Argos wrong TV! Help!

MrandMrsV

Me and my husband recently got married and agreed with our gift money from the wedding we would treat ourselves to a nice TV. We both agreed to wait until the sales. On boxing day my husband went out and bought a tv in the sales from argos that we wanted.

We had done a lot of research on exactly what we wanted and to make sure my husband asked online on argos website "What is the model number of this tv and does it have picture in picture?" online they replied saying:

"Hi, thank you for your question.
Having looked into your query, I can confirm that the model number for the Hitachi 46 Inch Full HD 1080p Freeview LCD TV is L46VN05U.
I can also confirm that this television also has picture in picture mode.
Thank you for using Q & A."

My husband went in to the store to buy it but found out it was home delivery only, so he ordered it for home delivery. Several days later as arranged a TV turns up, this TV is a 46 inch hitachi TV, but it doesn't have picture in picture and only has 2 HDMI ports. and has a different model number (L46VF04U)

We rang customer services who apologised but said they were out of stock at the warehouse and when they came back in stock they would exchange it, they gave us an estimation of about 2 weeks.

2 weeks later, we haven't heard anything, so my husband calls them and they say they have them instock and arranged a delivery time. My husband double checked with them that this was going to be the correct TV,
Since we bought the TV, the catalogue number that the tv we wanted (L46VN05U) and the catalogue number for the model we had been delivered in error (L46VF04U) was the same and the TV we wanted was no longer on their website.

We got the delivery of the same TV we had already been delivered (L46VF04U), therefore didnt accept the order, and told the delivery people that we would contact customer services.

We phoned customer services who said that there was an error on the website and they don't sell this TV. We were told we could keep the one we had been delivered or get a refund. We informed them that we were under the understanding that if they didn't have the TV that it would be replaced with a TV of the same spec or better, which customer services insisted that this TV is, but it dosn't have our 2 main requirements which are 4 HDMI points and picture in picture.

They were very blunt and said either keep the TV or get a refund. We asked if we could get a different TV and were told we could but could go £50 above what we paid, now there are no sales on and any other TV's to the same spec are at least £400 more than what we paid.

So 3 expensive phone calls, 2 days off work waiting for deliveries, 1 £8 home delivery charge and 2 wrong TV's later, We feel we're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

if we had known we couldnt get the TV when we ordered it, we would have gone to sainsburys to get a TV we saw there, but since we were under the belief until today that we would get the TV we ordered we didn't buy it. Sainsburys has now stopped selling that TV, and all the sales are off for another year.

Do they have to provide us with a TV with the features we wanted in the first place? (i have a picture of the argos website with the TV we bought and the question we asked online so proof that this is what we wanted) Or shall we get a refund which we can't buy a TV to the spec we want with anymore? Do we have any ground to stand on by insisting they should provide a replacement to our standard?

Thanks for reading! Any help will be greatly appreciated!! :-)

IceColdRum

I'm afraid I don't really know but await replies as I work as a lowly Customer Advisor and would be interested to find out.

although I'm pretty sure that Argos CS have met any legal requirements by offering you an exchange or refund:( but their mistake in the first place is an interesting one...

robmar0se

Trouble is with all electronics shipped from the far east, in demand items have a habit of running out before the next shipment, and they are never able to say when the next lot are due it (reliably).

I have found Richer Sounds very helpful & competitive, worth popping in there and see what they have to say.

I'm afraid that you are unlikely to get any change from Argos - I'd get them to collect and get a full refund inc delivery.

http://www.richersounds.com/products/home-cinema/lcd-and-plasma/lcd-tv#1

keith1950

Hi, you would probably be better off getting a refund and buying a decent make.

Hitachi doesn't manufacture tv's for the UK market and these are just rebadged budget tv's.

Is the picture in picture that important a function. On most models that have had this function it has only been useable via an external inputted source.

Neil49

robmar0se wrote: »

Trouble is with all electronics shipped from the far east, in demand items have a habit of running out before the next shipment, and they are never able to say when the next lot are due it (reliably).

I have found Richer Sounds very helpful & competitive, worth popping in there and see what they have to say.

I'm afraid that you are unlikely to get any change from Argos - I'd get them to collect and get a full refund inc delivery.

http://www.richersounds.com/products/home-cinema/lcd-and-plasma/lcd-tv#1

I fully agree. Get your money back and start again.

TakeThis

One would imagine that if a contract was formed to supply goods of a certain description and the goods were not as described, the complainant could sue the supplier for breach of contract.
To honour the contract they need to supply with with goods of equal quality to that was agreed.

Perhaps the Executive Office should be your next step before proceeding to the courts. Keep your claim reasonable. A TV with the same spec as ordered or keep the TV received along with suitable compensation.

System

You can have your money back or you can pick a TV for up to £50 more than you have already paid.. Both valid responses under consumer law. With those choices on the table then an attempt to sue for breach of contract would probably end up with the OP having to pay their own costs as reasonable remedies have been put forward and rejected (assuming that that course of action is winnable)

TakeThis

!!!!!! wrote: »

You can have your money back or you can pick a TV for up to £50 more than you have already paid.. Both valid responses under consumer law. With those choices on the table then an attempt to sue for breach of contract would probably end up with the OP having to pay their own costs as reasonable remedies have been put forward and rejected (assuming that that course of action is winnable)

I disagree. Simply refunding the money does not include the provision for recompense and a release from the contract and if a TV that costs £50 more does not provide the function of the TV that was included in the contracted purchase, neither can be considered as a release from a valid contract.

The retailer would be wise to accede to a reasonable request from the buyer in order to make them whole.
Days off, time spent on the telephone... These are billable costs.

System

From the Argos site

Acceptance of your order and the completion of the contract between you and us will take place on despatch to you of the products ordered

It could be argued that as they have never dispatched the model that the OP wanted/ordered then the order has not been accepted and no contract exists.

ukrobuk1984

I had that TV delivered after my old TV took up smoking.
When I got the Hitachi, noticed it only had half the HDMI connections, no Ethernet and and used double the power and looked nothing like the photo. I powered it up and the picture was awful very blurry and gaming gave me a headache, could not handle anything that moved fast and the channel guide looked like old style teletext
Used it for a week but Argos have now collected it and got a refund including the delivery.
Now got a Panasonic plasma superb picture and was only £50 extra, you should have a look at a Panasonic P42G30B, think it had 4 HDMI and loads of extra's, though only 42inch

MrandMrsV

Thanks for all your replys! We have now had the TV returned and got a refund, argos were very unhelpful throughout all of our contact they are refunding the delivery charge but not compensating us for all the phone calls we made and time we took off work etc. We have now gone to richer sounds and bought a new Sony TV they were extremely helpful there and the TV is exactly what we wanted, would highly reccomend them! Thanks again! :-)