Tonight's Watchdog "Consumer Victory"

MamaMoo_2

Am I the only one who thought that had little/nothing to do with DSRs? They introduced the bit as a consumer who had used the DSRs to his advantage, but he didn't?
For those who didn't watch...
Man receives faulty laptop from Acer direct.
Man phones up and complains.
Acer direct agree to look into it and pick up the laptop.
Acer direct claim no fault. Offer a refund under their no quibble policy which includes deductions of collection price and 10% restocking fee.
Man emails CEO saying not happy, and mentions something vague about DSRs.
Acer direct retest machine, find fault, refund fully.

Seems a bit iffy really. Firstly, surely for faulty items you use SOGA? Secondly, IIRC it didn't say how long he left it to cancel, but after sending it off etc. but he may have actually been out of the DSR return period by this point...
IMO, he likely got the refund as a result of copying in the CEO and the CEO's office decided to refund just to get rid of him.

Not the best example of how to use DSRs anyway...

arcon5

MamaMoo wrote: »

Am I the only one who thought that had little/nothing to do with DSRs? They introduced the bit as a consumer who had used the DSRs to his advantage, but he didn't?
For those who didn't watch...
Man receives faulty laptop from Acer direct.
Man phones up and complains.
Acer direct agree to look into it and pick up the laptop.
Acer direct claim no fault. Offer a refund under their no quibble policy which includes deductions of collection price and 10% restocking fee.
Man emails CEO saying not happy, and mentions something vague about DSRs.
Acer direct retest machine, find fault, refund fully.

Seems a bit iffy really. Firstly, surely for faulty items you use SOGA? Secondly, IIRC it didn't say how long he left it to cancel, but after sending it off etc. but he may have actually been out of the DSR return period by this point...
IMO, he likely got the refund as a result of copying in the CEO and the CEO's office decided to refund just to get rid of him.

Not the best example of how to use DSRs anyway...

Agreed, DSRs don't even come in to this. But then some of these so called consumer programs do seem to have been produced by monkeys, wouldn't be the first time they've got it all wrong.

frugal_mike

I thought exactly the same thing when I watched it. They made it sound like the DSR's will solve all problems, so no doubt we'll get a few posts on here from people upset at being rejected because 7 working days had passed. They also implied that the DSR would stop him having to pay return costs which is not necessarily true.

But what can you expect when they had a rather large segment about a cereal changing recipe, which isn't a consumer rights issue.

iclayt

I thought that too and the only stuff I know about DSRs is the little bits I've read on here! I took it as "They wouldn't refund because they couldn't find a fault...then they would, because they found a fault...hooray for DSRs!". Hmm...

Pollycat

I haven't watched that episode of Watchdog but all these consumer programmes (Watchdog, Martin Lewis Show etc) do the same i.e. feature somebody who has a story to tell that has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue being reported.

It's sloppy journalism, imho.
I think they have some junior researcher who is clueless about what the real issue is and just finds somebody with a usually sensationalist experience to relate.

It reflects badly on the presenters.
I often think "I'd never stand up and spout that load of rubbish".

paddyrg

ALL TV is entertainment first and foremost. Stories are penned by interned researchers, not lawyers. Far more important than accuracy on details is the emotional arc of the segment (boohoo/protest/success/pride).

unholyangel

Not the first time they've misrepresented the DSRs tbh. There was one last year with a sewing machine.

pulliptears

I was more fuming at the lack of information about the man who bought the broken helicopter from eBay.
Nowhere did they mention that he could have filed with PayPal for a full refund, they just said he wasn't protected because DSR's don't apply on eBay.....

Slowhand

pulliptears wrote: »

I was more fuming at the lack of information about the man who bought the broken helicopter from eBay.
Nowhere did they mention that he could have filed with PayPal for a full refund, they just said he wasn't protected because DSR's don't apply on eBay.....

It was totally cocked up from start to finish.

MamaMoo_2

pulliptears wrote: »

I was more fuming at the lack of information about the man who bought the broken helicopter from eBay.
Nowhere did they mention that he could have filed with PayPal for a full refund, they just said he wasn't protected because DSR's don't apply on eBay.....

IIRC, it was a private sale and the DSRs don't apply to those. However, as you say, in this case PayPal offer buyer protection.
Incredibly lacking in quite a lot of information really.
Not once did they mention what the time period for returning under DSRs is, just that there is one. Why not give full information? Why not make the piece USEFUL.
Honestly, the guy probably only got the refund because he copied in the CEO.
In his case, legally, he could have returned under DSRs if he was within the right time frames, or he could have used the SOGA route, which, as Acer were denying any fault would be:

Get laptop back
Have laptop independently inspected
Write LBA asking for full refund inc any shipping costs, the cost of the report and any other provable losses.
If no reply/no satisfactory reply received, take company to court.

pulliptears

MamaMoo wrote: »

IIRC, it was a private sale and the DSRs don't apply to those. However, as you say, in this case PayPal offer buyer protection.
Incredibly lacking in quite a lot of information really.
Not once did they mention what the time period for returning under DSRs is, just that there is one. Why not give full information? Why not make the piece USEFUL.
Honestly, the guy probably only got the refund because he copied in the CEO.
In his case, legally, he could have returned under DSRs if he was within the right time frames, or he could have used the SOGA route, which, as Acer were denying any fault would be:

Get laptop back
Have laptop independently inspected
Write LBA asking for full refund inc any shipping costs, the cost of the report and any other provable losses.
If no reply/no satisfactory reply received, take company to court.

It was a private sale, but the bit after gave the impression that DSR's didn't apply to eBay full stop, which is certainly not true.

To not mention he'd have had comeback with Paypal was lacking, and as you say to not even mention the basics of DSR's was pointless. It just seemed like something cobbled together to fill 3 minutes of programming.

I frequently find myself annoyed at Watchdog though, lack of information and more often than not stating the bleeding obvious. Its a joke most of the time.