Halfords neglecting their responsibilities

AllyM2021

After the power cable on my nextbase dashcam developed a fault I went to Halfords in Sittingbourne on 24/11/21 only to be told that I had to go the manufacturer. Now my item is only 11 months old so within warranty and I had my receipt and that is where I bought it. I asked why when I bought it here and was stated by the shift manager that you can only return items that are not branded Halfords within 3 months and I now needed to deal with nextbase. This obviously isn't the case and when I explained that under UK consumer law my contract was with them as they took my money they just didn't care and wouldn't accept it. I asked for a customer care number and was told "good luck they're in Africa". I asked to speak to a manager above this guy who refused to speak to me and I was eventually thrown a new cable at me. I asked that if I spend £379 on a new TomTom satnav would I have the same issue and was told yes! So I won't be spending another penny there. I contacted customer service on Facebook and this was the reply I got.

"Hi Alistair,

Thanks for your patience with this. I have investigated this with the store directly and they have advised me that while this item does have a one year manufacturer warranty this only includes a 30-day return window to return the item to us in-store and then after this It would need to be returned to the manufacturer. The store manager understood your frustration with this and has provided you with a replacement power cable which they have confirmed is the correct one for your product.

I have logged your complaint on our systems and will forward your comments as feedback to the relevant teams for review so that should training be required for our in-store staff this can be provided.

- Luke"

I cannot believe a company this big treats customers like this.

You have been warned.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Yes a lot of big companies do this, it's surprising more isn't being done to highlight this issue and force big retailers to honour their obligations.  

Going back years there was a drive to get big retailers to comply with the then Distance Selling Regulations, something similar is required again as a lot of companies fail to comply with the cancellation regs by not giving the correct information and this push customers to the manufacture thing is fine but it should be arranged by the company so it clearly counts as the first repair attempt. 

Although after 6 months the retailer can request you show the fault is down to the product rather than misuse, etc it doesn't sound as if that was considered by the store in the above. 

TrickyDicky101

Looks to me like Halfords has met its obligations as it provided a replacement cable.  They could have done it more graciously and promptly though.

JJ_Egan

OP did the new cable solve the actual problem ??

bris

They didn't need to do anything. It helps to know your consumer rights when complaining about your consumer rights.

What you had was a warranty claim against Nextbase, Halfords didn't need to do anything, what you got was a goodwill gesture. 

You had the product 11 months, after 6 months the onus is on you to prove an inherent fault. By law the retailer doen't need to do anything unless you can prove they need to.

molerat

In my experience of that type of device few cables fail but many get broken !

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

bris said:

They didn't need to do anything. It helps to know your consumer rights when complaining about your consumer rights.

What you had was a warranty claim against Nextbase, Halfords didn't need to do anything, what you got was a goodwill gesture. 

You had the product 11 months, after 6 months the onus is on you to prove an inherent fault. By law the retailer doen't need to do anything unless you can prove they need to.

That's not really correct thought, perhaps debatable whether or not they should advise OP how to enforce their rights but

you can only return items that are not branded Halfords within 3 months and I now needed to deal with nextbase. 

 this only includes a 30-day return window to return the item to us in-store and then after this It would need to be returned to the manufacturer.

is misleading the OP about their consumer rights as "goods which do not conform to the contract at any time within the period of six months beginning with the day on which the goods were delivered to the consumer must be taken not to have conformed to it on that day." so their 30 day or 3 month time limit is incorrect as is implying the only recourse is via the manufacturer even if after 6 months.