New Balance customer service

user1977

Manxman_in_exile said:

lesleytuck said:

I thought I could just contact New Balance customer service and they would help but it’s not a good one, very difficult to deal with & after 6 emails they have said they won’t do anything without a receipt. I did explain about not needing a receipt as it’s a faulty item and the bank statement shows the transaction but they have said take it back to store and see if they can do anything. Feel a bit fobbed off. 

While I think a receipt is not strictly legally necessary in the case of returning faulty goods, it does make things difficult if you don't have one.

The law does not specify any particular type of evidence is needed - ultimately it only needs to be proved on the balance of probabilities when/where you bought the item. In theory that could be done simply with witness testimony. But I agree the lack of a receipt makes things more awkward in practice.

eskbanker

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

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.

lesleytuck

I did ask for the customer service to clarify their position and they are there to deal with all queries, not just online, but they require the receipt & a bank statement isn’t enough. There was a receipt originally along with the box but I don’t keep all receipts and my other half definitely doesn’t, I’ve never had a problem with new balance before, I didn’t foresee that they would fall apart & so quickly. 

tightauldgit

With a modern POS system it should be easy enough for NB to go back and check in their records if the payment of £95 on X date at X time matches with the item being returned if they really want to but in all honesty I suspect the issue is dealing with the wrong entity rather than the lack of a receipt.