Online clothing purchase - faulty

Alderbank

tightauldgit said:

Yes, the law outweighs whatever terms they try to impose on you. They have to refund you (assuming the retailer is in the UK and subject to UK law)

Indeed.
Premises and registered address of Ashworth & Parker (trading as END) is in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Quaintly, they don't mention UK law. They say 
Any relevant terms and conditions, policies and notices shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Great Britain under the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Great Britain (whatever that is, perhaps they mean the Court of Session here in Edinburgh?)

They say the purpose of their company is not to deny their customers their consumer rights but to 'Inspire and Educate'.

Perhaps they could start with educating themselves in basic UK consumer law?

L123

Thank you. I shall reply to them and state what they’re proposing is against the law. Failing them not refunding me it looks like I’ll be forced to go to Trading Standards, not something I want to do but ultimately this isn’t fair or legal.

Manxman_in_exile

L123 said:

The retailer is END Clothing. I’m so disappointed as this was a present for my husband. He’s now been without his birthday present for months. I

They keep referring back to this comment on their first email back to me in response to the issue with the jacket. This was before they received the photos etc:

- If the brand does accept the issue as a manufacturing fault, and the order is over 30 days old, only Store Credit or an exchange can be offered as a resolution (providing the brand can't offer a repair/replacement directly).

- Please note that all faulty item queries are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and although we always aim to support customers with their claim, the preferred outcome may not always be possible. However, we will of course do our best to get this resolved for you!

Surely I am not forced to accept a store credit or other item that we don’t want because of this? The law / legislation surely outweighs this?

Thank you 

OK.  First I'd suggest directing them to s19(14) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) 

"19(14)  For the purposes of subsections (3)(b) and (c) and (4), 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."   

(Send them that quote and tell them where it comes from.  Point out to them that it is the LAW and that their T&Cs and "systems" can't override it.  They are breaking the law if they don't follow it.)

What it means in "normal" English is that if a fault appears within the first 6 months after you received it, then the law deems the fault to have been present at the time of sale, meaning the consumer is entitled to either a replacement or a repair, or failing both of those, to a full refund.

That might be enough to get you your refund.

But they might try to rely on the next part of the legislation - s19(15) - which basically says that s19(14) doesn't apply if the trader can establish that the fault wasn't present on the day it was delivered to you.  The problem for the trader if they try to argue that is that it is always notoriously difficult to prove that something wasn't present at a particular time.

Sorry if I've missed it, but in case they still won't play ball, how much did you pay and how did you pay?

Manxman_in_exile

Trading standards won't help you if you can't persuade the retailer to accept what the law says

You might have to sue them.  Or threaten to sue them.

Before you reach that stage, how much was the jacket and how did you pay?

Manxman_in_exile

Going back to your original post

L123 said:

...I emailed the retailer and returned it to them at their request. The jacket was then sent to the manufacture to look at and it was agreed the item was faulty.

It took six weeks for them to reply to me to say they would fix the jacket. They then emailed again apologising saying they couldn’t fix it and they don’t have the same jacket in but would offer a discount on a new one...

it sounds to me a bit like they've already accepted that it was faulty and that it was their responsibility.  Have you got that in writing?

tightauldgit

L123 said:

Thank you. I shall reply to them and state what they’re proposing is against the law. Failing them not refunding me it looks like I’ll be forced to go to Trading Standards, not something I want to do but ultimately this isn’t fair or legal.

recourse would be small claims court, not trading standards who cant help you get your money back.

L123

I paid £125 for the jacket and they’ve as good as admitted it’s faulty as they’ve said in writing they’re not happy with the quality.

Perhaps I just go back to them and state the law - sounds like that’s my best bet?

Manxman_in_exile

L123 said:

I paid £125 for the jacket and they’ve as good as admitted it’s faulty as they’ve said in writing they’re not happy with the quality.

Perhaps I just go back to them and state the law - sounds like that’s my best bet?

Yes.  See my post at 10:06 pm yesterday.

(Rather than telling them they are breaking the law - which I think I suggested in that post - tell them that they are not complying with the law and that they are denying you your statutory consumer rights.  Then spell it out to them as I put it in that post...)

If that doesn't shift them you may have to sue them in court.  (You can do it yourself - you don't need a lawyer)

L123

Hello,

I received this from them today plus a screenshot of their system now enabling the refund. They don't seem to understand that the law states they have to give me the refund and seem to be completely ignoring this fact which I have sent them!

Thanks for your response,

I can understand your frustration but as previously mentioned we are unable to process a refund as the order is over 6 months, our system will not let us refund therefore store credit or a new item will be the only options.

You can see below the error message without systems physically not allowing us to refund the order.

As mentioned in my previous email, the initial email we sent you it does state that if the brand does accept the issue as a manufacturing fault, and the order is over 30 days old, only Store Credit or an exchange can be offered as a resolution (providing the brand can't offer a repair/replacement directly).**

I sincerely apologise again for the disappointing experience, and hope to have this resolved for you as soon as possible.

L123

I looked on their Google reviews today and they're dreadful so I feel I may be one of many unhappy customers.