My son's Christmas present was a damaged monitor!

iammichael

Okell said:

@iammichael -  personally I'd give them one more chance before sending a LBC.  It won't do you any harm if it gets as far as a court.

Go back to them and point out that they are mistaken in their beliefs (1) that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) only applies to "faulty goods" and (2) that "fault" is only to be understood in the context of excluding physical damage.

The CRA deals with goods that "do not conform to contract" for any reason - be that reason a manufacturing fault, or physical damage sustained prior to delivery to the consumer, or any other reason that causes the goods not to conform to contract.

In this case the goods were physically damaged before they were delivered to you.  Whether that damage was caused by the manufacturer, or by Box themselves, or by Box's chosen courier is irrelevant as s29 of the CRA clearly makes the seller (Box) responsible for any damage caused to the goods before they are delivered into your "physical possession"*.  If Box want to take it up with their courier then that's up to them - but it isn't your problem.

Also point out to them that the CRA makes no mention of consumers having to notify sellers of any damage within 7 days of delivery, and that s31 of the CRA specifically prohibits traders from trying to limit a consumer's statutory rights**.  Therefore their T&Cs which attempt to impose a 7 day time limit on consumers notifying them of damage is unlawful under consumer legislation and cannot be enforced.

Tell them you want a refund/replacement and that if they do not comply you will be quite happy to issue a court claim against them and that you will be making all the above points in your claim.

(As the lunatic said, be polite and calm - but be assertive too)

If they refuse to cough up after that, and you are 100% happy that the damage was not caused after delivery, send them a Letter Before Claim giving them 14 days to comply and prepare to issue a claim if (or when) they fail to comply.

Thank you very much for this.
I will indeed construct a final email and highlight all of these points.
I may try and direct it towards someone higher up the chain and see if that does any good. It would seem 'Thomas' at Box is very uninterested with helping me and simply keep giving me the same response; I didn't notify them within 7days and therefore it's now my problem.

Thanks again.

cymruchris

BOX.co.uk are obviously a large scale supplier of computer equipment, components and the like - having had a look at some of the BOX.co.uk reviews, there are certainly quite a number of concerning ones. No doubt things do go wrong, as they do for pretty much any mail order company, but it's how a company puts it right that counts, and at the moment BOX.co.uk don't seem interested in putting this right. Hopefully for those searching for BOX reviews before buying their Christmas gifts next year - this thread will pop up and remind them to be very careful when it comes to buying Christmas presents from BOX.co.uk next year.

https://www.box.co.uk/box-reviews

cymruchris

Interestingly - when you look at the BOX.co.uk reviews on their own page - you can order the reviews by lowest score. Page after page of very interesting reading. Yes - there are always scammers out there who try and pull a fast one, there are also customers that break things and try and return them, but there are also people that buy things in good faith - and then when things go wrong, try and get them put right and the company doesn't help. A good company will usually have some leeway and human interaction when things have gone wrong just outside of the standard rules/regs/parameters - but seems like BOX doesn't (at this stage). Here's a little extract from BOX's own webpage showing their review stats:



To the OP - I hope you'll get a favourable result.

Jenni_D

If you wish to escalate your complaint ...

Extracted from a website that isn't allowed to be linked here:

[Removed by Forum Team]

(I've edited the email address to avoid making an obvious breach of privacy rules, even though the details are publicly available).

Other contact names (I assume their emails will follow the same first dot last format):

Removed by Forum Team

cymruchris

And once things are done and dusted - you can of course leave your own BOX.co.uk review depending on the outcome. It seems as though BOX.co.uk reviews can be found on trustpilot here:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.box.co.uk?utm_medium=trustbox&utm_source=MicroReviewCount

BOX.co.uk reviews can also be found on google here:

https://customerreviews.google.com/v/merchant?q=box.co.uk&c=GB&v=19

And finally BOX.co.uk reviews can be found here on Feefo:

https://www.feefo.com/en-GB/reviews/box-co-uk?displayFeedbackType=BOTH&timeFrame=YEAR  

iammichael

Jenni_D said:

If you wish to escalate your complaint ...

Extracted from a website that isn't allowed to be linked here:

[Removed by Forum Team]

(I've edited the email address to avoid making an obvious breach of privacy rules, even though the details are publicly available).

Other contact names (I assume their emails will follow the same first dot last format):

Removed by Forum Team

Many thanks for those.
I'll do some research and be sure to tag these people in to my final email.

iammichael

cymruchris said:

Interestingly - when you look at the BOX reviews on their own page - you can order the reviews by lowest score. Page after page of very interesting reading. Yes - there are always scammers out there who try and pull a fast one, there are also customers that break things and try and return them, but there are also people that buy things in good faith - and then when things go wrong, try and get them put right and the company doesn't help. A good company will usually have some leeway and human interaction when things have gone wrong just outside of the standard rules/regs/parameters - but seems like BOX doesn't (at this stage). Here's a little extract from BOX's own webpage showing their review stats:



To the OP - I hope you'll get a favourable result.

Many thanks. I do hope I get either a repair or a replacement sorted out.
To be honest, I didn't go through the bad reviews but maybe I should have. 
I guess we all assume that things will be fine. Ha.

iammichael

 !! UPDATE !!

@the_lunatic_is_in_my_head @Okell Thank you both again for your templates.
I sent Box another email and used it to highlight all the valid points and the Consumer Rights Acts. I informed them it was a final email in the hope of settling things amicably.
Their response today is as follows:

" ​I have spoken to my manager today, and we have gone through all of the emails and everything on our system. I can confirm that we would not be accepting a return of this due to the physical damage that we have reason to believe is customer-induced damage. 

I understand that this is not the outcome that you were hoping for and I do apologise for the inconvenience. "

Obviously this is very frustrating.
"We have reason to believe...." How?? What reason? What evidence?
I shall have for go down the Letter Before Claim route now!

Aylesbury_Duck

Their reason is presumably that they think they have evidence it wasn’t damaged when they sent it.

Send the LBC and see what happens.  

iammichael

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Their reason is presumably that they think they have evidence it wasn’t damaged when they sent it.

Send the LBC and see what happens.  

Strange when their earlier emails state that they check all packaging before shopping. So really they have no clue what is and isn't working when it arrives from the manufacturer?!

I have the directors email address.... I may email him and explain the situation and see what he says.
Depending on that outcome, I'll be sending the LBC.