Refund for cooker

philatio

Although you paid £600.. it is a BUSH cooker so probably only worth £250.



(sorry. probably not helpful)

wealdroam

tilly4597 wrote: »

The cooker is selling for £500.

No, the cooker is selling for £458.99.
There is also currently a £50 cashback offer making the price £408.99.

Looking around the Argos website I can see that they offer a 3 Years Breakdown Care on this Cooker.

The Breakdown Care Terms and Conditions do say:


which is just what you said earlier.

Have another look at those T&Cs because there appear to be numerous 'exclusions'. I haven't had chance to read them all yet.

macman

Bush don't make cookers-in fact, they don't make anything. It is simply an Argos in-house brand (like Technika for Tesco), so it will be a cheap load of junk, as you have found, a limited supply end of line or cancelled orders badged up for Argos. Spares for these badge jobs are rarely available. If the exact same model is still on the market 2 years later then it's clearly not selling many. It's probably not worth £100 now, but you should be getting the current retail value subject to any exclusions under the warranty. Put that towards buying a proper brand, rather than accepting a repair, or a replacement that will simply have the same faults again.

wealdroam

Having now had a chance to read all the T&Cs, I can see no reason why they cannot just replace the cooker rather than mess about with vouchers.

Looking at the replacement section of their T&Cs again, we can see this:



Point 1 suggests that as a replacement is easily available direct from Argos, they should be be doing just that. There are the words "at our option" in there, but in my opinion that only gives them the alternative of a replacement instead of a repair.

Point 2 only has any effect if they "cannot reasonably arrange a replacement". As a replacement is readily available, the provision of vouchers is not acceptable.

I would be writing a letter before action stating that either they supply a replacement cooker, or vouchers for £458.99, within the next 14 days or you will start a small claims court action.

ThumbRemote

macman wrote: »

Bush don't make cookers-in fact, they don't make anything. It is simply an Argos in-house brand (like Technika for Tesco), so it will be a cheap load of junk, as you have found, a limited supply end of line or cancelled orders badged up for Argos. Spares for these badge jobs are rarely available. If the exact same model is still on the market 2 years later then it's clearly not selling many. It's probably not worth £100 now, but you should be getting the current retail value subject to any exclusions under the warranty. Put that towards buying a proper brand, rather than accepting a repair, or a replacement that will simply have the same faults again.

If they'd bought a 'proper brand' as you call it, you'd probably have been telling them that they are all built in the same factories, they are just paying for the branding and should have bought a less-known brand.

There are also numerous inconsistencies in your post. If they are just rebadged items, how can that determine quality? Also spares are likely to be readily available as the manufacturer will make the same or similar models for multiple retailers. And as for not selling many, it's just as likely it's a good seller hence they keep ordering more.

macman

No, they're not all built in the same factories, there are some built as premium products and some built down to a price. Some manufacturers (eg Bosch) make both.
Manufacturers sell off the stuff they can't otherwise shift this way at minimal margin, just to clear stock. And big retailers like Argos buy in bulk to get a cheap deal. If they are end of line or surplus stock, spares will be difficult to source, because it may not even be clear who the manufacturer is-and Argos won't be of any help. Clearly you've never tried to obtain spares for a virtual brand like Technika. Bush is no different. Why they are selling cookers branded as Bush is beyond me, since Bush was a manufacturer of radios and TV's in it's original incarnation.

ThumbRemote

There's a big difference between electronic items and cookers. Most of the Technika branded electricals are made in the far east, by any number of manufacturers. On the other hand there are far fewer cooker manufacturers.

Ectophile

Before bothering with court action, I would first be looking at:

1. A formal complaint, using their complaints process. Not just a general whinge, make sure they are treating it as a formal complaint according to their documented procedures.
2. If that doesn't work, a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

tilly4597

Thanks folks, this is my reply back to them, any alterations etc before i send would be much appreciated. ---- I purchased the above cooker from you in July 2013 and took out an Argos Breakdown Care Plan with Domestic & General, agreement number ********
I recently contacted Domestic & General with numerous faults to the cooker. On the 28 August 2015 they wrote to me (copy letter enclosed) to inform me that the cooker was beyond economical repair and attached Argos vouchers to the value of £250.00.
I never agreed to this settlement. I wrote back to Domestic & General (letter enclosed) on the 21st September 2015 informing them I was not happy with their decision and I do not agree to their £250.00 settlement. I received a letter back from them dated 30 September 2015 (letter enclosed) saying they were upholding their decision. My husband rang Domestic & General on Friday 2nd October to ask them how they thought it possible to purchase a range cooker for £170 which is basically what they are offering once you deduct the £80 it cost of the Care Plan. He was told the person we need to speak with was not available until Monday 5th October and they would make sure she rang myself when she was in the office. Up to today’s date I have received no call back, which I feel is very bad customer service.
The reason I took out insurance was for the guarantee that if the cooker was to develop a problem then I would either have it repaired or replaced. This is obviously not the case. According to their repairs and replacements section on their Breakdown Care Plan, they would either repair or at their option replace or provide Argos vouchers to the value of Argos’s current retail price of a replacement of the same or similar make and specification. I want to know why they are not adhering to this.
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 says the item should be fit for purpose and last a reasonable length of time. This cooker is neither.

As the seller you have a legal duty to put it right as the contract is with Argos and myself and expect either you supply me with a replacement cooker, or vouchers equivalent to the purchase price, within the next 14 days or I will have no option but to start a small claims court action.

shaun_from_Africa

tilly4597 wrote: »

.
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 says the item should be fit for purpose and last a reasonable length of time. This cooker is neither.

As the seller you have a legal duty to put it right as the contract is with Argos and myself and expect either you supply me with a replacement cooker, or vouchers equivalent to the purchase price, within the next 14 days or I will have no option but to start a small claims court action.

There is one problem with pursuing a resolution under the SOGA.
The act doesn't simply state that the retailer must provide a replacement. What it does state is that once the consumer has proven that the fault is due to a manufacturing defect, the retailer must provide a remedy and this can be a repair, replacement or refund (basically it is the choice of the retailer as to which option they provide).
If they opt for a refund, this refund doesn't have to be the full price paid as they are legally entitled to make a deduction to cover the time that you had use of the goods.

You've had the oven for about 2 years and a judge might think that a budget brand of oven would be expected to last 4 years so a 50% refund is acceptable. (provided that the refund was in cash and not vouchers.)

This is why trying to get D&G to honour the terms of the warranty might be a better bet that a SOGA resolution.