Help... kitchen sink return and damage disaster

atomicus

Bit of a strange situation this, very annoying and I have no idea what my legal position is or what to do. I purchased a stainless steel kitchen sink from an online retailer the other week, but upon receipt we realised the bowl was too small. We could immediately see while still in the box that it wasn't the right size, so we didn't even fully remove it. I contacted the seller to arrange a return, and as they were fairly local, I asked if I could drop it off myself, which was of course no problem. I did that today, but several hours later they emailed me to say the sink was damaged and they could not accept the return, and I would either have to take the sink back or they would dispose of it. The damage was not insignificant, one of the corners badly bent, so it had clearly taken quite a bash and now isn't even usable!

I KNOW for a fact that we did not damage it. It was not even removed from the box, and the box was left inside our front door until it was taken to the boot of my car today. It is entirely possible the sink was damaged upon initial transit to us, but I never took it out the box to fully inspect it, and I don't recall seeing any external damage, but I didn't look for it. Does that mean this is all on me? It could of course have been damaged by the retailer in the short time after they took it back, if they would be that underhanded?! They did not check it over when I dropped it off though, they only emailed me hours later.

What is my position here and what can I do? It's a £200 sink... do I have to swallow that??

hollydays

Have you checked out reviews on them? How good is their customer service?

atomicus

Very good actually, mostly very satisfied customers.

hollydays

Can I ask which review site you've looked at

Fosterdog

How long ago was the other week that you ordered it? How long ago was it delivered?

atomicus

I was looking at trustedshops.co.uk, and they have over 100 reviews, average of 4.7 out of 5.

The sink was ordered on the 6th December, delivered on the 11th (return requested that same day), and returned today, 15th.

Poppie68

Is there a chance they could be trying it on?
Have you been down and looked at the claimed damage? If not I would be tempted to turn up unannounced and ask to check it out...
Arguing your case can also be easier face to face.

atomicus

They did send me a photo of the damage... so unless they have mixed it up with another sink, it would appear they are being genuine in that sense. Unless, as I say, they dropped it themselves, but I've no reason to think they would do that other than KNOWING 100% for certain I did not damage it myself.

It seems to be a fairly simple case of 'he said, she said', and in that situation, I am not sure what my rights are exactly? I am fairly clued up on consumer rights, SOGA etc. but in this case I really don't know what to do.

Regardless of how certain I am that I did not damage the item, and assuming they are being straight with me, they have no way of knowing I did not inflict the damage before I returned it. But this obviously can't be proven either way, so who is 'right'?

One thing that seems clear to me, based on the image they've shown me, is that it would have required a hefty whack or drop to cause the damage, as the sink came with blue foam padding on the corners, which I never even removed, so to go through that AND the box would require some force.

Semple

Do you remember if the packaging was in pristine condition when you took delivery of it?

I'm going on the assumption that the item was never unboxed, so your argument could be that the item must have been damaged before you took delivery of it. You wouldn't have been able to check the condition of the sink because you wanted to return it in the condition that it arrived in i.e. unboxed/unopened.

I'm not really sure who lies in the wrong here, i imagine it is your responsibility to check the item after it has been delivered, but that would have required opening the package when the intention was to return it anyway.

atomicus

I do not recall any damage, but I cannot verify it was pristine. No, it was NEVER fully unboxed. It was clear upon opening the box and looking at it that the bowl was smaller than we thought, so as you say, I would have no reason to fully unpack or inspect it further when the intention was to return in as new unused condition. I even emailed them to request this within about an half an hour of the courier dropping it off.

They are telling me it was my responsibility to check the item, and therefore they cannot accept the return. I am not sure what more I can do other than plead with them, but it doesn't seem like they are going to budge!

Poppie68

I think you may come out the loser on this but as neither yourself or the retailer checked it immediately on delivery neither of you can prove when the damage occurred so maybe negotiate a deal with them or maybe you have a valid claim for either a Charge Back or S75 claim...depends how you have paid.