Help regarding fit for sale

feygan

Hoping someone can shed some light on an issue for me. I am thinking of buying a running shoe due to a price reduction but worried about the quality of the brand and hoping this will fall under this act and how to go about it.

The shoe in question is a trail shoe and like others in this group meant for running out on rough forest trails and on occasions even mountainsides. Top name brands of this type of shoe retail at around the £90-110 price range with a few elite models going up to £150. There is little difference in how long each last only things such as weight reduction and custom fits etc. But all top brand shoes will happily last around 500-700 miles before they suffer damage and perhaps another 200 miles before needing replaced.

The retailer I am considering has a brand of trail shoe that they advertise as a rrp of around £70-£120. This is now on a "massive" reduction to the £25-£35 bracket. Now I like to consider myself no fool and fully understand that this brand is owned by the retailer so they get these products at cost price. In addition it is likely this is an end of line sale to shift old stock before the new price hiked model comes out.

However it is a bargin price if they can at least hold up for a couple of hundred miles or so, or at least as a spare set of shoes. I doubt this would be the case though, considering the rrp of this shoe is it fair to assume they should be able to do at least 300-500 miles before suffering damage when comparing them to other brands?

If this is the case how to I ensure I am protected when buying these? I understand I need to ask some specific questions related to my intended use of this product but do I need some form of proof of that conversation? What stops the retailer saying "well you never asked us if they can do this and that"?

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

bris

You get what you pay for, even if it is claimed to be on sale you can take that with a pinch of salt. You will get a budget £25 pair of trainers, expect them to fall apart.

vuvuzela

This is, I take it, Sports Direct. And their stuff is reasonable value at what it sells for, ignore the RRPs which seem to be done 'creatively'. If you want a '500 mile' shoe, buy a decent one, not one of these which will be more form than function.

feygan

While I appreciate the views I generally don't want to waste time reading replies to things not relevant to the question. All I am interested in is how this issue is directly effected by the fit for sale act and how to ensure I make a purchase that is enforceable under that act. Opinions and speculations on who the company is and value for money are of no interest to me.

Bantex_2

feygan wrote: »

While I appreciate the views I generally don't want to waste time reading replies to things not relevant to the question. All I am interested in is how this issue is directly effected by the fit for sale act and how to ensure I make a purchase that is enforceable under that act. Opinions and speculations on who the company is and value for money are of no interest to me.

Fit for use takes the price paid into account. Expect no more protection than you would get for any other £25.00 shoe.

Are you always this rude with people who are trying to help?

feygan

How does that relate to items on sale? I can understand if the product was originally being sold at £25 then it should compare with other £25 products. But if it was originally sold at £70+ then how does the fit for sale act allow a sudden drop in quality and reliability of the product by way the sale price? Should it not be still comparable to other products that were sold at £70+ before the sale reduction?

Bantex_2

feygan wrote: »

How does that relate to items on sale? I can understand if the product was originally being sold at £25 then it should compare with other £25 products. But if it was originally sold at £70+ then how does the fit for sale act allow a sudden drop in quality and reliability of the product by way the sale price? Should it not be still comparable to other products that were sold at £70+ before the sale reduction?

It will be based on price paid.
As said before, most of these reductions are just a marketing exercise, there is nothing in the legislation that says they have to have sold any at the higher price.

OlliesDad

No - Sales of Goods Act makes no reference to RRP's.. just the price paid.

It does still need to last a reasonable time and be of satisfactory quality.. however the reasonable time and quality will be less than of a £120 shoe.

mattyprice4004

feygan wrote: »

While I appreciate the views I generally don't want to waste time reading replies to things not relevant to the question. All I am interested in is how this issue is directly effected by the fit for sale act and how to ensure I make a purchase that is enforceable under that act. Opinions and speculations on who the company is and value for money are of no interest to me.

There is no 'fit for sale act', you're going to be relying on the Sale Of Goods Act.

vuvuzela

feygan wrote: »

While I appreciate the views I generally don't want to waste time reading replies to things not relevant to the question. All I am interested in is how this issue is directly effected by the fit for sale act and how to ensure I make a purchase that is enforceable under that act. Opinions and speculations on who the company is and value for money are of no interest to me.

There is no 'fit for sale' act. The name of the retailer is entirely relevant if they have a tendency to set possibly unrealistically high RRPs of the items they sell. If you buy a £25 pair of trainers from them, you are buying a £25 pair, NOT a £70 pair. Therefore you would expect the lifespan of a £25 pair.
Maybe you should lose a bit of the attitude if you are genuinely requesting help from people...

feygan

Does this also apply if the company has sold the product at a higher price before? I do not mean just the rrp listed but this being a sale price of a marked shelf price from a couple of months previous. In this situation should the product be up to the quality of a product that was also sold at the previous price at the same time or of the same quality of a product that is sold elsewhere at this new sale price?

I'm struggling to understand how the protection offered under a "price paid" can be effected by a sale reduction from a previous shelf price and how a product can suddenly be deemed for example half the quality today as it was yesterday simply by placing a 50% sale sticker on it.