Beaverbrooks not accepting return or exchange

CitizenLemon

I have been a loyal beaverbrooks customer ever since my dad bought me first designer watch in my teens. Have bought 7 or so watches for myself and various jewellery as gifts. This experience goes back to late May when I bought an Armani watch from the Gateshead store. I only bought as everyday wear, but did not wear it. Sunday(01/06/14) when I bring it out to wear it I notice the date is on 32 rather then 01 as it should have just clicked over. So decide not to wear it and return it. When at the store to return it I get told that the clasp has scratches (very minor can't see it unless under light and looked at it at an angle) on it so can't accept the refund. So the manager says under the date issue is common and with the scratches can't refund. I explained the only way the scratches exist is if I was sold it with it on or they caused it when sizing the bracelet but would not accept this. So left the store very disappointed without refund or exchange. I also phoned the customer services who were clueless as normal. But the worst thing is salesperson tells customer services that I was told about the date issue in the store (if that was the case I would have bought another watch). Customer service person also admitted that it was hard explain the date issue without showing it (again not shown in store). Hope my experience is one off cause I can't see how I will be recommending this company to any friends or family. Beaverbrooks you have let a loyal customer down big time!

Is there anything that can be done?

wealdroam

As you bought the watch in store, you have no statutory right to a refund for change of mind type of issues. For that you are entirely dependent on the store's return policy.

Clearly the watch is faulty if it shows 32 as a day of the month.
But if you were advised of this issue, as they say you were, at the time of sale, then you cannot use this point as an reason to return the watch.

If you are deemed not to have accepted the watch, in Sale of Goods Act terms, then you do have the right to return it for a full refund if it does not conform to contract.
Just to emphasise, it does conform to contract if you were advised of the date issue at the time of purchase, but nevertheless you continued with the purchase.

Now, we come to the scratches.
The shops says you have damaged the watch and they will not accept it back.
Frankly, I cannot see how you are going to convince them that the damage was already there when you made the purchase.

This is difficult.

visidigi

wealdroam wrote: »

As you bought the watch in store, you have no statutory right to a refund for change of mind type of issues. For that you are entirely dependent on the store's return policy.

Clearly the watch is faulty if it shows 32 as a day of the month.
But if you were advised of this issue, as they say you were, at the time of sale, then you cannot use this point as an reason to return the watch.

If you are deemed not to have accepted the watch, in Sale of Goods Act terms, then you do have the right to return it for a full refund if it does not conform to contract.
Just to emphasise, it does conform to contract if you were advised of the date issue at the time of purchase, but nevertheless you continued with the purchase.

Now, we come to the scratches.
The shops says you have damaged the watch and they will not accept it back.
Frankly, I cannot see how you are going to convince them that the damage was already there when you made the purchase.

This is difficult.

Cant see the difficulty for me. Watch is made to be worn. Whether watch is scratched or not, watch is faulty.

Shop has to resolve the faulty issue with the date. Onus is on retailer to prove they informed the buyer (statement on receipt etc) that date fault existed.

Buyer entitled to resolution via repair, replacement or refund.

Given they can't repair the date issue (otherwise they would of already surely) then if they replace it, OP will have the same issue (must be a model fault as the shop knows full well about it prior to sale according to them - which would make the fault inherent) - so that leaves refund.

OP like you say needs to return under SoGA...

frugal_mike

OP, how did you pay for the watch? If you uses a credit card (or other form of credit) and the watch cost more than £100 then the credit provider are jointly and severally liable for the contract with the retailer under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

This means that any claim you can make against the retailer can also be made against the credit provider.

vuvuzela

The watch isn't faulty. It doesn't need repair and this will be documented in the user manual.
I assume this watch has dual apertures for the date (ie a 'Big Date') ?
If so, it's trivial to set yourself and (depending on the movement) unlikely that it would have gone from 31 to 01 by itself. It takes around 15 seconds to change the date at the end of each month. Hardly onerous.
Likelihood is it's a Ronda 519 movement which as the spec sheet shows http://www.ronda.ch/en/quartz-movements/quartz-essentials/ronda-powertech/caliber/519/ doesn't auto-change from 31, 32, 33 etc to 01. If you wanted a watch with auto date change, the words to look out for are 'perpetual calendar'.

stone7

Why would any watch have "32" as a date?

marliepanda

stone7 wrote: »

Why would any watch have "32" as a date?

I assume it has two separate dials for tens and units.

Or one like the above linked.

Joe_Horner

stone7 wrote: »

Why would any watch have "32" as a date?

Because people want "big date" displays and you can't physically fit big enough numerals on a single date disk. There are some movements out there that will auto-change from 31 to 01 but it's a lot more complicated (and therefore expensive) to do that than to have it count repeatedly from 0 to 3 in the 10s and 0 to 9 in the units.

That has the unfortunate effect of giving you dates of 00th and 32nd to 39th each month unless you manually correct it (like you usually have to on short months anyway)

It's not a fault with the watch because it's doing exactly what it's designed to do. If you want big date without that "feature" then you really need to move away from "designer" and into proper watch brands.