Being left disadvantaged after refund for faulty item

George_Michael

surfer91919 wrote: »

The fact is I have an email from the retailer saying they would email me with their findings upon inspecting the wetsuit and tell me my options. "We will be in touch when the warranty team have inspected the item". I received no email or other communication whatsoever and as such .

As you contacted them about faulty goods then proceeded to keep those goods for a few months, they may well have decided that you had no longer wanted the leak sorted out.

surfer91919 wrote: »

I'm surprised everyone who has commented appears to think that this is a proper way to treat customers. It's a major failure of communication and proper process on their part.

Could I suggest that you take a long hard look in the mirror as
the lack of communication started with you. You contacted the retailer about faulty goods then proceeded to continue using those goods up until you had no further use of them without advising or asking the retailer if this would be okay.

surfer91919

BoGoF wrote: »

For the umpteenth time.....a manufacturers warranty is nothing to do with the retailer, despite what the manufacturers website may say.

Your only recourse is via the CRA and as explained numerous times the retailer can choose the remedy. They have elected to refund.

That's it.....finished....game over.

No amount of whining will change that.

Well I phoned the manufacturer earlier and they said the first port of call IS the retailer who is then supposed to liase with the nearest distributer. He then asked who the retailer was and when I told he said "they never send any wetsuits for repair, they just refund. I'll sort it out for you if you can send it here".


So I phoned the retailer who initially wasn't helpful until I reminded them that they'd failed to communicate their course of action with me. They emailed me back an hour later saying they had found the wetsuit and could I send a paypal address for them to request the money back.



So that's it hopefully, game over and "whining" worked.


That said if their other emails are anything to go by I should hold my breath until the suit actually arrives with the distributer in the condition I sent it (cosmetically immaculate, basically brand new bar some tints of wax in a couple of places).



For a consumer rights forum I'm quite surprised how many people think I not only deserved to have no warranty service at all but even to have money deducted from the enforced/ unsolicited refund even though I've done nothing wrong according to the terms and conditions.

surfer91919

George_Michael wrote: »

As you contacted them about faulty goods then proceeded to keep those goods for a few months, they may well have decided that you had no longer wanted the leak sorted out.


Could I suggest that you take a long hard look in the mirror as
the lack of communication started with you. You contacted the retailer about faulty goods then proceeded to continue using those goods up until you had no further use of them without advising or asking the retailer if this would be okay.

I agree. I wish I'd acted on it sooner. However I did nothing wrong according to the T&Cs which I can find on either website or the emails. The bottom line is it has a 12 month warranty from date of purchase, repair or replace. There's no mention made of a time frame for dealing with warranty claims from the time when you first notice the issue.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

surfer91919 wrote: »

Well I phoned the manufacturer earlier and they said the first port of call IS the retailer who is then supposed to liase with the nearest distributer. He then asked who the retailer was and when I told he said "they never send any wetsuits for repair, they just refund. I'll sort it out for you if you can send it here".


So I phoned the retailer who initially wasn't helpful until I reminded them that they'd failed to communicate their course of action with me. They emailed me back an hour later saying they had found the wetsuit and could I send a paypal address for them to request the money back.



So that's it hopefully, game over and "whining" worked.


That said if their other emails are anything to go by I should hold my breath until the suit actually arrives with the distributer in the condition I sent it (cosmetically immaculate, basically brand new bar some tints of wax in a couple of places).



For a consumer rights forum I'm quite surprised how many people think I not only deserved to have no warranty service at all but even to have money deducted from the enforced/ unsolicited refund even though I've done nothing wrong according to the terms and conditions.

Another one of those threads with a successful outcome when it hasn't gone the OP's way.

surfer91919

born_again wrote: »

Don't think I've ever seen a thread where someone is moaning that a Manufacture Warranty was not used by a retailer when faulty goods were received...
It's usually retailer is trying to fob me off with contacting the manufacture.



I guess you hit on a good retailer there.
I guess the reason they did not respond is that you took over 2 months to return and thought why should should we bother.
They could have held on to it for the same period and then decided that no it's fine and sent it back.

Sure, a retailer who just replaces and never repairs- I'm sure that mentality will go a long way to prevent pollution and climate change.
There were no T&Cs stating a time frame on returning faulty items. A large number of people on this forum seem to have a moral issue with me not jumping to attention to sort out a manufacturing fault, yet go on about the rule of Law when their moral issue is based purely on conjecture.

surfer91919

GS.. wrote: »

WET suits let water in, hence the name. You need a DRY suit.
You are not entitled to benefit from a product until it didn't suit you (low tide)
Their maximum liability is the price you pay for it.
Retailers have rights too, including banning customers they prefer not to deal with
.

That much is apparent. Consider this for a moment: For a seam of a wetsuit to be competent it must let water in a slower rate than the permeable neoprene surrounding it. Properly excuted, a wetsuit seam should be impermeable as it's made with a multi stage process of multiple applications of glue and finally a tape. Once that seam lets water in at a noticeably faster rate than the surrounding neorpene- voila! You have a leak which will reduce the efficiency of the design and be uncomfortable for the user because the hole will open up during certain movements causing unwelcome injections of cold water.


This happens on all suits eventually. I've been using Xcel infiniti wetsuits for 15 years and have had 5 of them of varying thicknesses; none of them showed any seam leakage for atleast a year of regular use. One 6/4 hooded infiniti I have is still going strong after 10 years and you think another suit of the same design and spec is OK to leak on the first use...

surfer91919

Carrot007 wrote: »

OK, then I assume you told the retailer (at the start) you were not making a claim on your statutory rights and just using the manufacturers warranty which they needed to participate in? (otherwise I expect they choose the option most beneficial to them).

This was useful advice thank you, and I have got somewhere with it!

shaun_from_Africa

surfer91919 wrote: »

I agree. I wish I'd acted on it sooner. However I did nothing wrong according to the T&Cs which I can find on either website or the emails. The bottom line is it has a 12 month warranty from date of purchase, repair or replace

Apart from this:

The following circumstances will not be covered under warranty:

Repairs, or alterations, to any area of the product done or attempted by anyone other than an authorised Xcel repair facility. Products classified as seconds, samples, or used. Damage from sunlight, chlorine, improper recreational use or care

Using something for a few months whilst being aware that it is damaged could well be classed as improper use, especially if that use could lead to the damage worsening.

surfer91919

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

Another one of those threads with a successful outcome when it hasn't gone the OP's way.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed until the distributor has the wetsuit. I tried to upload a screenshot of the email I got today at 4pm but I'm not allowed due to being a new user. To be honest it's in the retailers interest to reverse the refund process as there's no way a "used" suit with reported issues would get £195 anywhere which is what I can offer them.

maisie_cat

surfer91919 wrote: »

Once again I didn't want a refund, I wanted my wetsuit working properly. I had a years warranty on seams and neoprene so I had every right to have that suit repaired or replaced under manufacturers warranty.

Actually, the retailer chooses whether it's a repair, replacement or refund. They have put you back in the same position as you were. In fact you have done well to have used it for a few months, the leaks can't have been that bad otherwise it would have been rendered unwearable.