B&Q say law has changed, is this true??

missk_ensington

Sorry I'm not sure where to post this, so I'll start here as it relates to house renovation/house selling (kind of).

I bought a shower from B&Q (Gainsborough model) and had a plumerb come fit in. After fitting it, he realised it was faulty the on/off button wouldn't work and water was dripping from it. He took it back off the wall and he supplied a new one, asking me to return the faulty one to B&Q for e refund.

When I took the faulty shower with my receipt, they said the law has changes and they can't accept faulty electricals. Apparently this is same for Currys, Comet..... anywhere that sells electricals.

As far as I've always been aware the Sales of Goods Act states that your contract is with the person you bought it from, regardless of make. So if you bought a Playstation from Dixons and it was broken, you would go back to Dixons NOT to playstation, etc.

B&Q are trying to tell me this changed last year and to be honest I don't believe it, but want to check it out before I kick up a fuss. They are telling me I have to write to Gansborough, who will bring an engineer and take it back, and then send me a refund cheque at some point, could be 6-8 weeks down the line maybe more.

Any advice?! All replies will be thanked x

Jeewhizz

It is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page24700.html

Print it off, take it in, complain. If that doesn't work, take the manager's name, call your local trading standards, and also alert B&Q head office...

missk_ensington

Thank you very very much! I thought so but I didn't want to make a holy show of myself if the law had indeeed recent;y changed xxxxx

benbenandme

I work in retail and haven't heard anything of any law changes .... I agree with you, you have a contract with B&Q not the supplier, so it is B&Q who should refund your money as you haven't given the supplier any money so how can they refund you?? Good luck and don't give in!!:D

tigergold

Do let us know how you get on ?
I agree with benbenandme, stand your ground and don't give into thier excuses trying to fob you off

stolt

cant believe someone told you this at a big store like b&q, did you get the name of the person who said this to you, i'd claim aswell for your two journeys there and really kick up a fuss with the manager, think this kind of treatment froma big player on the highstreet is not on.

prudryden

Sounds like some employee over estimating their knowledge. The manager will sort it out for you.

Mrs_Optimist

B&Q are responsible and under the SALE OF GOODS ACT a purchase has to be fit for purpose which obviously isnt the case here. Go back to the shop and kick up merry hell - someone is having you on.

F_T_Buyer

This reminds me of a car battery I bought from Halfords, although a little off topic it's quite funny.

Anyway, got a 3 year guarantee with it, and after about 2 years it just wouldn't hold it's charge. So off I went to get it replaced, it was tested to confirm it's faulty - no problem there. But they refused to replace it as they didn't make them anymore. They did offer to give me my cash back (about £40). Obviously, I pointed out I had taken by battery from my car outside, into the store to get it tested - yet the chap was happy to give me some cash back, over looking the small point of how I get my car started to go home.

So, after a little argument with the manager I was offered a similar value battery (£40 battery) which was designed for something like a metro, which would have been totally useless in my car. The battery I needed was about £80 (a heavy duty one), but they refused to replace it still. After quoting the above, they did eventually give in and give me the right battery, so it's worth arguing your case.

P.s. I can't remember why I got the original battery so cheap, although I did have a receipt with it which showed the guarantee and price paid (no discount offer). It think the reason for not giving me a new battery was because the price I originally paid was so low.

Ho hum.

chant1l

B&Q did change their internal policy on REFUNDS last year, and are fairly poor at the customer service thing. The law on merchantable quality and fit/suitable for purpose hasn't. And no you don't have to send it back to gainsborough to have it fixed (every Gainsborough shower I have bought has failed within 2 years, 50% leak upon fitting.

missk_ensington

chant1l wrote:

B&Q did change their internal policy on REFUNDS last year, and are fairly poor at the customer service thing. The law on merchantable quality and fit/suitable for purpose hasn't. And no you don't have to send it back to gainsborough to have it fixed (every Gainsborough shower I have bought has failed within 2 years, 50% leak upon fitting.

Its funny you should say that, when I was stood at the Returns desk there was a man and wife there as well taking some paint back and they volunteered to mention that they bought a Gainsborough shower a few months back that leaked on fitting it.

Anyway, I rang Trading Standards as someone advised and they gave me a Ref number and direct line to person, and said they were legally obliged to take it back and refund me since it would not have been possible to test if an On/Off switch works until you, well, try and turn it on and off!! Which obviously would need to mount it first to do that.

I called B&Q with my new info, was put to manager and went merry hell (especially since I've now had to go back and forth to the store 2 return journeys at 12 miles each way cos of all this messing about) Anyway, as soon as I saif the words "Trading Standards" they !!!!!! themselves and said to bring the shower in for a full refund.

Does anyone know where a person stands when you've bought a faulty shower and you;ve paid a plumber £100 to fit it and its broken, and now I have to pay him another days rate to come back, that's another £100 incurred purely because of the faulty product???

Can I claim for the extra day Ive had to pay the plumber to come back?

My friend says B&Q have "compensation forms" but they dont advertise their existence, anyone know about this?

Thanks x