Distance Selling Rules and Argos

Lomast

theonlywayisup wrote: »

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.

Humidifier not dehumidifier

neilmcl

jonboysez wrote: »

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!

Yes, and as you can clearly go into any shop and see a demo of all the different TVs available it is not unreasonable to be able to do so if purchased at a distance. With a product as simple as a humidifier it isn't really necessary to see it working in comparison to other models to know what it's going to do.

neilmcl

theonlywayisup wrote: »

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.

A humidifier will kick out a fair amount of vapour so if left too close to a bed for example it will get damp.

neilmcl

jonboysez wrote: »

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!

What's the make/model? I'd be surprised if there wasn't something in the instructions to state where it should or should not be located.

jonboysez

Challenge 3.2l ultrasonic with pointed top (not the 3.5l model - that does seem to have lot better instructions!)

jonboysez

neilmcl

And if I had seen how it was wetting my carpet I would not have bought it! - surely that is the whole point of inspecting it before buying it? The only difference between the TV and the humidifier is that it would be hard for anyone to be able to tell that the TV had been switched on unlike the humidifier that will have some residual water spots left inside unless it is left to dry out - I put it all back in its original packing - they have both been "used" if switched on by the buyer! I can't see why the humidifier cant be resold if the TV can be - the TV would have to be attached to its base for starters and then unscrewed after so would probably look used too.

mije1983

jonboysez wrote: »

I can't see why the humidifier cant be resold if the TV can be

Would it have been ok with you if you had got the humidifier home and found water in it?

To add though, the point of the regulations is to enable online shoppers to have the same advantage other people would. So for example being able to see a TV working in a shop, but not a humidifier (or washing machine!). Not whether they have been used or not.

shaun_from_Africa

jonboysez wrote: »

I can't see why the humidifier cant be resold if the TV can be

I can.
http://time.com/4685972/humidifier-disinfectants-bacteria-water/

https://homeaircheck.com/2017/03/01/humidifier-contaminating-indoor-air-mold-viruses-bacteria/

There is no way for Argos to know for sure how clean the water that went into the humidifier was and how clean the inside is before reselling it.
The risk will be extremely low but why would they want to take that risk if they can avoid it?

jonboysez

The bottom line with all this is that there is a flaw in the rules - with something like a vase or a coffee table you can tell just by looking at it if its what you want but with goods that need powering up you aren't going to know unless you indeed power them up - if you buy a vacuum cleaner and it screams its head off when you power it up you aren't going to use it are you so it will end up as an expensive door stop! I suppose then you will be claiming that it is not fit for purpose but even then it might be brilliant at picking muck up just that you need earphones to use it so you might lose your case. I think the sellers need to be a bit lenient on there returns policy like Argos was with me otherwise I'm sure a competitor will enter the market that will be more lenient, after all if they stock good quality products with clear instructions they will have few comebacks and can absorb the few that do.

jonboysez

Shaun
Recently on tv there was a program showing how clean hotels were between 5 star and 1 star rated hotels - one of the things they found most bugs on was the tv remote controls!