Sales of goods Act

Peeley

Hi
I recently purchased a calor gas bottle from my local Morrison fuel station. The bottle was faulty so I took it back the next day. The shop refused to refund or exchange the bottle and said we had take it up with Calor gas and refused to help in anyway stating that was Morrisons policy across the board. I mentioned the sale of goods act and my contract was with Morrisons but they would not budge and I was forced to take it up with Calor Gas who themselves couldn't understand why Morrisons didn't just exchange it . Are Morrisons allowed to do this?

MattMattMattUK

Peeley said:

Hi
I recently purchased a calor gas bottle from my local Morrison fuel station. The bottle was faulty so I took it back the next day. The shop refused to refund or exchange the bottle and said we had take it up with Calor gas and refused to help in anyway stating that was Morrisons policy across the board. I mentioned the sale of goods act and my contract was with Morrisons but they would not budge and I was forced to take it up with Calor Gas who themselves couldn't understand why Morrisons didn't just exchange it . Are Morrisons allowed to do this?

Well for starters, are you sure your claim would fall under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 rather than the Consumer Rights Act 2015? My suspicion is that it would fall under the latter. 

Calor Gas bottles might be a slightly complicated one, you do not actually own the bottle and it's usage falls under the Cylinder Refill Agreement from Calor Gas itself. As Calor Gas have sorted the replacement bottle I am not sure what is to be gained by doing anything further? 

Due to the nature of the sale, the bottle contract etc. I am not sure if Morrisons were acting within the legislation or not, it is complicated by the refill agreement and you not owning the bottle, as the matter was easily resolved by Calor themselves chalk it up to experience. 

Sandtree

SOGA has been replaced with the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Your statutory rights are with the retailer and so were you to want to enforce those rights then it'd be Morrisons that you took to court. It is however common for merchants to refer customers to manufacturers with issues and particularly when you are outside the initial 30 day window to reject goods there can be a certain sense. 

"Allowed to do" is a messy term to use, they should deal with your request to reject the goods within 30 days however they can also require you to prove that the goods are faulty which is normally done via an engineers report (the cost of which is added to your claim if successful).  Clearly most merchants take a more pragmatic approach but you can imagine that they are concerned that you emptied the canister rather than it being faulty.

George_Michael

Sandtree said:

SOGA has been replaced with the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Parts of the SOGA have been replaced but not all of it and depending on what the gas was purchased for, the SOGA may still apply to the sale.
If for example, the OP is a builder and they needed the gas bottle for use on a hob, it would be a business purchase, hence covered by the SOGA.

Peeley

Thank you all for your help

mattyprice4004

The problem is that by mentioning SOGA they probably just assumed you didn't really know what you were talking about (given most of the SOGA was replaced 6 years ago) and fobbed you off. 
Did Calor sort it out? 

Ditzy_Mitzy

I'm not completely convinced there is a contract between the OP and Morrisons.  The gas bottle was supplied and sold by Calor Gas directly, with Morrisons acting as an agent to collect payment.  The money goes to Calor who, I understand, pay a fee to Morrisons for rent of the forecourt space and processing the transactions.  That said, there probably is a procedure in place for Morrisons to exchange faulty bottles on the forecourt, and send the dud ones back to Calor.  What the Calor agent said suggests there ought to be, at least.  Morrisons' customer service doesn't quite seem to be up to scratch, but I think that's probably about as far as this one goes.  
It's not a conventional wholesaler/retailer arrangement.  Calor Gas is the retailer; Morrisons has not bought the gas in advance to sell on, as it would do with its own products.  

unforeseen

Could be compared to marketplace sellers on Amazon or even sellers on Ebay. 

davidmcn

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

I'm not completely convinced there is a contract between the OP and Morrisons.  The gas bottle was supplied and sold by Calor Gas directly, with Morrisons acting as an agent to collect payment.  The money goes to Calor who, I understand, pay a fee to Morrisons for rent of the forecourt space and processing the transactions.

I doubt that works unless it's made explicit by Morrisons at the point of sale?

Ditzy_Mitzy

davidmcn said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

I'm not completely convinced there is a contract between the OP and Morrisons.  The gas bottle was supplied and sold by Calor Gas directly, with Morrisons acting as an agent to collect payment.  The money goes to Calor who, I understand, pay a fee to Morrisons for rent of the forecourt space and processing the transactions.

I doubt that works unless it's made explicit by Morrisons at the point of sale?

According to the Calor website, purchasing a cylinder causes one to enter into a contract with Calor themselves regarding rent and refill.  The customer doesn't actually buy the cylinder, he buys the gas and rents the cylinder containing it on an indefinite basis.  The customer is supposed to return the cylinder to Calor when it's empty.  I appreciate that lots of people don't care about the contract and treat the gas bottles as if they are personal property.