28 day return policy

mcleanzoe

Help please. I bought something from Maplin and the receipt clearly says that within 28 days of purchase they will offer a refund.

I bought the item on Wednesday 9th April and I tried to return it on Wednesday 9th May. By my calculations this is within the 28 day period (exactly on day 28). However Maplin stated that the 7th May was day 29.

It appears that they count the day of purchase as day 1. This is not how I was taught to count time and date, are they correct? Is this logic common with other retailers?

Fosterdog

Considering there are 30 days in April and not just 28 I don't see how you can work out that 28 days would fall on the 9th if it was also purchased on the 9th.

They have started counting from the 10th April as being day 1 and the 28 days are still up on the 7th May.

Even if you are right and day 1 is counted from 11th April the 28 days would still have been up on the 8th May so you were still a day later in returning the item.

The mistake is yours not theirs and you have no right to a refund.

And the 9th May was Friday not Wednesday

System

Even if you take 10 Apr as day 1 you are still outside the 28 days

vuvuzela

mcleanzoe wrote: »

Help please. I bought something from Maplin and the receipt clearly says that within 28 days of purchase they will offer a refund.

I bought the item on Wednesday 9th April and I tried to return it on Wednesday 9th May. By my calculations this is within the 28 day period (exactly on day 28). However Maplin stated that the 7th May was day 29.

It appears that they count the day of purchase as day 1. This is not how I was taught to count time and date, are they correct? Is this logic common with other retailers?

Seriously ? How on earth can your calculations be correct, knowing there are 30 days in April ? If you own a calendar and count the days then you'd clearly see you're wrong.
Even being generous to you - if you don't count the day of purchase as day 1 (and counting it as day 1 seems to be standard for retailers);

Day 1 - 10th April.
Day 10 - 20th April.
Day 20 - 30th April.
Day *29* - 9th May.

Counting day 1 as the purchase day, you were 30 days after purchase.

neilmcl

I think the OP has mistyped their post. The day of return (if it was a Wednesday) would have been the 7th May, not the 9th.

LilElvis

Maplin's returns policy is in addition to your rights as a consumer, which gives you no automatic right to return goods due to a change of mind (if purchased in store). Therefore they can impose whatever conditions they wish, including deciding which day is counted as the first day. If they wanted they could say that you could only return goods if you were wearing yellow and hopping on one foot.

shaun_from_Africa

mcleanzoe wrote: »

It appears that they count the day of purchase as day 1. This is not how I was taught to count time and date, are they correct? Is this logic common with other retailers?

So if you went on holiday and booked a hotel, you wouldn't expect that the day you arrived to be classed as the first day you had to pay for?

shaun_from_Africa

LilElvis wrote: »

If they wanted they could say that you could only return goods if you were wearing yellow and hopping on one foot.

Unless of course, you were confined to a wheelchair in which case you could probably get a "no win no fee" lawyer to help you sue for discrimination and get a small fortune.

ThumbRemote

The phrase "Within 28 days of purchase" seems somewhat unclear.


It could be interpreted multiple ways, including:
Before the end of the 28th day after purchase
Before the end of the 27th day after purchase

Before the end of 672 hours after purchase

As this is unclear, the most favourable definition for the customer should be used - so OP should have been able to return the product.

wealdroam

ThumbRemote wrote: »

The phrase "Within 28 days of purchase" seems somewhat unclear.


It could be interpreted multiple ways, including:
Before the end of the 28th day after purchase
Before the end of the 27th day after purchase

Before the end of 672 hours after purchase

As this is unclear, the most favourable definition for the customer should be used - so OP should have been able to return the product.

But however you measure it, isn't 9th May more that 28 days from 9th April?

George_Michael

ThumbRemote wrote: »

As this is unclear, the most favourable definition for the customer should be used - so OP should have been able to return the product.

Am I correct in assuming that you are using the Unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations as the basis for this comment?

If so, I doubt if it would apply for the simple reason that these regulations are in place in order to limit terms that can unfairly limit a consumers rights and as the OFT state that:

The OFT's starting point in assessing the fairness of a term is, therefore, normally to ask what would be the position for the consumer if it did not appear in the contract.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft311.pdf
they might well think that if the term in question did not appear in the contract then the consumer would have zero right of return for a change of mind, hence the terms as it is currently written is extremely favourable for the customer.