Advice with Faulty Item from the USA

Clarah_Lou

Hi, I am looking for a bit of advice... We recently spent October half term in Vegas, whist there my son bought a fabulous winter coat at the North Outlet from Tommy Hilfiger for $130 (full price was $360) Within a week of wearing it the zip broke so I contacted customer service who asked for the receipt and photos of the coat then emailed to say they were 'pleased to inform me' that my return had been approved and I was to return the coat and when they receive it they will send me a 'promotional code' to the equivalent value of $130 (in GBP) to use online.
I explained that this is no good to me as we could not replace the coat in the UK for that amount as the similar one sold in over here is £360. I explained that if they were unable to provide a replacement I would have to settle for a refund (which is annoying as he had saved all of his birthday money to buy this winter coat and was so happy to have it. They are point blank refusing to refund me saying the only option I have is to return it to the store (in Nevada!!) or accept the promotional voucher...

Can they do this?

Any advice gratefully received...

custardy

of course they can do it.
You are bound by the laws when you purchased.
Unless theres American laws you know that prevent this?

Clarah_Lou

custardy wrote: »

of course they can do it.
You are bound by the laws when you purchased.
Unless theres American laws you know that prevent this?

Do you mean 'where' you purchased? If so, do they not have consumer laws in the States?

LadyDee

It would be far less hassle and trouble just to get the zip replaced - many dry cleaners do repairs.

Clarah_Lou

LadyDee wrote: »

It would be far less hassle and trouble just to get the zip replaced - many dry cleaners do repairs.

Yes, that is an option but why should I have to which is why I am asking for advice from anyone who knows about this.

BoGoF

Clarah_Lou wrote: »

Yes, that is an option but why should I have to which is why I am asking for advice from anyone who knows about this.

Because you have no other option if you don't want to accept the offer.

Fosterdog

Clarah_Lou wrote: »

Do you mean 'where' you purchased? If so, do they not have consumer laws in the States?

The states are severely lacking in a lot of laws and protections we have in the U.K. consumer protections are known to be pretty poor outside the "customer is always right" mentality which is pretty much all about goodwill rather than legal protection.

Also I don't know of any federal consumer laws so you'd have to look up specific consumer laws for Nevada to find out what if any protections you have, I doubt anyone on here would know because it's a UK based forum.

Even if there was something to protect you, you would almost certainly have to cover the cost of shipping it back to them which would probably be more than the cost of a new zip, plus out there they might only legally have to give a voucher refund rather than cash/card.

custardy

Clarah_Lou wrote: »

Do you mean 'where' you purchased? If so, do they not have consumer laws in the States?

The sure do. Feel free to visit the store and exercise them.
In the vast majority of cases in the UK you would get no offer of refund/voucher without returning to store.

davidmcn

Clarah_Lou wrote: »

Do you mean 'where' you purchased? If so, do they not have consumer laws in the States?

I expect they do, but if you want to know details about consumer laws in Nevada, you should probably ask somewhere else, as we talk about UK consumer laws here.

As said though, what they're offering seems similar to what you'd get in the UK.

Clarah_Lou

BoGoF wrote: »

Because you have no other option if you don't want to accept the offer.

Thank you for the comment. Not particularly helpful though! I was looking for advice on US consumer rights from anyone in the know.

waamo

Clarah_Lou wrote: »

Yes, that is an option but why should I have to which is why I am asking for advice from anyone who knows about this.

You could try asking on a Nevada based consumer forum. Unfortunately very few people on a U.K. forum will be familiar with Nevada state consumer legislation.