Unhappy with Currys Offer Of a Voucher!

paulwilko10

Hello

My elderly in laws bought a washing machine from Currys in June 2014.
In August they came out to fix a leak which they could not find
In October they came out and refitted the door
We have also had them out 3 more times, 1 more time they could not find the fault

The intermittent error codes we get suggest there is an issue with the board amongst other things.

I have complained to Currys, as usual they sent me to Hoover who then sent me back to Currys which by looking at Sales of goods act is correct.

After a lot of arguing with them, they have offered a £125 voucher which in their eyes is appx 48 months of what the machine should last for less the time we have had it.

To me that is a joke and I am sure I am entitled to more or at least the £125 in a proper refund rather than force me to spend more of my in laws money at Currys.

They dont want o buy from Currys again and I dont blame them, but with this voucher it is sort of forcing their hand.

Do I have anymore rights or am I lumbered with this in my opinion poor deal?

Would appreciate any help please

Many thanks

Paul

wealdroam

paulwilko10 wrote: »

Hello

My elderly in laws bought a washing machine from Currys in June 2014.
In August they came out to fix a leak which they could not find
In October they came out and refitted the door
We have also had them out 3 more times, 1 more time they could not find the fault

The intermittent error codes we get suggest there is an issue with the board amongst other things.

I have complained to Currys, as usual they sent me to Hoover who then sent me back to Currys which by looking at Sales of goods act is correct.

After a lot of arguing with them, they have offered a £125 voucher which in their eyes is appx 48 months of what the machine should last for less the time we have had it.

To me that is a joke and I am sure I am entitled to more or at least the £125 in a proper refund rather than force me to spend more of my in laws money at Currys.

They dont want o buy from Currys again and I dont blame them, but with this voucher it is sort of forcing their hand.

Do I have anymore rights or am I lumbered with this in my opinion poor deal?

Would appreciate any help please

Many thanks

Paul

You haven't told us the purchase price so it is difficult to judge whether the refund offered is reasonable or not.
For example, if the original purchase price was £200, the a refund of £125 might be considered reasonable. But if the purchase price was £1000 - probably not.

That aside, if they are offering a refund, then that should be in cash - or however the original purchase was made. A store credit note is not a refund.

You (or your parents in law) need to negotiate on the refund amount. Whilst doing this you might find it possible to settle for a larger sum if you are prepared to accept store credit.

paulwilko10

I don't have the receipt to hand, but it was about £250 and on a debit/credit card, certainly not vouchers!

That is what is annoying me more than anything, they think they can force me to go back to Currys and buy another machine!!

The amount £125 is not great, but not too bad, it's the vouchers!

Thanks for your help

Paul

PCMcGarry

paulwilko10 wrote: »

I don't have the receipt to hand, but it was about £250 and on a debit/credit card, certainly not vouchers!

That is what is annoying me more than anything, they think they can force me to go back to Currys and buy another machine!!

The amount £125 is not great, but not too bad, it's the vouchers!

Thanks for your help

Paul

So you would rather buy another brand of machine and Currys don't stock that brand?

SuperHan

If you want a partial refund, you will need to get (and pay for) an ideally independent report that says the fault is inherent.

Once you have this, Currys are obligated to act under SoGA. However, SoGA doesn't prescribe a limit on the number of repairs, so if they really wanted to, they could go on repairing the machine indefinitely.

£125 seems like a fair offer to me though, I wouldn't pay £125 for an 18 month old washing machine that originally cost £125. You may find a cash offer is less than the voucher offer they have made, so be warned.

paulwilko10

Thank you all

I don't want a voucher as I do not want to go back to currys.

If their sums suggest we are owed £125 then we should be given it to the payment type we used. Am I being unreasonable?

unholyangel

SuperHan wrote: »

If you want a partial refund, you will need to get (and pay for) an ideally independent report that says the fault is inherent.

Once you have this, Currys are obligated to act under SoGA. However, SoGA doesn't prescribe a limit on the number of repairs, so if they really wanted to, they could go on repairing the machine indefinitely.

£125 seems like a fair offer to me though, I wouldn't pay £125 for an 18 month old washing machine that originally cost £125. You may find a cash offer is less than the voucher offer they have made, so be warned.

If one of their own/the manufacturers engineers has already looked at it and confirmed inherent then it would be silly of them to insist on a report because it would just be more expense for them.

And if they're resisting a cash refund, then I'd perhaps point this out to them (that you could get a report, take them to court etc but it would be added expense for them)

Of course it all depends on if the people you deal with have any common sense or whether they've been trained in the typical "policy says no" fashion.

bris

At this stage they don't actually have to do anything. If you want a cash refund then you have to go down the SOGA route, even then they could still repair it.


To go down this route you need to obtain your own expert report and present it to them for a resolution, the cost of the report, if in your favour is refundable by them.


You could push for cash but they could also withdraw their offer and make you do it the hard way.

wealdroam

I said earlier:

wealdroam wrote: »

You (or your parents in law) need to negotiate on the refund amount. Whilst doing this you might find it possible to settle for a larger sum if you are prepared to accept store credit.

Of course the opposite is also true.

If they have offered you £125 in vouchers, then if you insist on cash (or card, cheque, etc) then that offer may be reduced.

Under The Sale of Goods Act, offering vouchers is not offering a refund, so perhaps the vouchers are a goodwill gesture on their part.
By insisting on a 'real' refund, you may force Currys to withdraw that offer.

paulwilko10

Waiting for confirmation, but looks like they are going to give us the £125 via bank transfer which is okay I suppose

Thanks again everyone

Paul

CoolHotCold

paulwilko10 wrote: »

Waiting for confirmation, but looks like they are going to give us the £125 via bank transfer which is okay I suppose

Thanks again everyone

Paul

No pleasing some people.

Guess this was the timeline.

Purchased June 2014 for £250.

Machine been repaired 3 times.

Not happy, phoned currys who referred to manufacture.

Called manufacture, told to go back to currys.

Phoned Currys, offered £125 in form of vouchers.

Visited MSE and asked for rights.

Phoned Currys same day asked for BT instead and received BT.


No longer wants to buy anything from currys ever again, for whatever reason.


Can't honestly see any issue that would warrant such statement of not purchasing from currys again, guess some people are unreasonable.