Faulty camera bought at Argos

Bambam18

Not sure what to do next.

I bought a camera at Argos on Saturday for a family member's trip away the following Friday. Opened the box on Thursday to work out how to work it, turned it on and the screen is broken. Looks like it has been dropped. I know it wasn't us as it hasn't been out of the box, and the box has been stored in a drawer. Took the camera back to Argos on Friday (yesterday) and they are refusing to take it back, the lady says that it must have been us, as the box doesn't look damaged, and refused to take it back. After much arguing and stamping of feet I walked out; having been told that the address to complain to was on the back of the receipt.
There are no visible signs of damage to the camera.

I am obviously going to complain, but need to know my rights before I do.

Thanks for your help.

neilmcl

I'm afraid it's going to end up with the old "your word against theirs" scenario. Unless you can prove, on the balance of probabilities, that you didn't damage the camera then I'm afraid you're on a bit of a sticky wicket and you're really relying on their goodwill whether they'll accept your version of events or not.

One thing to be aware of is Argos are notorious for selling items that have been returned by other customers, but again this will also be hard to prove.

naedanger

Bambam18 wrote: »

Not sure what to do next.

I bought a camera at Argos on Saturday for a family member's trip away the following Friday. Opened the box on Thursday to work out how to work it, turned it on and the screen is broken. Looks like it has been dropped. I know it wasn't us as it hasn't been out of the box, and the box has been stored in a drawer. Took the camera back to Argos on Friday (yesterday) and they are refusing to take it back, the lady says that it must have been us, as the box doesn't look damaged, and refused to take it back. After much arguing and stamping of feet I walked out; having been told that the address to complain to was on the back of the receipt.
There are no visible signs of damage to the camera.

I am obviously going to complain, but need to know my rights before I do.

Thanks for your help.

Your right is to a full refund provided the item was damaged when you bought it. If the item was damaged through misuse (e.g. by dropping it) after you received it then you don't have a right to any remedy.

The problem is proving your case i.e. that the item was damaged when you received it. If you took the matter to court then the court would decide on the balance of probability.

SouthUKMan

In these circumstances, your best bet is to complain to head office and stick to the facts:

Bought camera from X store on X date.

On opening packaging discovered damage.

Tried to return faulty item to X store on X date.

Staff member / manager refused to accept item was damaged prior to my purchase.

I am now writing to you for a full refund.

Zandoni

Try taking it back to another store, if you have trouble make sure you speak to the manager.

powerful_Rogue

Bambam18 wrote: »

After much arguing and stamping of feet I walked out;

That's certainly not going to help anything.

kazzah

I really don't understand this- I bought hubby a camera for his birthday despite it being an upgrade to his previous one, he couldn't get a good shot with it- it was constantly blurring the shot - after about 11 months we took it back to Argos and asked the chap if there was any way it could be returned to the manufacturer to be checked out as we believed it was faulty - without ANY hesitation the assistant offered a full refund or replacement - we opted for the replacement - we were VERY surprised and said thanks to the chap !

unforeseen

kazzah wrote: »

I really don't understand this- I bought hubby a camera for his birthday despite it being an upgrade to his previous one, he couldn't get a good shot with it- it was constantly blurring the shot - after about 11 months we took it back to Argos and asked the chap if there was any way it could be returned to the manufacturer to be checked out as we believed it was faulty - without ANY hesitation the assistant offered a full refund or replacement - we opted for the replacement - we were VERY surprised and said thanks to the chap !

The difference is that in the ops case there is obvious physical damage. Damage normally attributable to mishandling by the user.