M&S sale of goods act

brodev

My wife who is an OAP purchased in a silk blouse from M&S in September. As the label showed through the material she cut it off. 1 week ago the blouse developed a hole in the sleeve. My wife took it back to M&s but she no longer had the receipt. M&S refused to exchange or refund the money. They claimed that as there was no receipt and no label they could not verify the price. They also claimed that there was a sale on in October and the blouse could have been bought at a reduced price in the sale. Basically what I would like to know is what rights do I have under the Sale of Goods Act. Do I need to have a receipt? Does the blouse need to have the label on it. My wife suggested that she may have paid with her bank card and that if she had then there would be a copy of the bank statement but she was told that this would be not good enough. My wife was reduced to tears and decided to come away as it was not worth the hastle arguing.

fluffnutter

She needs proof of purchase. Usually a bank statement will suffice although whilst M&S would be able to see that a payment was made to M&S they might argue that they can't tell what it's for.

She could try again armed with her statement and hopes she encounters someone more sympathetic.

wealdroam

brodev wrote: »

My wife who is an OAP...

Sorry, I missed the relevance of this bit?

fred7777

I've used a bank statement before for returning clothing (not at M&S). In your case it might help if she bought the blouse on it's own as the bank statement would show the price.

brodev

Thanks for the feedback. It would appear then that if you do not have a receipt then the sale of goods act is not much good.

wealdroam

brodev wrote: »

It would appear then that if you do not have a receipt then the sale of goods act is not much good.

That is not true.

Of course, if you have a receipt then things are much easier to sort out, but any proof of purchase is sufficient, be it a bank or credit card statement.
In fact, retailers are under no obligation to give you a receipt.

Have you read MSE's Consumer Rights article?
The information you need is all in there.

bris

brodev wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. It would appear then that if you do not have a receipt then the sale of goods act is not much good.

No, the SOGA is still very good, it teaches you to keep the receipt.
Cutting the labels off is also something they do when they sell on millions of seconds, so there is no way to verify if it was bought at a market or in store.

somethingcorporate

Or from M&S at all!

unholyangel

brodev wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. It would appear then that if you do not have a receipt then the sale of goods act is not much good.

Proof of purchase is required for a few reasons. One would be because the SoGA has some time sensitive regulations (such as the ability to outright reject the goods and demand a full refund, or that within 6 months of purchase the burden of proof is on retailer and after 6 months it reverses etc).

But the most important reason that proof of purchase is needed is to prove you actually have a contract with the retailer for the goods in question. If you have no contract with them, then they cannot be held legally liable for any breach of contract.

Many of us (including myself before becoming a MSE fan) think of receipts as inconsequential bits of rubbish paper. I now store receipts for all electricals, dvds, games, cd's etc in a filing box. For food receipts, I keep them until I have used the food. For big items I usually pay on my credit card AND keep the receipt so not only do i have 2 methods to prove my purchase, but i also have 2 methods to obtain a remedy should anything go wrong.

They really dont take up a whole lot of room. I think the metal filing box I got only cost me £8. At least now if i need a receipt or paperwork for a contract, i know exactly where to look

McKneff

I always store the reciept for goods actually in the box that it came in, then it goes in the loft.

So then I know exactly where it is, if and when I need it.

brodev

Thanks all for your feedback. It turns out that my wife must have paid in cash as we do not have a bank statement that shows it. I also have made enquiries and I have discovered that for SOGA all that is necessary is proof of purchase, and that can be a witness of the transaction. I then made a phone call to M&S and spoke to the commercial manager who agreed to refund the cost of the blouse. She apologised and said that a refund should have been done at the time.