Toilet seat not as described. online store refusing to replace

justnotheralias

Hi,

I purchased 05/09/17 a roca soft close toilet seat from an online retailer - taps empire. once it had been installed 11/09/17 and only then did i realise that it was a standard toilet seat, not soft close.

I emailed 11/09/17 them straight away and said the wrong item had been dispatched amd asked them to refund or replace as the wrong item had been sent. they replied the correct item had been dispatched but the manufacturer had put the wrong hinges in the box(?!) And they would contact the manufacturer to send the correct hinges. in the email chain between the vendor and i i confirmed to the vendor that the seat had been installed, the vendor is saying because of hygeine reasons they are unable to refund. subsequently roca sent the soft close hinges but these do not fit the original toilet seat. My concern is taps empire are trying to hide behing the hygeine excuse for not refunding the goods. i thought under the consumer regulations if an item was not 'as described' a refund was guaranteed? how do i force them to fufill the contract properly and at what point was i supposed to ascertain that the toilet seat was not soft close prior to installation therefore avoiding the 'hygeine' claim?

Thanks for looking and any advice.

Matt

esuhl

You had a contract with the company to supply the specified goods. You notified them as soon as you noticed their error.

It doesn't matter whether the manufacturer supplied the wrong hinges. The retailer is responsible for selling you the wrong item.

I'm pretty sure that the fact that "hygiene reasons" prevent the item from being resold doesn't affect your right to a replacement (or refund if the company are unable to supply the contracted item).

The Consumer Rights Act is the legislation that applies, so I'd read through it and insist that the retailer complies with the law:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents