Argos - Head Injury + Dental Work from using their product

pop555

Hello MSE Forum,

This is my first time posting as I need advice on a battle with Argos, I'm going to try and be short and concise:

• What did you buy? - A 50kg dumbell weight set for £29.99
  
• When did you buy it? - 6 December 2012
  
• Where from? Instore
• How did you pay? Credit Card (I think it could have been debit)
  
• What went wrong? The weight spindall gave in and the weight fell on head - A&E Visit, no serious injury or loss of work. Also chipped a veneer tooth - Date of incident 12th August 2013
  
• What are the vendors telling you? After letters back and forth Argos have refused to compensate/payout and restore me back to the position before I purchased the weight set. Let me point out that they could never restore me as I now have a scar on my head and new teeth! They have advised that under their inspection as they found damage to the handle we should not have been using the weight to begin with (I would think this is all falling under product unfit for purpose - as the materials that were used would not suffice for the product lifespan of 1 year) as to finalise the product had excessive wear and tear and it was beyond its serviceable life, the product defects weren't similar to those found from the manufacture and that they have not had any other complaints about the product and have advised I seek professional advice.
  
• What solution or remedy are you looking for? I was looking for Argos to pay my dental bill of £1K+ in order to restore my financial expenditure to as it was before I purchased the weight set.
  

I would like advice on where to go from here and help - please no negative/stupid comments as I'm new to all this.

The reason I'm looking at it now is that I'm extremely dissatisfied with their reply and feel that I can do more to get them to pay my large dental bill at least! I was going to process all the letters through resolver today but wanted to get more opinions on where I stand.

I feel that my options are out of the below:
1. Write to Argos again ?
2. Asking Argos for their manufacture details and writing to them?
3. Going to a financial ombudsman/credit card company (If I paid on cc)?
4. Getting trading standards involved to get their opinion?
5. Leave it, I have no chance?

Thanks in advance for help

philatio

No.5.

Move on.
You've no chance.

Fosterdog

It's very difficult to understand exactly what happened from your description however as it was more than six months from purchase and the fact that they have examined it and found it to be user damaged they don't have to do anything for you.

Your only recourse now would be to get an independent report to prove that the spindle was in fact faulty and that it was an inherent fault not just down to wear and tear.

bod1467

Have you sent them a Letter Before Action?

Have you raised a claim against them in the Small Claims court?

No.3 is a non-starter ... there is nothing a debit card transaction would assist you with; and the purchase price is below the £100 amount from when Section 75 protection would apply if this was a credit card transaction.

societys_child

pop555 wrote: »

Hello MSE Forum,

This is my first time posting as I need advice on a battle with Argos, I'm going to try and be short and concise:

• What did you buy? - A 50kg dumbell weight set for £29.99
  
• When did you buy it? -6 December 2012
  
• Where from? Instore
• How did you pay? Credit Card (I think it could have been debit)
  
• What went wrong? The weight spindall gave in and the weight fell on head - A&E Visit, no serious injury or loss of work. Also chipped a veneer tooth - Date of incident 12th August 2013
  
• What are the vendors telling you? After letters back and forth Argos have refused to compensate/payout and restore me back to the position before I purchased the weight set. Let me point out that they could never restore me as I now have a scar on my head and new teeth! They have advised that under their inspection as they found damage to the handle we should not have been using the weight to begin with (I would think this is all falling under product unfit for purpose - as the materials that were used would not suffice for the product lifespan of 1 year) as to finalise the product had excessive wear and tear and it was beyond its serviceable life, the product defects weren't similar to those found from the manufacture and that they have not had any other complaints about the product and have advised I seek professional advice.
  
• What solution or remedy are you looking for? I was looking for Argos to pay my dental bill of £1K+ in order to restore my financial expenditure to as it was before I purchased the weight set.
  

I would like advice on where to go from here and help - please no negative/stupid comments as I'm new to all this.

The reason I'm looking at it now is that I'm extremely dissatisfied with their reply and feel that I can do more to get them to pay my large dental bill at least! I was going to process all the letters through resolver today but wanted to get more opinions on where I stand.

I feel that my options are out of the below:
1. Write to Argos again ?
2. Asking Argos for their manufacture details and writing to them?
3. Going to a financial ombudsman/credit card company (If I paid on cc)?
4. Getting trading standards involved to get their opinion?
5. Leave it, I have no chance?

Thanks in advance for help

:huh:
You bought them in 2012, it appears they've lasted far longer than 1 year? What date did the accident happen?

LABMAN

societys_child wrote: »

:huh:
You bought them in 2012, it appears they've lasted far longer than 1 year? What date did the accident happen?

OP says - Date of incident 12th August 2013.

pop555

Thanks for your thoughts!

I think I would agree with you philatio & foster dog as they have assessed the product it's their word over mine - however surely the product should have been sufficient quality for it to sustain more wear and tear than it did after 6 months? This is why I suggested trading standards as the quality did not fit the Sale of Goods Act as being 'satisfactory quality' - Would this be an argument?

bod1467 - I advised that I would be taking the matter further but haven't done a letter before action yet nor proceeded to the small claims court (I'm unsure what chance I have and if I would spend more than I would possibly retrieve back.)

Labman - Purchased Dec 2012 Accident Aug 2013 I only started to write to them in Dec 2013 and this went on until 2014, now I'm still miffed at how they have treated me and feel they should have given me a sufficient reply. If people think otherwise I will put the case to bed and boycott them!

Thank-you all for your input:T

pop555

Oh yes That was Argos's conclusion as to why the spindal failed however, this part of the handle that they speak about, would NEVER have prevented the weight from falling off if it were in new condition (even if it didn't have damage the weight fell the other way.) If I'm making sense.

And shouldn't the materials have been of 'satisfactory quality' to not break in the first place considering the product? If it were plastic it wouldn't have had any of the wear and tear that was present - it's a poor rubbery/plastic material that you could break with your hands (I would say.)

I will try and upload a picture of the weight handle.

Jim_Jupiter

pop555 wrote: »

Oh yes That was Argos's conclusion as to why the spindal failed however, this part of the handle that they speak about, would NEVER have prevented the weight from falling off if it were in new condition (even if it didn't have damage the weight fell the other way.) If I'm making sense.

And shouldn't the materials have been of 'satisfactory quality' to not break in the first place considering the product? If it were plastic it wouldn't have had any of the wear and tear that was present - it's a poor rubbery/plastic material that you could break with your hands (I would say.)

I will try and upload a picture of the weight handle.

Not sure where my post replying to you went, tried editing spelling but it seems to have been deleted instead.

Anyway I mentioned original post states damage, not wear and tear.

As for things being of "satisfactory quality" to not break in the first place that's only through normal use and the report you mention states damage and excessive wear & tear - to me that doesn't suggest normal use.

If your serious about following it up I would imagine you'll need your own independent report on to the state of your weights.

wealdroam

pop555 wrote: »

And shouldn't the materials have been of 'satisfactory quality' to not break in the first place considering the product?

Yes they should.

As Argos have come to the conclusion that excessive wear and tear caused the failure, you need to challenge that by getting you own report stating that the thing is/was inherently faulty.
At inherent fault is one which was present at the time of sale but not necessarily apparent at that time.

Do not consider any further action until you have that report. To emphasise - it is no good the report saying the thing is faulty, you already know that, it must state that the item failed due to poor materials, poor manufacture, etc.

You ask about court costs. Once you have that report you could consider small claims court action and any cost of doing so are added to your claim. You will need bills backing up your claim.
Of course if you lose, then those court costs are an extra burden down to you.

peachyprice

Did the item come with instructions to inspect before each use? These types of things quite often do.