**Confronting Currys' obstruction of UK consumer rights: information needed/appreciated**

Cark

My wife and I are in our mid 70s but not yet entirely deranged -- a statement that may be in need of rapid revision seeing as how we became customers of Currys/PCWorld on November 24th last, when I made an online order for the supply of a 43" LG television.

I lack the strength to provide a litany here of all the reasons why we wish to return this product to Currys.

I'm also conscious ofthe time folks have to spend on actually reading an MSE post.

Suffice to say that we have been unable to make use of the TV as intended due to a variety of faults that only became apparent after we unpacked it and turned it on.

We do not intend to accept the goods because it is our contention, as UK consumers, that Currys is in breach of contract under the terms of The Consumer Rights Act of 2015, legislation which holds that it is an implied term of contract that goods when delivered be as described, be fit for purpose, and be of satisfactory quality.

That said, however, Currys appears to be running a deliberate scheme to obstruct customers from initiating a returns/refunds request.

By a strange coincidence -- which we cannot believe is any kind of coincidence at all -- each and every one of the multiple links set up by Currys to deal with return/refund requests has simultaneously become dysfunctional. Either that, or the link/guidance was erroneous to begin with.

(1) The returns/refund process begins with the provision of a phone number which customers are told must to be rung if a return/refund issue has arisen. The number, says Currys, is 0344 561 1234. (See first of attached screenshot).

 We have rung that number and after being subjected to a barrage of Curry's self promoting trivia, have been told by the recorded voice that the issue of refunds  and returns "cannot be dealt with via the telephone".

Obviously, the question is begged: why stipulate that a particular phone number must be used for returns/refunds processing if that phone number doesn't allow the processing to be dealt with?

That, however,  turns out to be only the first step in Curry's customer journey of mind-numbing circularity. 

(2) The recorded message on 0344 561 1234 instructs the caller to go online to Support and follow the procedure set out there. So we have done,starting here:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/help-and-services/shopping-with-us/returns-and-refunds-16-commercial.html

The page contains a variety of options relating to types of purchase. We selected online purchases, and clicked on "Large items returns form", seeing as how Currys makes clear elsewhere on its website that a TV of 43inches or more is a "Large Item".

That took us to this link:

(3)   https://cws.secure-mobiles.com/embeddedforms/v1/big-box/return

and a Returns form including this request: Please provide information about the product you wish to return and the reason for return.

It is noticeable that the customer is not allowed to freely express a reason, but must adhere to the wording Currys has invented for itself. A customer is absolutely NOT allowed to say a product is being returned because it is unfit for purpose. (See attached screenshot)

 The nearest approximation to our reasons for non acceptance of the goods was "It's faulty/damaged -- please refund", and so we clicked on that -- at which point the text was largely overwritten by this red ink advisory: If your item is faulty/damaged, please contact us for further assistance or alternatively view our Returns and Cancellations T&Cs.

Thus it is that after taking the time to call a number which Currys says exists to deal with refund/returns processing -- but doesn't -- you've now been required to fill in a dedicated form which Currys says exists to facilitate returns and refunds. . . but doesn't.

(4) We clicked on the live link within that red ink message  "Contact us for further assistance"  and were taken to this further part of the website:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/help-and-services/help-and-services-20-commercial.html?tab=2

This 'Contact Us' page has a live "Return unwanted items" link which when clicked leads to what is described as the "Returns and Refunds" page:

(5) https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/help-and-services/shopping-with-us/returns-and-refunds-16-commercial.html

This, it may be noted, is the exact same Support page  that you start off on after your call to that Currys telephone number.

So. . . we use the last reserves of our patience to click on the appropriate options and were immediately taken to -- guess where? Yes:

(6) https://cws.secure-mobiles.com/embeddedforms/v1/big-box/return

That, of course, is the original dedicated form created by Currys to facilitate the process of returning faulty goods and obtaining refunds but which, when you've spent your time filling it in, doesn't facilitate anything at all. It's pointless. 

As to where you go from there. . . no proper guidance exists. In the T&Cs which you need to hunt down there's a reference to WebChat and how Currys' doubtless "helpful colleagues" are just waiting to hear from you.

Except, it turns out, no-one is waiting at all.

(8) https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/help-and-services/expert-advice/web-chat-137-commercial.html

Every possible link on that page is dead.

We are reasonable, intelligent  folks who are not prone to hysterics nor fantasy. However, in light of our experience it seems to us not unreasonable to surmise that Currys/PC World has wilfully set up a roundabout of useless  options and dysfunctional  links circling endlessly and uselessly back on themselves out of a desire to frustrate a customer, exhaust his/her patience, and deter her/him from continuing on.

There is of couse no earthly reason why a well-run  online business would need to have more than ONE link to a Returns/Refunds process, yet Currys/PC World has for reasons best left to others to ponder invented a slew of links, none of which work.

Though this is consuming an inordinate amount of time and patience, we are not giving up.

What we need to do now is contact Currys/PC World at senior level, seeing as how there's no email address for Support on the company's website. . . only a postal address (ye gods, in 2012??) . .

My question therefore is this:

does any MSEr know the email address of senior Currys/PC World Support, or of Currys/PC World Managing Director/CEO?

We cannot believe that the sequence of website failures and website inadequacies is anything other than a none-too subtle policy approved at the highest level of the company to confuse and ultimately deter  UK consumers from exercising their lawful consumer rights.

Screenshots attached, as appropriate.

