Argos and Sagemcom

alec1965_2

My elderly mother purchased a Sagemcom digital freeview 320gb hard drive recorder box just under a year ago from Argos. She has had a lot of issues with it and eventually when we realised it wasn't her age causing the issues suggested she returned it to Argos.

They told her they couldn't replace or refund and that she would have to call the Sagemcom helpline. This meant of course that the box had to be re-installed on her TV and working so that they could go through things with her.

I went up to Cumbria (I live in London) recently for a weekend and said I would do this for her. Only to find that Sagemcom helpline is only available Mon-Friday 9-5. I was returning to London before the 9am helpline opening, so I emailed them instead.

I explained that the box was frozen. Yet they still emailed back asking for technical information by going into menus etc. By this time as my Mother has been unable to watch TV without the box we have purchased a replacement. So, now I have the offending box and have explained to Sagemcom that we had to purchase a new box.

They seem to be blaming it on signal failure, strength etc etc, but since the new box (Toshiba) works a dream I don't think that was the issue.

They have now said rather sarcastically:

"Its regrettable we didnt get the opportunity to troubleshoot your Sagemcom unit any further as perhaps we could have found a solution. Im to understand you have already returned the unit to the retailer and you are no longer in possession of the Sagemcom digital box. Therefore we wish you many happy hours of viewing with your new box."

I really think I am being given the run around and they seem under the impression that I have had a replacement from Argos which is totally wrong.

Paid well over £200 for this and have to pay more than that for another one, and not from Argos as they are totally unreasonable.

The warranty on this item runs out on the 10th December 2011 and although I understand that a full refund is unlikely I am sure there must be some consumer rights on my side here.

Any help would be appreciated.

visidigi

alec1965 wrote: »

They told her they couldn't replace or refund and that she would have to call the Sagemcom helpline.

Wrong. Argos have to take responsibility for it - go back into Argos - find the manager explain the situation and ask them to deal with the issue.

alec1965_2

Thank you! Is it likely to matter that the box was bought in Argos in Cumbria and I will be taking it to a London branch?

visidigi

nope - all Argos branches would be acceptable...the only issue is payment - if it was paid on card them your mum would need to do it. As its only her with the contract with Argos based on the payment method.

If its cash they wont be able to tell..

alec1965_2

ugh, that complicates it then. As she likely did pay with card, and she is in Cumbria and I am in London!

alec1965_2

what if I had the credit card statement with the purchase on it, would that suffice? With an explanation of her being elderly etc etc.

visidigi

you *might* get lucky - they *might* agree to refund to Giftcard.

legally if it is a card transaction (the receipt will tell you) then they don't have to deal with you at all...you might have been able to do it on behlaf of your mother if you were local (again no legal obligation), but theres a bit of a gap involved here...

alec1965_2

okay, thank you. I think by the time I get her to send the credit card statement it will be too late. I have just had a look at the receipt and it's actually the 2nd December the warranty runs out, not the 10th as I had originally thought.

Time to chalk it up to experience and learn from it.

Thank you very much for your help though.

timbstoke

It's likely to be less about the statement, and more about the actual card. They'll want you to present the card for a refund to be processed to. Given the age, you *could* argue that the original card no longer exists, and request that they refund to your card instead (if you do this, just use your own card and stay quiet unless they complain that it's a different card)

Edit: The warranty period is irrelevant. You already made Argos aware of the fault when you attempted to return it the first time, so don't worry about that

alec1965_2

great idea!!!!

Worth a try!

alec1965_2

Just want to say thank you again for all the replies. I went into Argos Extra in Bromley (Kent) and they bent over backwards for me. Really polite and courteous. They weren't impressed with their Workington (Cumbria) branch for the way my Mum was treated, and not at all impressed with the ridiculous antics of Sagemcom's technical customer support.

Anyway, basically they called Argos Direct which my Mum had bought it from and with a bit of juggling due to my Mum being the person with the credit card (Argos Direct wouldn't even authorise the refund on the strength that I was standing there in Argos, with a driving license showing my name the same as my Mums and even the same address!!! Argos Bromley were bemused by that too) they have promised to refund the total amount of the box, which is more than the advertised price a year later.

I arranged for the box to be collected from me in London, although, I have now waited in all day for a between the hours of 7am and 6pm for this collection and they still haven't arrived. Not impressed with that.

So thumbs up for Argos Extra in Bromley (kent), thumbs down for Argos in Workington (Cumbria) and the collection driver for Argos Direct!!!!