they're not of satisfactory quality and you're entitled to a refund, repair or replacement as per your usual rights.

Incidentally, on a related matter, if you buy something that's obviously faulty, you can't return it due to that particular fault. However, if it develops a different fault you can.

arcon5

How much time has passed between buying them and reporting the fault?

xellieqx

I bought them Saturday afternoon and wore them yesterday.

Thanks for the info all!

fluffnutter

You should be fine then. Stand your ground though and don't allow them to fob you off. Make sure you point out that they're faulty and that under the SOGA they must offer you a remedy.

arcon5

Op is entitled to reject the product within reasonable time for a full refund. Outside this time in which op is considered to have accepted the goods, the shop can offer a remedy of their choice.

Just wanted to clarify this to op otherwise in the future if they buy a product that developes a fault a month or so down the line we're going to be reading a new post titled 'shop refusing to refund and breaching my rights'.