Do I have to accept a credit note?

The_Bookman

I shall try and be succinct.

October 2013: Bought golf club online, cost £109.00
Last week: It broke - crack across the face.
Phoned the retailer's Head Office: charming girl, said it was under a 2 year warranty, should she send a courier for it or would I take it into their local store? I took it to the store.

A bit of sucking of teeth from the manager - "It's only a 1 year warranty" Me - "Not what Head Office says" He - "Well we'll have to send it away for inspection" Me - "Fine- off you go then".

This week: Phone call from store - "Good news - we can't repair it so we've credited your account with the full purchase price. That model is no longer made, so please come in and choose a replacement" Me - "Can I not use that credit online?" After a minute conferring offline - "No, you'll need to come in to the store". Me - (being somewhat suspicious) "Fine, thanks very much. I'll see you very soon."

I would thus like an opinion on whether I have to accept this. I don't believe I do, but some reassurance, especially if quoting the relevant Act & Section of the relevant Statute would be extremely helpful.

I don't want a different club; I want what I had, which means either finding a retailer who still has one in stock, or finding a suitable used one, so I'd like my money back to do just that.

I've had nothing in writing yet, so I'm minded to phone Head Office and just ask for that - for my records, you understand, before demanding a refund. I want to see on what basis they are they are offering me this, because it implies that they accept it is defective and under warranty.

cookie365

If you've returned the item under the terms of the warranty, then you're entitled to whatever the T&Cs of the warranty say you're entitled to.

The_Bookman

cookie365 wrote: »

If you've returned the item under the terms of the warranty, then you're entitled to whatever the T&Cs of the warranty say you're entitled to.

My apologies if I was at all unclear; I returned it because the young lady told me it was under warranty. I have not as yet looked for any paperwork, because I haven't needed to.

wealdroam

As Cookie says, you are reliant on the terms of the warranty.

If you choose to go down the Sale of Goods Act route, then and remedy would be either a repair, replacement or refund.

As a repair is probably not appropriate, and a replacement seems to be impossible for your retailer, then a refund is the only possible remedy.
You can insist on that refund being paid in the same way as the original purchase. So if you paid cash then you get a cash refund.

Now the not so good part...

Under SoGA, it is for the consumer to prove that the thing is inherently faulty. That means the seller is entitled to ask you to convince him that the club was faulty at the point of sale. For all he knows you could've been hammering nails with it... of course I'm sure you haven't misused it, but who knows?

Once it is established that the club is inherently faulty, the seller can reduce the amount of refund to take account of the use you have had. You have had 20 months use of it, I have no idea how much that is worth.

In my view, you would be best accepting a refund of the full purchase price by store credit, unless you want the hassle that the S0GA route might bring.

LilElvis

If you don't want the credit note you could always sell it on eBay and recoup most of its value.

The_Bookman

wealdroam wrote: »

Now the not so good part...

Under SoGA, it is for the consumer to prove that the thing is inherently faulty. That means the seller is entitled to ask you to convince him that the club was faulty at the point of sale.

Once it is established that the club is inherently faulty, the seller can reduce the amount of refund to take account of the use you have had. You have had 20 months use of it, I have no idea how much that is worth.

Thank you very much for your opinion. This is exactly the sort of response I was hoping for.


Accepting that I have as yet had nothing in writing from the retailer, would you not think that the fact that they have offered me a credit note for the full purchase price, 20 months from the date of purchase, implies an acceptance that it is defective?

shaun_from_Africa

The_Bookman wrote: »

would you not think that the fact that they have offered me a credit note for the full purchase price, 20 months from the date of purchase, implies an acceptance that it is defective?

Yes, it does show that they know it's defective but as wealdroam pointed out, if you want a cash refund instead of a credit note, the retailer or manufacturer accepting that the club was defective probably won't be enough.
To force a cash refund you would have to go down the Sale of goods act route which would require you to prove that it was defective due to a manufacturing defect.

If you did this and they offered a cash refund, this may well be far less than the price that you originally paid as you will have had 20 months use of it before it broke.

wealdroam

The_Bookman wrote: »

Accepting that I have as yet had nothing in writing from the retailer, would you not think that the fact that they have offered me a credit note for the full purchase price, 20 months from the date of purchase, implies an acceptance that it is defective?

if you were to now say to the retailer "that is not good enough, I want a cash refund", I can imagine the retailer being a bit miffed that you don't want to accept the credit note.
I could easily see the retailer's reaction being "In that case, bring me an independent report confirming that the club is inherently faulty and we'll look at it further".

Having spent money getting your report (let's assume it does confirm the club is inherenty faulty) and returned to the retailer, he then offers you (say) £70.00 cash.
Oh, he'll have to refund you the cost of that report too.

Have you then won, or have you lost?

Of course if you don't agree that £70.00 is a fair value, you have the option of going to court and letting a judge decide what is a fair refund.

foxtrotoscar_2

Unless you've stopped playing golf I'd take the credit. Presumably you'll be replacing the club if you are still golfing? If your not replacing the club you can use the credit for balls perhaps. Golfers do seem to lose them regularly!

daytona0

wealdroam wrote: »

if you were to now say to the retailer "that is not good enough, I want a cash refund", I can imagine the retailer being a bit miffed that you don't want to accept the credit note.
I could easily see the retailer's reaction being "In that case, bring me an independent report confirming that the club is inherently faulty and we'll look at it further".

Having spent money getting your report (let's assume it does confirm the club is inherenty faulty) and returned to the retailer, he then offers you (say) £70.00 cash.
Oh, he'll have to refund you the cost of that report too.

Have you then won, or have you lost?

Of course if you don't agree that £70.00 is a fair value, you have the option of going to court and letting a judge decide what is a fair refund.

Yea, this. It would be a slight gamble if you try and quibble on whether to have credit note or cash.

Under SOGA you (OP) need to show that it is inherently faulty if the retailer requests and if it is over 6 months. You've also been discussing a warranty return (and not SOGA), and I doubt you'd lie to a court about that particular point. This means that seller has not necessarily accepted that it is inherently faulty.

Rejecting the cash note may leave you in a situation where you need to prove inherent fault (which you may not be able to do, in which cas you get nothing and you lose your report money). If you can prove this then you'll be entitled to a partial refund, taking into account 20 months' usage (20% off the price roughly), and reimbursement of the report. This will also be time consuming and potentially costly (if you have additional expenses).


A consideration must be made for the fact that your warranty may have only been for 1 year!! An employee can tell you 5+ years, but that doesn't mean a thing if the legal document doesn't reflect it (and you don't have strong evidence).

A full refund in a cash note is awesome if you intend to continue golfing. It is probably more than what you are entitled to.

The_Bookman

All,


Many thanks for the helpful responses. This was never going to be something I would die in a ditch over, and it's always useful to get different perspectives and opinions. I shall take the credit note. :j