faulty goods,no refund after 14 days?

locustbean

Please help! I bought a tablet for my father for Xmas from ideal world. Ordered on Nov 3. He opened it on Xmas day and plugged it in to charge. Connection is very loose in tablet and therefore the tablet won't charge properly,it only reaches around 9%. I contacted ideal world who said that as it was not returned in the 1st 14 days they will not refund my money but I can send it back to them to be repaired. Are they legally allowed to refuse me a refund?

wealdroam

locustbean wrote: »

Please help! I bought a tablet for my father for Xmas from ideal world. Ordered on Nov 3. He opened it on Xmas day and plugged it in to charge. Connection is very loose in tablet and therefore the tablet won't charge properly,it only reaches around 9%. I contacted ideal world who said that as it was not returned in the 1st 14 days they will not refund my money but I can send it back to them to be repaired. Are they legally allowed to refuse me a refund?

Yes, they are... if we assume you have already accepted the thing.

It is debatable whether you have accepted the goods or not.

Have a read of MSE's Consumer Rights guide for more detail.

spacey2012

EU directive 1999/44/EC gives you good additional rights to sale of goods act.

frugal_mike

spacey2012 wrote: »

EU directive 1999/44/EC gives you good additional rights to sale of goods act.

Does it? As far as I was aware European Directives don't give anyone any rights, but rather are instructions to member states to create a law that meets the terms of the directive.

Anyway, I just read the directive and it seems to be a lesser version of the Sale of Goods Act. It doesn't have the concept of Acceptance, and the consumer never has the right of a refund unless a repair or replacement can't or won't be offered.

I'd say the Sale of Goods Act is more consumer friendly than the EU Directive required.

frugal_mike

Just to expand on wealdroam's post, the Sale of Goods Act defines the concept of Acceptance. You are deemed to have accepted goods that you buy either when

• You tell the seller you accept them
• You do something that is incompatible with the sellers continued ownership of the goods
• A reasonable time has passed.

Before acceptance occurs you are entitled to a full refund if the goods don't conform to contract (for example if they're faulty). After acceptance occurs you can ask for a refund, but the seller can repair or replace if that would be cheaper for them.

So in your case the question is, has acceptance occurred? Normally if you had bought something many weeks ago acceptance would almost certainly have occurred long before now, however with it being Christmas it is possible that a judge might think it reasonable for acceptance not to occur until after Christmas for presents bought a reasonable time before Christmas (say mid-november maybe).

It's also possible that a judge would rule that it being a Christmas present is irrelevant and you have accepted the item because the time that has passed is more than reasonable.

If you are deemed to have accepted the goods then the retailer is within its rights to offer a repair or replacement instead of a refund.

neilmcl

spacey2012 wrote: »

EU directive 1999/44/EC gives you good additional rights to sale of goods act.

Don't talk nonsense.