Do I have to accept this or not?

macman

Indeed, but the OP has not used this route, which is infinitely more difficult anyway. After 15m they'd have to prove a pre-existing fault, by paying upfront for an engineer's report, with no guarantee of success.

Raksha

Under the SOG act, the retailer has one opportunity to repair/replace/offer refund, the retailer has used that opportunity and found out repair isn't possible.
The OP then needs to formally reject the item to start the procedure correctly. The retailer then refunds by the same method payment was made (to avoid money laundering). If refund is made to the mail order account, the OP then needs to clarify the procedure for closing an account with a credit balance with the mail order company

unholyangel

macman wrote: »

Indeed, but the OP has not used this route, which is infinitely more difficult anyway. After 15m they'd have to prove a pre-existing fault, by paying upfront for an engineer's report, with no guarantee of success.

SoGA is not something that applies depending what route you go down. If goods do not conform to contract at time of delivery (ie inherently faulty) then SoGA applies.

Despite the burden of proof being on the consumer after 6 months, that doesnt mean that only the consumer can prove its faulty. And burden of proof would only really come into it if there was a dispute about whether the goods conformed to contract or not.

wealdroam

macman wrote: »

Indeed, but the OP has not used this route, which is infinitely more difficult anyway. After 15m they'd have to prove a pre-existing fault, by paying upfront for an engineer's report, with no guarantee of success.

Oh, thought the OP had used that route, and the seller accepted the situation and offered a partial refund... as they are allowed to do under SoGA.
The only bit the seller appears to have got wrong is that technically account credit is not a refund.

Raksha wrote: »

Under the SOG act, the retailer has one opportunity to repair/replace/offer refund, the retailer has used that opportunity and found out repair isn't possible.
The OP then needs to formally reject the item to start the procedure correctly. The retailer then refunds by the same method payment was made (to avoid money laundering). If refund is made to the mail order account, the OP then needs to clarify the procedure for closing an account with a credit balance with the mail order company

Raksha, that all sounds pretty good except the bit about 'one opportunity'.

I don't think there is anything in SoGA that says the seller only has one chance to effect a repair, but am happy to be corrected.
Also just to mention, rejecting goods has a specific meaning under SoGA, and in this particular case, after fifteen months, there is now no opportunity for the buyer to reject the goods.

unholyangel

wealdroam wrote: »

Oh, thought the OP had used that route, and the seller accepted the situation and offered a partial refund... as they are allowed to do under SoGA.
The only bit the seller appears to have got wrong is that technically account credit is not a refund.



Raksha, that all sounds pretty good except the bit about 'one opportunity'.

I don't think there is anything in SoGA that says the seller only has one chance to effect a repair, but am happy to be corrected.
Also just to mention, rejecting goods has a specific meaning under SoGA, and in this particular case, after fifteen months, there is now no opportunity for the buyer to reject the goods.

I don't think its been implemented yet - but there are supposed to be changes to the SoGA under the same consumer rights bill that brought us CCRs and more (were changes in the financial industry in november last year i think that were the first bunch of changes).

Cant remember it all but one of the changes was that the retailer has 1 attempt to repair. Other one was under SoGA, you have a standard 30 days to reject the goods under non-acceptance (was also a bit saying it would be a minimum of 30 days but havent read anything recently so not sure if that part has remained unchanged).