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Argos - Wrong order sent, nightmare

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Comments

  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 11,055 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    cono1717 wrote: »
    If you made a mistake in viewing it and freely admit they look similar is it too far to assume that someone at Argos did the same thing? Either the box has to be too similar that it excuses you from making the mistake of assembling and excuses their mistake of the confusion.

    Oh come on. Have you never heard of barcodes? Warehouse staff do not browse the aisles with a picture of the barbecue looking for a box that looks like it. Most Argos stuff is stored in plain brown boxes. I had a summer job in Argos 15 years ago and we didn't have scanners - you took the serial number that was ordered, found the box with the same serial number (like finding a reference book in a library) and hauled it over. You didn't even look at what was in the box let alone whether it was the Deluxe or Basic version and whether it had the special bottle opener attachment. The only thing you looked at was whether the serial number on the box matched the one on your bit of paper. I'd've been embarrassed if I'd picked up the wrong serial number like this and I was 16. And the systems are probably more sophisticated now.

    That said, OP should have disassembled it, put it back in the boxes and let the delivery driver pick it up. Destroying the boxes before you're certain you won't want to return it is stupid, and this is why. They would be reasonable if some of them are a bit ripped at the corner. You've rendered the barbecue more or less unresalable, which means that giving you £20 for the difference between the sale price of the barbecue you've decided to keep by destroying all the packaging and what you paid is a perfectly reasonable offer.

    How much would you expect to pay for a "ex-display" barbecue that was sitting in Argos, already assembled, available to anyone who was happy to take home a used barbecue with no packaging? Because that's the only way they've got of selling it. 50% off? If so that would make £95 a fair offer for them to come and collect it, and taking £20 for the difference between its value new and what you paid is a considerably better offer. The item they sent you may not have been what you ordered, but that doesn't entitle you to damage the value of what they did send you if you want a full refund (which means it's not yours to damage).
  • cono1717
    cono1717 Posts: 762 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Malthusian wrote: »
    Oh come on. Have you never heard of barcodes? Warehouse staff do not browse the aisles with a picture of the barbecue looking for a box that looks like it. Most Argos stuff is stored in plain brown boxes. I had a summer job in Argos 15 years ago and we didn't have scanners - you took the serial number that was ordered, found the box with the same serial number (like finding a reference book in a library) and hauled it over. You didn't even look at what was in the box let alone whether it was the Deluxe or Basic version and whether it had the special bottle opener attachment. The only thing you looked at was whether the serial number on the box matched the one on your bit of paper. I'd've been embarrassed if I'd picked up the wrong serial number like this and I was 16. And the systems are probably more sophisticated now.

    My points wasn't that Argos have made a mistake my point was that it is entirely possible that something like that could have happened - you also don't know that the system isn't the same as it was many moons ago (though I hope not)

    Also OP was quick to jump the gun and blame argos for their colossal mistake and as a result they should go above and beyond to correct it yet fails to see his mistake is no par with Argos'
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,866 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    OP, write to argos. On x date you purchased x item. On y date they delivered y item. As the goods do not match their description, they are in breach of contract and you are exercising the short-term right to reject. They have refused to arrange a collection unless the goods are repackaged as they arrived. The packaging was unavoidably damaged as it was impossible to inspect the goods without doing so and you feel that requiring them to be returned in the same packaging is a breach of your statutory rights as it seeks to limit their liability for their breach of contract, seeks to transfer inappropriate risks and seeks to make their obligations (and your statutory rights) conditional upon your compliance with a formality. If they will send you bubblewrap, you will package it with that to ensure its adequately protected during the delivery but that your only obligation is to take reasonable care of the goods and make them available for collection. And that you ask that the matter be resolved without any further delay.


    Or perhaps post on their social media - sometimes people seem to get a good response after doing that.

    Unfortunately I think this is pretty common with CS teams - they're trained in policy but not law. Therefore their answer to everything is policy. They're usually not trained to think of outside the box solutions, their goto is company policy.
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • OP, write to argos. On x date you purchased x item. On y date they delivered y item. As the goods do not match their description, they are in breach of contract and you are exercising the short-term right to reject. They have refused to arrange a collection unless the goods are repackaged as they arrived. The packaging was unavoidably damaged as it was impossible to inspect the goods without doing so and you feel that requiring them to be returned in the same packaging is a breach of your statutory rights as it seeks to limit their liability for their breach of contract, seeks to transfer inappropriate risks and seeks to make their obligations (and your statutory rights) conditional upon your compliance with a formality. If they will send you bubblewrap, you will package it with that to ensure its adequately protected during the delivery but that your only obligation is to take reasonable care of the goods and make them available for collection. And that you ask that the matter be resolved without any further delay.


    Or perhaps post on their social media - sometimes people seem to get a good response after doing that.

    Unfortunately I think this is pretty common with CS teams - they're trained in policy but not law. Therefore their answer to everything is policy. They're usually not trained to think of outside the box solutions, their goto is company policy.

    OP ripped up the boxes once he had finished, so more purposely torn up than unavoidably damaged.
  • Taxlala
    Taxlala Posts: 22 Forumite
    Thank you for the first decent reply and I will heed that advice.

    The boxes had to be torn up to get the heavy parts out.
  • baza52
    baza52 Posts: 3,029 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Taxlala wrote: »
    Thank you for the first decent reply and I will heed that advice.

    The boxes had to be torn up to get the heavy parts out.

    you just turn the box upside down and lift it off leaving the bbq on the floor.
    That's what I did when I built my one.

    Funnily enough the one I ordered looked like your one but the one I got had 2 doors rather than a tool rack.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Bake Off Boss!
    baza52 wrote: »
    you just turn the box upside down and lift it off leaving the bbq on the floor.
    That's what I did when I built my one.

    Funnily enough the one I ordered looked like your one but the one I got had 2 doors rather than a tool rack.

    Oh no, you have the OPs BBQ. Looks like you got a bargain
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,866 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    OP ripped up the boxes once he had finished, so more purposely torn up than unavoidably damaged.

    OP said they had to rip it to get it out. More to the point, if the retailer want to claim that, the burden would be on them to prove the OP had been negligent and had failed to take reasonable care of the goods. Someone is not negligent just because they would have acted differently with hindsight, the law doesn't expect people to be perfect - only to meet the standard of a reasonable person.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450440/Unfair_Terms_Main_Guidance.pdf
    5.4.4 A variety of different types of wording can have the effect of excluding
    liability for unsatisfactory goods or digital content. For example:

     Terms requiring that the goods are accepted as satisfactory on delivery,
    or imposing unreasonable conditions on the consumer’s right to return
    them if faulty.
    Consumers normally have a short-term right to examine goods and
    reject them if faulty (see the table of statutory rights above, part 4). This
    right normally lasts for 30 days. Consumers cannot legally be deprived
    of this right by being required to sign ‘satisfaction notes’ on delivery, or
    by being required to return goods in a way that may not be possible –
    for example, in disposable packaging that they are likely to discard after
    opening.
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • mije1983
    mije1983 Posts: 3,665 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Name Dropper
    Taxlala wrote: »
    Thank you for the first [STRIKE]decent[/STRIKE] reply that agrees with me and I will heed that advice.

    Isn't this what was meant?

    On point though, if it's that much inconvenience to send it back, why not just negotiate a larger partial refund? Do you really need all the added extras anyway?
  • baza52
    baza52 Posts: 3,029 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 2 September 2016 at 11:56PM
    Taxlala wrote: »
    md2tk2.jpg

    Nothing wrong with how I built it, built to absolute perfection, a crime it has to come down. :)

    http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4597368.htm Just £150 now :)
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