Returning faulty goods without receipt.

DonQuix

Hi all.

This is my first post here so please be gentle! I bought some Spear & Jackson gardening tools from Homebase last year (May 2020), buying that particular brand because it came with a 10 year guarantee. This morning, one of the tools broke - the steel fatigued and the trowel head came clean away from the handle shaft. According to S&J's website if the tools fail within 12 months they should be returned to the store (Homebase), rather than S&J themselves. So far so good. The thing is, I cannot for the life of me find the receipt. I can however prove that I bought them, and the day they were bought, through my bank statement; the tools are still listed at the exact same price as when I bought them. So there is an entry from that date for the exact amount those tools would have, and still do, cost.

So where do I stand? Do I have a leg to stand on without a receipt?

Many thanks in advance.

Don

davidmcn

Generally (if we're talking about your statutory rights) there's no legal requirement to produce the shop's till receipt (or indeed for a shop to give you one). Ultimately you'd need to persuade a court (on the balance of probabilities) where/when you bought the item - your own testimony and a bank transaction ought to be enough. Don't know what in practice Homebase's practices are though or whether they treat it differently if you're pointing at the manufacturer's guarantee.

DonQuix

That's useful to know, thanks. I suppose the first step is to go to Homebase tomorrow and test my powers of persuasion. As you say, the fact that it'd be a claim off the manufacturer (for Homebase) may work in my favour.

neilmcl

DonQuix said:

Hi all.

This is my first post here so please be gentle! I bought some Spear & Jackson gardening tools from Homebase last year (May 2020), buying that particular brand because it came with a 10 year guarantee. This morning, one of the tools broke - the steel fatigued and the trowel head came clean away from the handle shaft. According to S&J's website if the tools fail within 12 months they should be returned to the store (Homebase), rather than S&J themselves. So far so good. The thing is, I cannot for the life of me find the receipt. I can however prove that I bought them, and the day they were bought, through my bank statement; the tools are still listed at the exact same price as when I bought them. So there is an entry from that date for the exact amount those tools would have, and still do, cost.

So where do I stand? Do I have a leg to stand on without a receipt?

Many thanks in advance.

Don

Not really. If you can't prove that you bought them and when and where then your guarantee is worthless.

greyteam1959

But to OP can prove he bought them there with his bank statement.

David713

neilmcl said:

DonQuix said:

Hi all.

This is my first post here so please be gentle! I bought some Spear & Jackson gardening tools from Homebase last year (May 2020), buying that particular brand because it came with a 10 year guarantee. This morning, one of the tools broke - the steel fatigued and the trowel head came clean away from the handle shaft. According to S&J's website if the tools fail within 12 months they should be returned to the store (Homebase), rather than S&J themselves. So far so good. The thing is, I cannot for the life of me find the receipt. I can however prove that I bought them, and the day they were bought, through my bank statement; the tools are still listed at the exact same price as when I bought them. So there is an entry from that date for the exact amount those tools would have, and still do, cost.

So where do I stand? Do I have a leg to stand on without a receipt?

Many thanks in advance.

Don

Not really. If you can't prove that you bought them and when and where then your guarantee is worthless.

What neilmcl stated is totally correct.
The guarantee/warranty may be useless as it's perfectly acceptable for a receipt to be required when claiming on these but as far as UK consumer law is concerned, a bank statement is perfectly acceptable as proof of purchase as it can be used to trace the details of the original purchase:

https://www.bromley.gov.uk/leaflet/122503/21/683/d

I have lost the receipt. The trader says I no longer have any rights. Is this correct?  

No. You do not have to produce your receipt in order to make a claim against the trader for faulty goods. However, you do have to prove that you bought the goods, how much you paid and when you bought them. Normally this would be the receipt but you could use a copy of your bank or credit card statement.

https://www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds

Proof of purchase

You can ask the customer for proof that they bought an item from you. This could be a sales receipt or other evidence such as a bank statement or packaging.

unforeseen

As the instructions for returning to store within 12 months are on S&J site then this falls under warranty/manufacturers guarantee surely? 

If it's under consumer rights then you need to prove its an inherent fault as its greater than 6 months.