Please Help Me.

saver03

I am sorry if this is not the right place to post this.

I bought a bracelet from Vivienne Westwood for £180, expensive I know!! I only wore it on the occassional weekend as I am not allowed to wear jewellery for work. Anyway, it had like a charm thing on it and it just fell off after about 4 months, thankfully I was in the house at the time. I took the braclet back to the store and was told they would have to send it off to be fixed and a refund would not be possible as it had signs of wear. After it was fixed I wore it twice and the same thing happened again and luckily for me I was in the house again. I will be taking it back to the shop hopefully tomorrow and I want to know where I would stand about either getting a refund or even a credit note. I will be far to cautious to wear it outside in case I lose the charm and I paid too much for it not to be worn. I do still have the receipt and the original packaging.

Any advice would be greatly received.

The_Old_Bag

I don't know the legal position, but I would be steaming if I had paid that much money for an item which seems clearly not to be "fit for purpose".
If you have the receipt to prove the purchase date, what has "signs of wear" got to do with it. Most jewellry is meant to be worn isn't it ?!
Even th Queen gets the crown out occasionally to "wear" it !!!
Hopefully someone else will be able to advise you on the finer legal detail....if not I should imagine there is some on-line customer info on consumer rights.

You don't say who you spoke to the last time, but when you return, I would (try) to stay calm
Already have work out your "plan of campaign" so if your first plan fails you have a second, third and even fourth route already in your mind.
Ask to speak to the manager/owner or the shop.
Explain it has already been repaired after a refund/replacement was refused.
You don't wear the item every day, and fortunately the charm has been found when it has become detatched, within the house, BUT
You didn't buy the item to wear around the house only, nor to spend your time worrying that you were going to lose the charm.
The item is clearly not "fit for purpose" - either the whole design is at fault, or your particular item has a problem.......ask if anyone else has reported this happening !
If they insist it is sent away to be repaired again, I would insist that this time they give you a written understanding that if the same "fault" occurs they will either replace the item or refund the money.

If all this fails I suppose it depends on the store you bought it from, is it part of a national chain, if so contact the head office and kick up a stink.
Get the address of the manufacturer and kick up a stink.
Also this all depends on YOU.
How strongly do you feel about this ? Are you prepared to stand up to the store manager, and stand your ground .......this would be where KNOWLEGDE of your rights would give you confidence, and to be able to quote the consumer act of 199x etc, plus "I have taken advice.... and I think I have been reasonable, but now you have to ....."
Take a friend along with you, not necessarily for them to do the talking, but just for moral support.
Don't go in with all guns blazing ( which is probably what I would do ) but be firm, confident, have facts and figures to hand to show how much you paid and when, when it was repaired last time etc.
If they want the paperwork from you, let them take photocopies, but keep all your original papers yourself.

You never know, you may find this time they automatically offer a replacement, which is where it would benefit to start out nice and calm and chilled. Storming in ready for a confrontation may just get their backs up and be counter-productive.

Good luck, and as I say, hopefully someone else can fill you in on your LEGAL POSITION.

saver03

Hi thanks for the advice have not taken it back yet and could really do with some more help with what to do.