UNBEATABLE.CO.UK

Tony_H_3

Where to begin..... I purchased a Toshiba Rear Projection TV, which developed a fault. Projection TV's contain 3 coloured light's (Red Blue & Green). The green light no longer lines up with the others causing the picture to have a green hay's and is blurry. This TV is 8 weeks old and I contacted Toshiba to arrange for an engineer to come out and correct the fault, but they advised me that the seller "Unbeatable" should make the arrangements, so I telephoned them instead.

I spent the next 4 telehpone calls ringing Unbeatable and Toshiba in the hope that one of them would arrange an engineer to call. During this time I was checking the DTI website for consumer information and found that Unbeatable would be responsible, unless they were acting as an agent for Toshiba. When I put this to unbeatable they reluctantly said they would attempt to chase up Toshiba to arrange the repair.

I received a call "The first one" from Unbeatable to tell me that they had managed to arrange for an engineer to call. Shortly afterwards I received a call from a repair engineer company telling me they would be out Monday to check / repair the TV, 15 minutes later the same company calls me back to tell me they no longer do business with Unbeatable and can therefore not carry out the repair. By this time I have made many calls & have spent considerable time trying to arrange this repair and once again am left to contact Unbeatable for them to make alternative arrangements. They resolved their issues with the engineer and informed me that they would keep the Monday appointment. This is where the plot thickens.....

On Monday, today; the engineer calls and is trying to make the intermitent fault occur with no success. He is asking me about the way I use the set and I simply inform him of my annoyance of not being able to manually adjust the green as I had been doing with the red & blue. When he asked me about the red & blue I was left to explain to him that according to the manual the red & blue needed to be adjusted occassionally and this was what I was doing. At this point he concluded that the set was faulty at the time of sale simply because this shouldnt need to be done other than if the set is moved to another location or 9 / 12 months have elapsed.

I spoke with Trading Standards to clarify my rights based on what the engineer said. They were quite clear in the fact that Unbeatable have to either replace or offer a refund.

Upon speaking with Unbeatable they refused to do either other than have me send them the set for their engineers to test, at my expense. Mmmm, I am requesting compensation from them for my current inconveniences to date & they still want me to incur further costs. I have spoken with Trading Standards again and have mediated that Unbeatable will arrange collection and hopefully replacement but I have to ensure it is securely packaged. I have spent this morning attempting to find bubble wrap & cardboard but it seems as if this is disposed of daily by companies. I know where I can purchase bubble wrap, but finding suitable cardboard is more difficult.

I can't begin to describe my utter discust with Unbeatable for placing me in what seems like an impossible situation. They have basically told me I can whistle for any compensation, but I entend to take legal advise afterwards in order to seek finacial redress.

I am hoping that the "Toshiba Warehouse" will be able to provide suitable packaging.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Currently Unresolved.

16011996

thats crap, won't use them. good luck.

Daytona_nev

If you paid on credit card, speak to your issuer. You are protected under distance selling laws.

Arrange to have the TV sent back to them and then try to charge the transaction back. Tell your issuer they are refusing refund or repair.

Tony_H_3

I only wish Daytona, unfortunately it was financed but I am sending on details to them as per advise received from Trading Standards.

Daytona_nev

The finance company should be able to give them a kick up the !!!!!! though.

A friend on mine bought a car on finance which he had problems with. The garage didn't want to know & he got the finance company onto them which changed the garage's attitude quite drastically.

Tony_H_3

Yep, Trading Standards advised me to contact the finance company. They seemed quite helpful on the telephone & gave me an address to send the nature of my complaint to.

I spoke again to Toshiba and explained to them that I was thinking of contacting my local paper (They have a consumer section) and also the BBC's Watchdog. The advisor said, "yeah you go ahead" in a cynical type way. I went on to explain to her that I had spent most of yesturday driving around in attempt to find sufficient packaging with no luck. I went back to Unbeatable whom offered to sell me a second set & refund at a later date. Upon hearing this you could almost hear her jaw dropping. Toshiba are now attempting to source packaging.

If the worst comes to the worst I know where I can purchase bubble wrap, but I have know idea where to source a big cardboard box from??

16011996

my local tip are friendly, and will keep big boxes on one side for you if your moving etc, might be worth a try.

Tony_H_3

Thank-you for that "TIP", no seriously that's the one place I hadn't thought about & it will certainly be worth a look.

16011996

i am moving in a week, and when i went yesterday theyd saved me 20 odd boxes. i gave them box of teabags for there trouble (they have to buy there own so thought it as useful as anything) and some biccies. would have took me ages to get that many.

Tony_H_3

I have just received a call from the finance company whom tell me they have spoken with Unbeatable and they have agreed to send out a replacement TV and I should use the packaging from this to send back the faulty TV. So it's a step in the right direction and should free me from additional costs. I just hope that the replacement TV is & remains fault free or I will have to endure this situation again.

Is it right that Unbeatable should advise you to dispose of your packaging, then when things go wrong make it this difficult to get large goods returned?

16011996

no, but my theory has always been that if i kept all packaging i'd disappear under it all. ;D so pleased you're finally getting sorted.