Curry's shop refuses to exchange / return TV due to 'passing' tests.

MrBrindle

Hi, we bought a 40" JVC TV for the bedroom from Curry's last week. We noticed that the picture when using the aerial was much poorer than our Samsung in the living room. More fuzzy and slightly ghosting. We tried them both in the same connection as well incase it was a faulty cable / aerial outlet. 

I took it back into the shop and said I want to exchange it for another TV as the picture using aerial isn't good enough, and unwatchable at times. They then proceeded to test the TV, and it 'passed' all the diagnostic testing despite the picture looking poor again as they tested it on their aerial connection. The bloke testing flicked through some channels and used a channel which looked 'better' to pass the terrestial part of the test! I wasn't having it and said most of the other channels look awful, and he said it 'looks pretty good' considering the poor signal around this way. I got a bit annoyed and said, 'look, my TV at home looks absolutely fine compared to this'. He then proceeded with some irrelevant spiel about how the TV may be older and not processing the signal like newer TV's (I have no idea what he was on about, but it's just nonsense).

He then went to speak to the manager, who was standing around doing nothing, and came back and said they can't do anything as the TV passed all of it's 'tests'. The manager refused to speak to me personally.

Where are my rights here? The TV isn't expensive (£200) and I was ready to spend more money on something better. I rang the Curry's customer service and they said I will have to sort in shop as that's where I bought the TV from! I've spent thousands with our local Curry's over the years, but no more after this rubbish.

Thanks all

mebu60

A few years ago in a similar scenario with Currys, including the 'manager' refusing to engage, I resorted to broadcasting my unhappiness with their 'service' very loudly in-store on a busy Saturday morning. Suddenly said manager was most attentive and a replacement found. Having a problem with an item will happen occasionally, not dealing with it properly is inexcusable. I have never bought anything from Currys since.

powerful_Rogue

I think the main issue is comapring a JVC TV to a Samsung TV.

MrBrindle

powerful_Rogue said:

I think the main issue is comapring a JVC TV to a Samsung TV.

Disagree, the JVC picture looks absolutely fine on netflix, streaming, hdmi etc. Just when using aerial. I have bought plenty of cheaper TV's in the past which didn't have this issue.

screech_78

Did you purchase it online or in store? If in store, you would only have the right to return or exchange if it’s actually faulty. And given that Curry’s are saying it isn’t, you’ll need a report to counter that. 

JVC isn’t exactly a brand known for quality. 

TELLIT01

I had a similar problem with Currys a few years ago.  The new TV was only picking up about 1/3rd of the channels and was constantly losing some of those from the Channel Guide.  I'd replaced an existing TV so knew there was nothing wrong with the signal but Currys insisted that the signal strength needed to be tested before they would do anything.  As expected, the signal strength was fine, but it cost me £60 to prove that.  Even then Currys insisted on having the original TV returned for them to test.  They originally claimed that it was fine, but when I demanded that they demonstrate that in store, the same problem showed up.  They tried to get me to take the same make and model which I refused, and they finally gave in.  They did however refuse to refun the cost of the aerial check.

RefluentBeans

Currys seem to be exceedingly good at being anti-consumer, to the point now that I simply couldn’t ever recommend them. 

To clarify - when you returned it - what did you say? Did you make it clear it was being returns under the consumer rights act and not their returns policy? Their returns policy is clear - if bought in store and opened then it can’t be returned unless it’s faulty. 

Faulty here, as a term, can mean different things. It could be that the TV doesn’t function at all - that’s a fault that is traditional and what most people think of when they hear the word faulty. But things can be faulty for not being fit for purpose. This is what you’re arguing. 

Given the front line staff will follow the script they are given and probably aren’t allowed to deviate much from it and have little customer rights training, ask to speak to a supervisor. If they refuse, tell them you can wait for one to be free. Don’t be rude, but be firm. When one comes over, politely explain the situation and that you don’t wish to return it as it’s not what you expected, but that it’s not fit for purpose. 

Currys appear to be a nightmare for exercising your consumer rights, so good luck. But don’t leave until you’ve spoken to a manager or supervisor. 

Money_Grabber13579

Given that the picture is fine when using streaming apps, that suggests it is an issue with how the signal from the aerial is being processed rather than an issue with the actual display.

Given that JVC is a budget brand, it’s perhaps not surprising that the quality of the tuner is not as good as the Samsung but that doesn’t necessarily make it faulty. If a stronger signal would improve the picture, then it’s difficult to say that the fault is with the TV (and if Curry’s are saying it isn’t faulty, you’ll find it very difficult, or perhaps impossible, to persuade them to replace it).

Do you have to watch freeview TV using the aerial or could you compensate by using streaming apps instead? I never watch TV using the aerial because I can’t get a consistent enough signal and it keeps on dropping out, so I watch everything on iPlayer and the equivalent apps for the other channels.

CardinalWolsey

What resolution is the JVC? If the JVC is 1080p ("Full HD") or 2160p ("4K") as opposed to a "HD Ready" TV, which is only 720p, then normal terrestrial television won't look particularly good, unless you're watching one of the (five) HD channels. That could well be why streaming content looks fine, but broadcast TV doesn't.  

PHK

Just to add, JVC TVs are a name put on various other low cost oem brands of TV. Some are very good, others are bargain basement. 

I think it would be expected that picture quality would not be as good as a major make. 

If the retailer refuses a return because they say it isn't faulty then you'd need to prove its inherently faulty. One way to do this is to get an independent report and then claim the cost and the TV price from the retailer. A proper written letter firmly rejecting the TV enclosing the report (along as the report says its faulty) pointing out the TV is under six months the old and requesting a refund. Tell them you'll give them (at least) 14days to do this or you'll make a small claims court claim . Be prepared to do that!

Citizens advice can help you with all this 

wizzywig27

I have returned two things recently to Currys. The first was a Philips Hue Lightstrip where a section of the LED lights were a different colour - he didn’t check the item.

Only last week I returned a DeLonghi bean to cup, coffee machine. When I asked if I could return it he said yeah did you just change your mind. I explained there seemed to be a fault and explained what it was - he didn’t check the item.

Understand with the coffee machine it’s not practical to get some beans and water and brew a coffee, howeve the lights could have just been plugged in. 

I find Currys very hit and miss. A month ago I tried to ask them to price match an LG TV to the LG website, one guy said no, I returned the next day and it was a straight yes (different person). 

For the coffee machine I asked if they would price match to the DeLonghi website and the guys response was ‘not happening’ in a passive aggressive manner. I asked why he said they don’t price match supplier websites and I asked where it said that on the website and he just kept repeating it’s the policy. 

As I said, hit and miss.