Littlewoods sale contract.

embie

Hi I need some advice from someone smarter than me!
I've had a quick look through and although there is probably this question answered fro someone else I've not been able to find it so here goes..

I recently bought a Vax carpet washer from my littlewoods account on BNPL terms. 2 days outside of the 28 day guarantee I finally get a chance to use it (we was decorating the room that I needed to use it on first so it wasn't ready before this time) and after less than 10 mins of use the (nearly £300 washer) starts to smell of burning and throwing out clouds of black smoke that then set off all my smoke detectors! I phoned littlewoods who said (this is the first person I spoke to anyways!) "I have to phone Vax to get a return code before I can get a refund"
I have a vague idea of consumer rights stuff from my old retail management job (lots of years ago now so quite rusty) so questioned why I had to call Vax when my contract was with littlewoods. I was told this was their procedure and if I called the number I could get a refund.

Long story short and lots of (chargable) phone calls later Vax don't deal with returns and no one at LW has any record of my call concerning being told I could have a refund if I called Vax. After some harsh words (from both sides! Very bad customer service there btw!) I was told they won't refund only repair or replace. Fine I'll take a replacement then.

Now they are telling me that I have to call ANOTHER 0845 number to get vax to do an "over the phone diagnostic" to decide wether they can repair ir or replace it and that

"We have an agreement in place with third parties and manufacturers to provide helpline numbers for our customers to call. If they have an issue with their product as this will save time in you returning the item to us for us to the forward the item to them to inspect. We are within our rights to do this and state this in our terms and conditions."

Am I wrong in thinking I bought this blooming thing from Littlewoods therefore as it is clearly not 'of satisfactory quality' they should have to sort out what to do with it and not me? I don't even care about a refund I just want a washer that works!

If you made it this far thanks for reading and I look forward to your help

thedalmeny

Unfortunately Shop Direct Group as a whole don't have a fondness for consumer rights...

They own Littlewoods... And Very, even though i had only just received my item i still was forced to contact manufacturer. They are... A bit of a joke.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4773711

embie

Urgh! I was hoping it was just me they were being funny with (although I don't know why I have been a LW customer for years and have built up a £10K credit limit with them so I can't be that bad a customer.) How the hell do they get away with it!

Cycrow

as its within 6 months of purchase, its up to the retailer to sort out.

but they can inspect the item to determine the fault.
This would usually be by sending it back to the manufacture to check.

i guess it could be quicker for you to confirm the fault over the phone rather than wait for it to be sent back and checked. (so some advantage for you)
But they really should be sorting it out instead of getting you to.


you could insist that it gets sent back for them to check, and legally you will be within your rights to do so

embie

Cycrow wrote: »

as its within 6 months of purchase, its up to the retailer to sort out.

but they can inspect the item to determine the fault.
This would usually be by sending it back to the manufacture to check.

i guess it could be quicker for you to confirm the fault over the phone rather than wait for it to be sent back and checked. (so some advantage for you)
But they really should be sorting it out instead of getting you to.


you could insist that it gets sent back for them to check, and legally you will be within your rights to do so

Thanks that's all I want them to do but they are insisting I HAVE to phone this number to organise it all myself as it "will save time" for me to do it rather than them? I know it's cutting my nose off to spite my face but I told them it's on BNPL terms so I don't mind the wait so they can arrange to collect it and send it on! They've gone very quiet now though so it probably won't happen! I just point blank refuse to keep spending money on phone calls to be put on hold for 20 minutes (sometimes more!) so I use their Facebook team who are usually incredibly efficient and helpful and are ALWAYS more courteous than the call centre staff! So have to give them some credit there although they've not come through for me this time but at least they are free to contact!

I guess I may have to bite the bullet and call the number! I just hate admitting defeat (especially when I'm right!)

Cycrow

althou its true that it might save you time, they cant force you to do it.

its upto them to prove that its not an inherent problem, and its at thier expensive to do so.

if you really dont want to call, you could try writing to head office. Will only cost you the price of a stamp.

Its possible the people on the end of the phone are simply following a script and dont actually know any different.

thedalmeny

Report it to Citizens Advice;

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/extra/contact.cfm?frmAlias=/contact/

They'll raise it with Trading Standards.

It's what i've just done.