Staples - bizarre returns saga

vikinggreen

I bought an HP printer (costing £90) at the very end of May. I spent over £250 that day and the store manager said that I was therefore entitled to a two year extended warranty free of charge, over and above the HP warranty of one year. Jolly good.

Within 4 weeks text began to go missing on the page and a couple of days later it was only producing blank pages. I changed the black cartridge and did all the usual cleaning but it made no difference at all.

My husband returned it to the store, with the receipt, and requested a refund. They refused a refund, insisting that all that was wrong was that the cartridges were empty. (Funny how they all died at the same moment then ...)

They insisted that my husband pay for a new black cartridge (£10.00 or thereabouts) so they could test it out. Somehow the black ink came back to life, so they then made him buy a colour cartridge (another £10.00) to test that. None of the colours would print so they finally admitted that something was wrong and that the machine had to be returned to HP for repair. He was given no refund for the new cartridges.

Two weeks later we got a call to say that HP don't bother repairing these printers (surprise!) and they had sent a new machine for us to collect from the store.

Four weeks later, and exactly the same thing happened to the new printer - it printed 2 pages and went blank half way down the 3rd page. No more print, black or colour.

I returned it to the store, told the manager the history and said I wanted a refund and to buy a different printer.

He said something along the lines of (I really didn't get this bit) that he would have to call the warranty line and I would need to tell them that I had accidentally damaged the printer.

I refused flatly to lie to anyone and quoted the Sale of Goods Act 1979, not fit for purpose, etc. He said that only applied to returns within the first 30 days. (Grrrrr....)

I asked how long he expected a printer to last and the reply was "sometimes as much as 10 years, or at least 3 years". Needless to say I pointed out that therefore 4 weeks was hardly comparable!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, after more quoting of the law from me he looked something up on screen and "made an exception", refunded me and helped me to choose a new (Epson) printer. He was very polite throughout and I have no gripes about how he handled it in the end, but:

1. What was going on with the warranty?

2. Surely a branch manager of such a huge company, selling electricals that can and do go wrong, should have at least heard of the Sale of Goods Act?

3. Why does Staples have such bizarre approach to returns of faulty goods? £20 on wasted cartridges, two weeks without a printer, 3 return journeys of 15 miles ... all for something that cost £89.99 and they saw with their own eyes was faulty ...

Oh, and if anyone from Staples sees this, I have tried to email you but your website refuses to accept the message, saying "Comments is not valid" (sic), and no, I am not going to call your premium rate phone number to complain.

Sorry for the rant everyone , but running your own business for 2 weeks without a printer is a pain in the a***.

arcon5

Due to the length of time you've had the goods the sales of goods act does not exactly entitle you to a refund. So you are wrong thinking it does at this stage of the Purchase. It does though entitle you to a 'remedy' which can be a repair or replacement - they can also effectively choose the most cost effective remedy to them.

I suspect had you asked to exchange for a different model rather than a refund they would have been more forthcoming. I know you said you wanted a refund tHen choose a different one, but this usuall translates to 'I want a refund to go and shop elsewhere'

somethingcorporate

What I find surprising is that you bought a second printer from them when they gave you a refund!

Surely you should have learned a lesson from that first saga?

vikinggreen

arcon5 wrote: »

Due to the length of time you've had the goods the sales of goods act does not exactly entitle you to a refund. So you are wrong thinking it does at this stage of the Purchase.

The first printer lasted exactly 30 days! The second one took two weeks arrive and lasted just more than 30 days.

I suspect had you asked to exchange for a different model rather than a refund they would have been more forthcoming. I know you said you wanted a refund tHen choose a different one, but this usuall translates to 'I want a refund to go and shop elsewhere'

I asked specifically for a refund because the manager kept talking about " a replacement". I told him that I would not accept another machine of the same model but I wanted to buy a different machine there and then.

In that sense it was not a refund, but I was very wary of the term "replacement" because that took us back to the discussion about this bizarre warranty issue. It seemed that if I agreed to a replacement I was liable to get the same model all over again.

justifier

try emailing customerservices@staples.co.uk

vikinggreen

Thanks, justifier. I will try that. I did look for an email address on the website earlier but there isn't one. Hence the failed attempt to email a complaint via the online form.

If anyone who understands what has gone here can help in the meantime I would be most grateful.

paddedjohn

Since this was bought for a business, arent there different rules to soga?

roddydogs

Its well known that new printers only have a small amount of ink, and if its the type with built in heads, once they dry out it can be a hell of a job to clear.
You are unlikely to have better luck with Epson, in my experience they are notorious for the heads clogging.

vikinggreen

paddedjohn wrote: »

Since this was bought for a business, arent there different rules to soga?

Apparently the SOGA applies to businesses unless there is a contract that specifies otherwise:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1074405660&type=RESOURCES

The same test of "fit for purpose" applies.

Its well known that new printers only have a small amount of ink, and if its the type with built in heads, once they dry out it can be a hell of a job to clear.
You are unlikely to have better luck with Epson, in my experience they are notorious for the heads clogging.

Do you have any other suggestions to make, roddydogs?

shaun_from_Africa

The same test of "fit for purpose" applies.

True, but Staples might argue that the purpose of a fairly cheap printer (less than £90) is for occasional home use and not for use in a business environment where it may well get used far in excess of what an average consumer would use it for.

There may also be something in the HP warranty that states that for certain items, cover is only in place for non business use. (not that it matters here as the HP warranty didn't come into play)

vikinggreen

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

True, but Staples might argue that the purpose of a fairly cheap printer (less than £90) is for occasional home use and not for use in a business environment where it may well get used far in excess of what an average consumer would use it for.

That depends how big the business is! This is tiny, but I just need to be able to print out 8 - 10 pages 3 times a week. Without the prints the business can't function, but it's hardly placing unnecessary demands on the printer. My kids print out more than that for their homework each week.

There may also be something in the HP warranty that states that for certain items, cover is only in place for non business use. (not that it matters here as the HP warranty didn't come into play)

I really don't think that is likely. What about a bloke who does landscape gardening and needs to print out a dozen invoices a year for his business? Is he supposed to buy a bigger/better printer than a school or college student printing reams each week?