 

powerful_Rogue

Google 'Currys CEO email address'

tacpot12

Much easier to take them to the Small Claims Court. I'm sure the court will be very interested to hear how difficult Currys made it to deal with the issue responsibly. 

powerful_Rogue

Or use the webchat option to arrange curry's to collect the item.

zoob

What's wrong with the tv? 

tacpot12

zoob said:

What's wrong with the tv? 

"It has a range of faults" that's all we need to know. The OP isn't asking whether the TV is faulty. He is clear that it is. Of course, Curry's may have a different opinion. It would be as well for the OP to record their evidence of how the TV is faulty while it is in their possession bearing in mind that visual issues can be very difficult to record as the human eye is generally much better than the photographic and video equipment available to the general public, unless the issue is something obvious like a dead pixel.

steampowered

Send a "letter before action" giving Currys 14 days to pay up, followed by county court proceedings if they fail to respond.

It's very easy to do: https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim.

Diamandis

I'm sure if you still asked on the phone they would help. 

Supersonos

tacpot12 said:

zoob said:

What's wrong with the tv? 

"It has a range of faults" that's all we need to know. 

Actually, I think it would be helpful for the OP to quickly outline the faults.  TVs are incredibly simple pieces of technology these days - a screen, a circuit board, a PSU and some inputs.

To have a "range of faults" could actually just point to one simple thing.

theonlywayisup

How did you pay?  Read the article on this site regarding Section 75 and Chargeback. 

Cark

Hi everyone. . . thanks for your replies. And special thanks to powerful_Rogue for the reminder about Google search: I actually ran one yesterday, but may have mis-keyed the search because the results made no sense (unfortunately, I'm recovering from a stroke, one of the results of which is the impairment of keyboard 'fingertip memory'). From a purely medical point of view I shouldn't be having to write extensively about anything or having to contend with the stress of anything of an intensive nature.

Anyway, thanks to Rogue_Reminder I've just re-run the Google search and sorted properly through the results to discover the name and email address I need: an Alex Baldock, alexanderbaldock@dixonscarphonegroup.com.

As to the issue of civil court action, I'm well able to issue an LBA to the Currys postal address in Sheffield (sent by Royal Mail Next Day certified delivery, as that's the only despatch medium which is appropriate) but any court will need to be assured that I, as plaintiff, took sufficient steps to remedy the situation before involving it. Simply issuing a letter before action isn't enough; Judges aren't necessarily dependable, and some are  known for being irritable and irrational. Blind faith in County Court action has been the undoing of a number of MSErs over the years, as the archives show.

There's also the fact that in my present state of health, having to contend with Court documents and a Court appearance is absolutely not recommended. If I was younger and stronger in health that particular course of action would certainly appeal, but I need to be realistic and know my own limitations -- as we all do at some time or other: age and ill health inevitably catches up with us all.

Finally, I did not mention the reasons why we are rejecting the product as unfit for purpose and not of the quality promised because that would require the typing out of so many other details and I don't have the strength or time for that. As tacpot12 kindly pointed out, my OP isn't about dealing with the faults of a TV set but about dealing with a national business which for reasons unclear seems determined to obstuct its customers and deter them from pursuing their legitimate legal rights.

Suffice it to say my wife and I aren't stupid, we know which area of consumer legislation relates to which consumer problem (hence why I didn't go banging on, as some folks seem to do elsewhere on MSE about 'distance selling' and all kinds of other obsolete, irrelevant pre-2015 legislation) and we know we have a tenable case for the return at the retailer's expense of an unusable faulty product and refund of the monies paid for same.

Because the issue isn't merely a technical one about some alleged dead pixel or other, but ranges more widely than that, we have already documented and recorded all information relevant to our claim. We have also amassed definitive evidence that we are far from being the only purchasers of this particular model of LG television  to have encountered unnecessary difficulties in trying to use the darn thing, out of the box.

Today, we will attempt to contact Currys again beginning with the mandatory telephone call which as we already know will tell us we shouldn't be making that call anyway, and then we'll once again go online to the various Currys website support links which either don't work because Curry's has rendered them meaningless or are mysteriously non-functional, all at the same time.

After the time wasted later today on that, I'll prepare an email perhaps tomorrow for the attention of Mr Baldock, and then print out the text of that in hard copy form in a surface mail letter to Currys, Sheffield, with warning of a formal LBA to follow if the matter isn't promptly dealt with.

By virtue of former careers my wife and I are cognisant of the fact that we have many options open to us -- truth to tell, we're possibly far more aware of those options than would be the average, luckless and perhaps less articulate UK consumer.

We may decide to involve our constituency Member of Parliament in an approach to the CMA seeing as how the OFT is now long dead though certain vestigial investigative functions remain within the CMA remit, functions best dealt with via Parliamentary intermediacy; we may approach contacts at  BBC Radio 4's You and Yours, which is and always has been the only consumer investigative programme worth bothering with seeing as how BBC TV's  'Watchdog' comes under the unimpressive floss of BBC's Light Entertainment division rather than News.

A final thought. People, including MSERs, all have their own busy lives to lead, and though I'm glad I've been able to high-light our Currys/PC World experience here for the record and hopefully, the benefit of others I won't be taking up folks's time (nor mine) needlessly updating this thread but will wait until this issue has been substantially progressed or settled one way or another.

Thanks again, then,  everyone for your kindness and courtesy in devoting time to reading my OP. (And apologies if I've failed to pick up on every one of the umpteen typos occurring in the original draft).