Bag for Life

JGB1955

I noticed, yesterday, that Sainsbury's are still replacing their bags for life.

dealyboy

I attempted to replace my Waitrose plastic carrier bag yesterday, as after five years of usage it had developed a tear in the bottom. Although the words 'REPLACED FOR FREE' were along the bottom of the bag, they refused, stating that they'd had a change of policy.

A manager repeated that the policy had changed and they no longer offered those bags anyway. I told him 'What if I were including you in my will and on the 'reading' my policy had changed? ... another suitable bag will do'.

I was given one of their £1 toughened plastic bags.

PHK

I cannot believe anyone would get so upset over such a trivial matter. 

dealyboy

@PHK said:

I cannot believe anyone would get so upset over such a trivial matter. 

... breach of promise? ... trivial? ... principle? 

user1977

dealyboy said:

I told him 'What if I were including you in my will and on the 'reading' my policy had changed? 

That's a bizarre analogy! Apart from the fact that "readings" of Wills only ever happen in fiction, you're entitled to chop and change your Will any time before you die - nobody can enforce a previous version as some sort of contract.

CliveOfIndia

dealyboy said:

@PHK said:

I cannot believe anyone would get so upset over such a trivial matter. 

... breach of promise? ... trivial? ... principle? 

I find it amusing that someone would resurrect a thread that's well over a year old to raise such a trivial point

mark_cycling00

It's more like a guarantee on a product you buy 

If I buy a tumble dryer with a 10year warrant,  after 3 years I try to use the warranty but manufacturer says they're only doing 2 year warranties now so I'm not covered.

I remember buying several based on the promise of free replacements.

It's not a crazy thing to offer. The car park is free but costs a lot of money to maintain 

dealyboy

@mark_cycling00 said:

It's more like a guarantee on a product you buy 

If I buy a tumble dryer with a 10year warrant,  after 3 years I try to use the warranty but manufacturer says they're only doing 2 year warranties now so I'm not covered.

I remember buying several based on the promise of free replacements.

It's not a crazy thing to offer. The car park is free but costs a lot of money to maintain 

Hi Mark ...
Yes ... but even more like lifetime guarantees and lifetime memberships or subscriptions. The consumer takes the risk that the supplier goes out of business (like Wilco for me) but should not take the risk that the supplier changes the policy or terms of the policy, to the detriment of the customer.

In this case Waitrose saw the sense of it and that they were obliged to honour ... "REPLACED FOR FREE' in large letters. It meant exactly that ... replaced doesn't mean an identical item, but a suitable item. 

sheramber

dealyboy said:

I attempted to replace my Waitrose plastic carrier bag yesterday, as after five years of usage it had developed a tear in the bottom. Although the words 'REPLACED FOR FREE' were along the bottom of the bag, they refused, stating that they'd had a change of policy.

A manager repeated that the policy had changed and they no longer offered those bags anyway. I told him 'What if I were including you in my will and on the 'reading' my policy had changed? ... another suitable bag will do'.

I was given one of their £1 toughened plastic bags.

 they no longer offered those bags anyway.

They cannot give you waht they no longer have

RefluentBeans

Genuinely confused by this. The claim to equate this to a warranty on a tumble drier is a bit disingenuous- I assume that you were given terms of your warranty for your washing machine, and I assume you were not given the paperwork for the ‘warranty’ on the bag for life? Would sort of defeat the point of being greener - ‘here’s your bag for life, and here is the 25 page warranty document for your bag’. 

Ultimately, you complained and they gave you a bag. What’s the issue? To think a 10p bag would last forever is naive. Also, Red Bull doesn’t give you wings, even though their slogan says it does.