Currys refusing to refund £1800

Futurefreak

I returned a tv to Currys under the 14 day cooling off period on January 5th.  It was collected by the Currys knowhow service. I’ve been chasing my refund since then, being told it would be 14 days, then another 24 to 72 hours, then request to wait, then on Sunday they tell me that apparently I chose to keep the tv. They are saying there is no record of it being returned and so will not refund me. Really annoyed with myself for not getting them to sign something saying they’d collected it but surely they should have some kind of system that proves they have or haven’t delivered or collected items. You don’t even need to sign for deliveries now. 

Currys are refusing to tell me when I apparently made the decision to keep the tv. Wa it on collection day? Was it before the collection day and it was cancelled? They are telling me that I must prove with cctv or photo evidence that they collected it!!! Well I could have done if they hadn’t lied to me for a month but now my cctv has automatically been overwritten. 

So, has anyone any ideas of my rights or what I can actually do to resolve this?
thanks in advance, Paul. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Did you pay by card?  Perhaps get them involved, it may chivvy Currys along.

Send them a photo of the empty space in your living room where the TV was.  They might realise the ridiculousness of their position.

unholyangel

Could you give an accurate description of the person who collected the TV? 

How else would you know what they looked like, unless they had actually attended to collect the TV? 

Was anyone else at home when it happened? Any nosey neighbours who might have seen and remember any details? 

Did you order another TV from elsewhere? 

I'd give all that to Curry's and remind them that you're simply alleging a mistake on their part, for which the standard of proof will be on the balance of probability and that they shouldn't seek to make you liable for any mistake on their part (including that of their agents). 

Futurefreak

Little bit more detail for you. Currys reduced the price of the tv a few days after I bought it and there was a voucher code too reducing the price by a total of £300. They refused the price match of the discount code value so I decided to return the original and reorder at the lower price. Collection was arranged for the same day as 2nd tv was to be delivered. When the driver arrived we took the new tv off him and then returned the old one. So Currys know that he was here and the driver also stated that he wasn’t allowed to leave both on the premises. There were 2 people at home at the time. Luckily I paid on my Currys account with the buy now pay later option so have a bit of breathing space so to speak. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Whilst you've acted within your rights, (and to be honest I would have done the same), you've mucked Currys about and it looks like they're mucking you around now.  It'll get sorted, I'm sure, because their position is not defensible, but it seems the inconvenience is the price you pay for the cheaper TV.

Manxman_in_exile

The OP hasn't really messed curry's around though, have they?  Curry's could simply have honoured the discount code without the OP having to return the original TV and re-order an identical one.  Curry's gave the OP no other option to get the saving.

I think I'd be doing a letter before claim by now.

Aylesbury_Duck

Manxman_in_exile said:

The OP hasn't really messed curry's around though, have they?  Curry's could simply have honoured the discount code without the OP having to return the original TV and re-order an identical one.  Curry's gave the OP no other option to get the saving.

I think I'd be doing a letter before claim by now.

I read it that there were two things that caused OP to cancel and re-order, one being a price reduction, the other being the voucher code.  Yes Currys could have honoured both discounts without going through the hassle of return and re-order but they weren't obliged to.

As I said, nothing wrong with what OP did, but they've created the situation to save £300 and now are having to deal with the hassle which is a consequence.

MattMattMattUK

Manxman_in_exile said:

The OP hasn't really messed curry's around though, have they?  Curry's could simply have honoured the discount code without the OP having to return the original TV and re-order an identical one.  Curry's gave the OP no other option to get the saving.

They were happy to buy something at the published price, they then suffered buyers remorse and decided to take some actions to get it cheaper after they had already purchased it. I would say that was messing Currys around and I generally have no sympathy for Currys.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

There's little point in consumers having the right to cancel if it's viewed as messing the retailer around.

OP do you know which courier it was (DPD, Yodel, etc), did they give you any kind of receipt for the collection?  

If not you could try to Google a number for the local depot (this is getting harder to achieve and with some couriers it's impossible) to have a chat and see if they have a record of the collection on their system. 

If you can't find a number you could email the courier company and see what they can tell you. 

Manxman_in_exile

MattMattMattUK said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

The OP hasn't really messed curry's around though, have they?  Curry's could simply have honoured the discount code without the OP having to return the original TV and re-order an identical one.  Curry's gave the OP no other option to get the saving.

They were happy to buy something at the published price, they then suffered buyers remorse and decided to take some actions to get it cheaper after they had already purchased it. I would say that was messing Currys around and I generally have no sympathy for Currys.

But they haven't suffered buyer's remorse (ie deciding they didn't want it or it wasn't good enough) have they?  They've discovered they could have got it for £300 less and have tried to do that.  Curry's won't allow them to do the common-sense thing so the OP has exercised their statutory right to cancel within 14 days and have reordered the same item.  Are you suggesting that the OP is doing something wrong here (it would seem you are) and that they should not be able to avail themselves of their statutory rights?

I'm sure that there might be good reasons why Curry's can't do the common-sense thing and just refund the OP £300 and be done with it (eg their procedures won't allow it) but that isn't the OP's fault.  Curry's are basically saying "No we can't just refund you - you are going to have to cancel and re-order and we will then collect the original set and deliver a new one".  If the law - and Curry's - allows the OP to do that, then he's not messing them around.

The only messing around being done is by Curry's not fully refunding within 14 days and claiming the original set has not been returned - unless you are taking the point of view that the OP is lying.

I don't particularly need £300 but if I were in the OP's position I'd do exactly the same as he has done.  But you are saying you wouldn't because you wouldn't want to mess Curry's around?  Very admirable but not very sensible.

And like you, I'm not a Curry's-basher.  I don't buy from them frequently but I've never had a problem returning things to them.  I've even successfully had a refund for a "change of mind" bought in store.

EDIT:  To clarify, I'm taking the OP's reference to 14 days cancellation to mean it was an online purchase.

Futurefreak

just to just to confirm, yes it was an online order and it was actually Currys own knowhow team that collected the tv. I can assure you I’m not lying even though Currys seem to be taking the assumption that I am. They won’t even tell me whether I’m supposed to have refused collection on the day, beforehand or whenever.