Distance Selling Rules and Argos

jonboysez

I recently bought a humidifier online from Argos and used "click and collect" to collect it from a branch of Sainsburys. I tried it out the same night but in the morning my carpet and bed was wet (think I had it turned up too high) and I didn't like the blue light that was on all night nor the gurgling sounds it made. I emptied the remaining water out and repackaged it in the original packaging and took it to local branch of Argos - they were very reluctant to refund me as their terms state:


"Can I return it if there’s nothing wrong with it?
Absolutely! We offer a 30 day returns guarantee on most items. (We’re nice like that.)
So if you need to bring it back, just bring it back. Then we’ll either refund the cash onto the original payment method or offer you an exchange. Easy.
You just need these 2 things:

1. your proof of purchase
2. the item should be unused, in its original packaging and in a re-sellable condition
3. er... there is no 3

PS There are a few things we can’t do returns for, such as food and some jewellery (see FAQ below) unless of course they’re faulty. Naturally, none of this affects your consumer rights."


They did eventually refund me but said they would list it as "faulty" but it wasn't faulty to my knowledge. I was under the impression that the distance selling rules allowed you to try out the goods bought - i.e. if you bought a TV for instance or a radio without seeing it switched on how could you tell if you wanted it? Are Argos in breach of the Distance Selling Rules?

wealdroam

jonboysez wrote: »

I recently bought a humidifier online from Argos and used "click and collect" to collect it from a branch of Sainsburys. I tried it out the same night but in the morning my carpet and bed was wet (think I had it turned up too high) and I didn't like the blue light that was on all night nor the gurgling sounds it made. I emptied the remaining water out and repackaged it in the original packaging and took it to local branch of Argos - they were very reluctant to refund me as their terms state:


"Can I return it if there’s nothing wrong with it?
Absolutely! We offer a 30 day returns guarantee on most items. (We’re nice like that.)
So if you need to bring it back, just bring it back. Then we’ll either refund the cash onto the original payment method or offer you an exchange. Easy.
You just need these 2 things:

1. your proof of purchase
2. the item should be unused, in its original packaging and in a re-sellable condition
3. er... there is no 3

PS There are a few things we can’t do returns for, such as food and some jewellery (see FAQ below) unless of course they’re faulty. Naturally, none of this affects your consumer rights."


They did eventually refund me but said they would list it as "faulty" but it wasn't faulty to my knowledge. I was under the impression that the distance selling rules allowed you to try out the goods bought - i.e. if you bought a TV for instance or a radio without seeing it switched on how could you tell if you wanted it? Are Argos in breach of the Distance Selling Rules?

The 'Distance Selling Rules' you mention are included in The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Whilst they cannot refuse an order cancellation, Regulation 34 tells us that any refund can be reduced if the "handling is beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods if, in particular, it goes beyond the sort of handling that might reasonably be allowed in a shop".

jonboysez

Thanks for the reply - I would say you can't "establish the functioning of the goods" without filling it with water and switching it on!

mije1983

But I would say that filling it up with water and using it certainly does go beyond what may be reasonable in a shop.

You may have had a battle, but if you got a full refund then I think you've had a good result.

neilmcl

jonboysez wrote: »

Thanks for the reply - I would say you can't "establish the functioning of the goods" without filling it with water and switching it on!

It's a humidifier, it's pretty obvious what it's function is without having to use it.

The CCRs go on to state "For the purposes of paragraph (9) handling is beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods if, in particular, it goes beyond the sort of handling that might reasonably be allowed in a shop". I'm not sure I've seen any shop that allows you to demo a humidifier, have you?

jonboysez

Yes I see what you mean - if you bought a washing machine you couldn't expect to see it working in the shop but this section 34 is a bit ambiguous - presumably they could reduce the refund to nil (or 1 penny) if they chose to be awkward!

wealdroam

jonboysez wrote: »

Yes I see what you mean - if you bought a washing machine you couldn't expect to see it working in the shop but this section 34 is a bit ambiguous - presumably they could reduce the refund to nil (or 1 penny) if they chose to be awkward!

Indeed they could.

From that same Regulation 34:

(9) If (in the case of a sales contract) the value of the goods is diminished by any amount as a result of handling of the goods by the consumer beyond what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods, the trader may recover that amount from the consumer, up to the contract price.

Note the last five words there.

But no doubt in your case you would be arguing that you hadn't reduced the value by that amount.

jonboysez

Neilmcl
Yeah we all know how a TV works but have you not noticed the difference in picture quality between say a Sony and a Digihome! I might have pre-knowledge of this but many consumers will not!

mije1983

jonboysez wrote: »

presumably they could reduce the refund to nil (or 1 penny) if they chose to be awkward!

And in turn, you could research how much a used humidifier of the same model was going to cost to counter that.

theonlywayisup

How was your bed and carpet wet? Was the dehumidifier on the bed?

If it leaked, then it was faulty. Moot I know as you have your money back, but I'm intrigued in how it wet your bed.

jonboysez

I researched on the internet and found this carpet wetting thing was a regular problem of humidifiers - apparently if your humidifier has a variable control you should turn it down until you just see the vapour disappear then turn it back up just a twitter so the vapour vanishes into the air and doesn't cascade back down to condense on the carpet but nowhere in the Argos instructions did it mention this or at what height above the floor to locate the thing (apparently some humidifiers don't even have a variable control) - I assumed for maximum affect turn it to maximum! The bottom line is I would not have returned this thing if the instructions had told me this - I assumed the thing was not fit for purpose!