aldi will not accept faulty goods

aggypanthus

Aldi have twice (2 visits to the shop) refused to deal with my complaint with a faulty electrical item, value around £60 . They insist their policy is a 60 day returns regardless, and tell me to contact the manufacturer direct.
I know this incorrect in law, but what shall I do next?

wealdroam

Next you should read MSE's How to Complain article.

Particularly the bit Step-by-step complaining help.

In there you will find that your next step is to write a letter, but read the article for more detail.

InsideInsurance

Write to their UK head office.

vuvuzela

Obviously your rights are with the retailer, but have you contacted the manufacturer and if so, what did they say ?

aggypanthus

Thanks for the replies everyone.
No, havent yet contacted the manufacturer as I am too stubborn to be forced to take this route. I do actually want a replacement , not a refund.

vuvuzela

aggypanthus wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone.
No, havent yet contacted the manufacturer as I am too stubborn to be forced to take this route. I do actually want a replacement , not a refund.

So, you're stubborn and sticking to your principles.
So are Aldi.

Contact the manufacturer and if you have a proof of purchase, I am sure they will sort it for you. This way will be the quickest and easiest. There are battles that are winnable when you enforce your rights. And then there are ones that can be easily circumvented. This one seems to be the latter.

rustyboy21

Stubborness can be a bad thing when they may not have the product available again to swap it over for you.

Aldi buy end of line, special purchase items, that is why they are cheap.

They also buy product with out a guarantee from the manufacturers, so getting the manufacturer to sort it out, may come out with you losing out.

Best idea would be to contact Aldi HO and ask them to sort it out. They may be able to direct you to a store who have one left and swap it, with HO authorisation. Otherwise ask for a refund. They have to cover your statutory rights, but can choose which route to go down, you cannot force them to swop.

aggypanthus

Thank you both again, I had a rethink and called the makers, and had a good result, so hoping to get replacement parts posted to me, easily fixed fom then.
Yes it makes sense , what you advised V x

unholyangel

rustyboy21 wrote: »

They also buy product with out a guarantee from the manufacturers, so getting the manufacturer to sort it out, may come out with you losing out.

You sure about that part? Every item I've bought has came with a standard 3 or 5 year manufacturers warranty.

On the rare occasion something has went wrong, we've never had to pay out even 1 penny.

rustyboy21

unholyangel wrote: »

You sure about that part? Every item I've bought has came with a standard 3 or 5 year manufacturers warranty.

On the rare occasion something has went wrong, we've never had to pay out even 1 penny.

A lot of retailers now purchase electrical items now without any form of warranty, this is so they can get a good price and make a decent margin out of it, even selling as a special purchase item.

Asda are renowned for it. I worked there ayears back and most of the products were bought without a warranty. Most of the time, we swapped product over, if it was possible to get , say a TV repaired cheaply by say homeserve, then we woud do that. Most of the time, we would swap the item or if needed do a refund, if the consumer kicked off.

The same now with my own business. I can buy some end of line fires at say £50. I sell them on at £150, depends on what I think I can get for them. They come with no warranty from the manufacturer. If I have an issue with one, I can either swap the product, refund or exchange it. To get the engineers out from the company, would cost me £99.00, so it is not worth me doing it.

The number you sell at a greater margin, covers you for any issues you may have with one or two of them.
Most retailers work this way esp supermarkets. Most of the products are bought via wholesalers anyway, so Aldi are most likely not even dealing with most of the manufacturers, especiallly their own brand Workstation range.

unholyangel

Like I said, are you sure about your earlier statement?

There has actually been dozens of threads on here about Aldi being one of the "contact the manufacturer, its nothing to do with us" companies.

I know the practice you're referring to, where basically the retailer "buys out" the warranty from the manufacturer. But from personal experience, Aldi's products are always covered by a manufacturers warranty and the manufacturer has always dealt with it at no cost to myself. Heck one of them (Medion - a German company) have always went above and beyond my expectations. Replacing instead of repairing or after an online upgrade failed and I had to email them to process it....I shouldve paid for it but they gave me it for free.