Helium Canister with no helium?

claire_tucker89

Hey I need some urgent advice,

My company bought 2 helium canisters from Tesco for £28 each for an exhibition we were attending back in October. The canisters never had helium in there so we were never able to use it. We work in the solar industry so you can imagine, since then returning them was not high on our agendas.

I understand that Tesco have a 28 day return policy which is why I rang up the customer services and they explained that it is down to store discression. This store we attempted to return it to basically refused to believe that they sold us a faulty item.

As far as I was aware, having worked in retail for many years is whether the sale had lapsed 28 days or not, the store has to prove they the item is not faulty upon purchase if the item is less than 6 months old (which it is).

Opinions and ideas welcome please :-)

shaun_from_Africa

claire_tucker89 wrote: »

As far as I was aware, having worked in retail for many years is whether the sale had lapsed 28 days or not, the store has to prove they the item is not faulty upon purchase if the item is less than 6 months old (which it is).

Opinions and ideas welcome please :-)

The section of the SOGA that relates to this 6 month period doesn't apply in this instance as the purchase was for business use and not a consumer purchase.

The SOGA states that once you have purchased any goods, you are not deemed to have accepted them until you have had a reasonable time to examine them to confirm that they are not faulty, and Tesco would have a good case in stating that as it is 3-4 months since purchase, you have accepted the purchased goods.

bris

Seems a bit of a strange story no helium after such a long time, I can see why they refused to believe you. They will think the helium has been used and you are trying it on, getting one without helium, maybe, but two, does seem a bit far fetched.

claire_tucker89

If however it was for personal use, i.e: I had bought it would it still be the case?

claire_tucker89

bris wrote: »

Seems a bit of a strange story no helium after such a long time, I can see why they refused to believe you. They will think the helium has been used and you are trying it on, getting one without helium, maybe, but two, does seem a bit far fetched.

I don't think any person in their right mind would go to this amount of trouble to get free helium to be honest. Completely understand what you are saying however.

Meepster

claire_tucker89 wrote: »

If however it was for personal use, i.e: I had bought it would it still be the case?

Not really, no.

The whole 6 months thing applies to faulty items, whereas in your case it isn't faulty - something was missing instead.

Therefore you have a "reasonable amount of time" to inspect the goods (i.e. check that everything you purchased is intact) and reject the goods if found to be lacking.

Unfortunately 3 or 4 months is well outside what any court would consider a "reasonable amount of time"

I'm afraid you'll have to chalk this down to experience...

claire_tucker89

Meepster wrote: »

Not really, no.

The whole 6 months thing applies to faulty items, whereas in your case it isn't faulty - something was missing instead.

Therefore you have a "reasonable amount of time" to inspect the goods (i.e. check that everything you purchased is intact) and reject the goods if found to be lacking.

Unfortunately 3 or 4 months is well outside what any court would consider a "reasonable amount of time"

I'm afraid you'll have to chalk this down to experience...

So frustrating! I told them to take it back sooner, if I could have I would have but being paid by card I would have been no help at all. It basically means they have now wasted their money because they couldn't act any quicker.
Thanks anyway