Can a shop take a fee for issuing a credit note

MummyWhisperer

My husband bought me a pile of presents from a snowboarding shop for christmas. He was trying to be generous, but he's just been made redundant, so I took the decision to take the stuff back as I don't really need it.

I understand that they have the right to not give a refund, although I think that is very unfair when he was clearly buying a present and they didn't warn him, but heh ho!

The snooty woman offered me a credit note, and it wasn't until I got home that I realised that she had taken 10% off, so I lost £20.

Are they allowed to do that?
Are they allowed to do it without informing you?

Hope I haven't duplicated a question, I did try to search first.
Thank you for your help, I mention you regularly on my blog, so I'll make sure that I give you another huge plug in a blog post with the answer.

Esqui

Unless their returns policy says otherwise, they can - you've no legal right to return items unless they are faulty.

MummyWhisperer

I understand that I have no right to return them. But should they have told me that they didn't give me a full credit note - and took £20 off?

neilmcl

MummyWhisperer wrote: »

I understand that I have no right to return them. But should they have told me that they didn't give me a full credit note - and took £20 off?

Isn't it sort of your duty to check what you're being given in the first instance.

shaun_from_Africa

You may well find that they have a sign somewhere in the store stating that in the event of change of mind returns there will be a 10% restocking fee.

scheming_gypsy

I know it's slightly off topic but I'm just curious. If you were taking them back because he'd been made redundant and you didn't really need them; how come you accepted a credit note? you can only use the credit note there for more snowboarding stuff so you've not replaced the money that was spent.

MummyWhisperer

No prob .... By that stage she was soooooo rude that I just wanted out of there! I figured that at some point we might go skiing and I could buy the kids some stuff as there is no time limit on the credit note. I wrote about it more in-depth on my blog, as it wasn't a quick decision for me .... but I can't post the link (if you're interested just search on 'Mummy whisperer blog' and you'll find me)

Then I tried to sell on the credit note, and that is when I noticed that it was £20 down from the price.