Returning two lights - help please!

VickyHCarr

I've tried this morning to return two bedside lamps I bought seven days ago. They are not faulty as such (they work when you switch them on) but they don't provide much light at all. They aren't bright enough to read by and, given that they were sold in the bedside lamps section of the shop, I would have thought that would be a minimum requirement. The store will only allow us credit/an exchange, but we want a proper refund as we don't believe they're fit for the purpose for which they were sold.

The manager also said if we weren't sure if we wanted them, we should have said so when we bought them and the staff would have told us about the refund policy, which is that they only ever give store credit. I realise they're entitled to do that, but in this case I think we should have a case for a proper refund as they don't perform the function for which they were sold.

Where do we stand with this? Any advice gratefully received!

somethingcorporate

If they are going to give you a credit note can you not just buy a different set that will provide the required level of light?

You'll have a hard time convincing them that they do not perform the function for which they are sold (considering they sit at the side of the bed and provide some light).

Are you sure you have the brightest bulbs in them that the lights can take?

VickyHCarr

We took a bulb from another bedside lamp which is very bright and used that in the ones we bought. We're not just being picky - even with two of them on, the level of light was so low, it was like a nightlight in a child's room. The shades are a chocolate brown colour, which probably dims the light a fair bit, but we still didn't expect them to be so weak.

We could just get the credit note, but it's partly the principle of it, and partly that there honestly wasn't anything else we liked in the shop. When we bought these two lamps, we went around the whole shop and they were the only ones we liked, so we feel like we're tied in to getting something that either doesn't work properly or we don't want.

Thanks for your thoughts.

visidigi

Unfortunately they are bedside lanps, not reading lamps (thats why the two categories exist) so the level of light is not an expectation - Theres not justifable reason for you to have a refund legally,it would be shop discretion, but its pretty clear by the (fair) manager advice on the return policy is a credit note is all you are likely to get...officially they don't even have to offer you that if it was purchased in person (which we're assuming based on the above).

Sorry but just because there is nothing else in the shop you like it doesn't change your rights Im afraid.