Argos Replacement Cover ... Lost receipt

Ultramum

Hi all

Here's my story so far ... Any ideas of the next step would be very gratefully received.

I bought an Actifry in Dec 2011 at Argos for £119.99 together with Replacement Product Care at £23.99, as I am aware that many die before three years are up.

Last night it died :-(

I used Click and Collect and have the email with the date on it which narrows the date down to either 22nd or 23rd Dec 2011.

We have checked our receipts folder and have various Argos receipts and RPC folders with receipts attached ... Going back to the year 2000 in some cases and also for items that went to the tip years ago BUT no receipt for the Actifry and its cover. We can only assume that in the hurly burly of Christmas the receipt got mislaid.

No problem we thought as we have the credit card statement showing payment to Argos of £143.98 and a copy of the Click and Collect email showing that the Actifry was £119.99 at that time. Rang Argos head office and they said 'No problem. Go to the store where you bought it with the credit card, they can call up their records and all will be hunky dory' or words to that effect.

Went down to the shop today with the card and statement ... No record of sale on that card. They said it must have been on hubby's card as it is a joint credit card. Rang hubby to check if it was his but all the details were exactly the same so still no record of a sale by Argos to either card ever, despite the card statement showing the debit. It is the same card, as it was valid at that time and only runs out this summer.

Argos say that they cannot do anything under the replacement care without the receipt details. I say I have a contract with them under the Sale of Goods Act and proof of payment via the credit card receipt.

Hubby is going to ring the credit card company tonight to see if we can get a date and time for the transaction from them and go back to Argos with that information for them to check their systems.

If that fails or we cannot get enough info for them to find the transaction what do we do next?

Thanks in advance

Eve

wealdroam

As far as the Sale of Goods Act is concerned, a credit card statement is an acceptable proof of purchase.

The extended warranty that you appear to have purchased is in addition to your statutory rights and as such can include extra terms.

If the extended warranty terms say that you must show the receipt, then that is what you must do.

I've just checked, and from Argos' Replacement Product Care Terms & Conditions:

HOW TO ASK FOR A REPLACEMENT

Return to the store with your product, this document and the purchase receipts for both your plan and your product to ask for a replacement.

(my emphasis)

Anything over and above that will depend on any goodwill the seller might like to offer.

marliepanda

2 and a half years later you are reliant on their own policy. All your CC shows is that you bought something, unless they can narrow it down.

SOGA would mean you need to prove the fault after 6 months was inherent when you bought it, hard after 2.5 years. Have you approached the manufacturer at all? They may be able to help, but right now you have no proof of anything.

CynicalScotsman

In a previous life I used to work for argos;

Do you remember (longshot) if you used the quick-pay kiosks?

As this would be important as to what system would be used to check your records - default is not to check the quick pay system as it is a pain in the a** and if you are relatively new to the company you wont have much knowledge of the archaic background payment system used for them.

mattyprice4004

You have no rights to use the replacement cover if you've lost the receipt, as mentioned it's in the T&Cs above.
The best you can rely on is SOGA, but you'll have a fight on your hands I'd imagine.

Ultramum

Thanks for all your helpful messages ... after speaking to the credit card company last night they were ready and willing to open up a dispute with Argos regarding the payment if Argos continued to be unhelpful.

So I rang Argos HO again today and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, and speaking to managers and checking of the catalogue number, model number and serial number they came up with the option of a gift card for the original purchase price of £119.99.

So we have had use of an Actifry for two plus years for £23.99 and, as I have just got news of one on offer via my SW club for £99.99, that now reduces to £3.99 for the two plus years.

(And if I buy it on my Nationwide credit card we can get an extra year's warranty so I am possibly better off than if I had found the receipt :rotfl:)

CynicalScotsman ... it was the quick pay kiosks ... but in one of my many conversations I was told that they only keep transaction records for 18/12 anyway ??? ... which I suggested was a little bit unwise when they were selling three year replacement cover ...