Refund after product not demonstrated?

yeknodano

Hello, I'm new to this community so apologies if my post doesn't make sense or is in the wrong place.

I recently bought a mid-range smartphone SIM-free from an independent retailer that sells phones on behalf of a well-known brand. I'd done a fair bit of research on the phone before I went to the shop so I was quite excited when I saw it in real life. It was the last one they had, had been in the display cabinet, and wasn't charged up. Anyway, after seeing it, I knew I wanted it, despite not seeing it working - and since it was a business expense, I was happy to go for it and pay up front.

However, after getting it home and charging it up, I realised the screen resolution and performance were less than what I was used to. Even though I had researched the specifications before buying, I didn't realise how disappointing the low resolution would be. Furthermore, the WiFi connection keeps dropping out, so I guess that could also be regarded as a fault.

My question is this: Am I entitled to full refund because I wasn't able to see a demonstration of the product first? The retailer has indicated he is willing to take it back, but for a 20% "restocking fee".

bris

Unless you can demonstrate the wifi dropping out is a hardware issue and not a connection one then no, you are not entitled to a refund.
As you say you did your research before you bought it, you should have did it better.

yeknodano

Fair enough. I was just asking, no need for the attitude.

Dogger69

yeknodano wrote: »

Fair enough. I was just asking, no need for the attitude.

I'm sorry, I don't see any attitude - bris simply answered your question.

bobwilson

Dogger69 wrote: »

I'm sorry, I don't see any attitude - bris simply answered your question.

Apology accepted. "you should have did it better" I think was the attitude he was referring to.

As a side note, this is an interesting topic because it's impossible to find out truly how a product performs no matter how much research you do, unless you have the product in your hands.

yeknodano

Yep, sorry - I took your comment the wrong way...

Thanks for your reply too, Bob. That's my point. I was wondering whether a shop is obliged to show you the product in action before you buy. Then again, I suppose if they didn't have a working/charged up model they could show me, then I should have agreed to come back when they did - which would have been a lesson to them...

lincroft1710

yeknodano wrote: »

I was wondering whether a shop is obliged to show you the product in action before you buy. Then again, I suppose if they didn't have a working/charged up model they could show me, then I should have agreed to come back when they did - which would have been a lesson to them...

No obligation whatsoever.

It may be possible for a retailer to demonstrate some items but for certain items it is just totally impracticable.

Money-Saving-King

yeknodano wrote: »

I was wondering whether a shop is obliged to show you the product in action before you buy.

Where on earth would that start and end? Can you imagine it in a busy Supermarket, would you end up having to show a product like Veet in action for example?

paddyrg

Alas, as you've discovered, there is no onus on the vendor to do this. In fact when they have demo units on display in most shops, they're empty plastic cases with a printed display and a strip of scrap steel inside giving as unrealistic a demo of functionality as you can get!

If the vendor will accept the phone back with a restocking charge, plus you still need a new phone, how about you do a deal for them to eliminate or reduce the restocking charge if you take a different handset instead? For instance if you found whichever model you liked lacked in screen capability and that's important for your business use, you could get a Samsung galaxy s4 or note2, both of which have fantastic screens. And yes, you certainly can use them for business use too, very powerful, top of the market devices.

ILW

Money-Saving-King wrote: »

Where on earth would that start and end? Can you imagine it in a busy Supermarket, would you end up having to show a product like Veet in action for example?

Or Preperation H?

bcl999

ILW wrote: »

Or Preperation H?

Yeah - there'd be piles of people waiting for a demo.