Taking Amazon to court

TomB_on_the_Sax

Hello everyone,

I am taking Amazon to court. If you want to know why then read on.

In 2020, I bought some Apple Airpods for my wife for her birthday.

Recently, they started crackling, so she took them to the Apple Store in Edinburgh and they ran some diagnostics on them.

They were part of a faulty batch. They knew the batch number and were able to cross-reference it. They also told her that Under Consumer Protection law that if a piece of electrical equipment is sold and has a manufacturing fault, then within five years iIn Scotland (it's 6 years in England and Wales), then you are entitled to a refund or a replacement from the seller.

If I had bought the Airpods from Apple directly then they would have given her a new set there and then. However, because I bought them from Amazon, they were the ones responsible.

Apple provided the documentation to state the Airpods had a known fault and I then tried to contact Amazon.

Well let me tell you that didn't go well.

First of all they don't seem to have an email address you can send things to. So I tried the chat.

We went round in circles. Me stating the law and what Apple had stated and them saying that it was outside the normal warranty period and I should contact the manufacturer (despite me stating the law says the seller is responsible). I wouldn't expect the people in the chat to know the intricacies of the law, however, I would expect them to be able to escalate it up to someone who could. It was escalated to a manager who said the same stuff and could not escalate any further.

I then tried phone calls. Multiple phone calls. Each time I would explain the situation, they would apologise and then we would get nowhere. Amazon does not have a process for escalating unusual claims. Sometimes I would get referred onto someone else and have to explain the situation again. Twice the line went dead, I suspect because the person I was dealing with didn't know what to do and when I phoned back it would be someone else's problem.

I did manage to get a couple of email addresses from them and was assured twice that I would get a response within 48 hours. I never did.

They do have a page which has a link labelled 'dispute resolution', if you click on it, it shows a cartoon dog and says that pages doesn't exist.

So I contacted consumer rights, they looked at the stuff and I'm going to take them to court.

Voyager2002

Before you commence court proceedings you will need to send them a letter before action. I suggest that you do some research and find an appropriate address (and ideally a suitable person) for that letter.

The risk is that both your LBA and any subsequent court papers go to someone who does not know how to deal with them, and after spending a fair amount of time and money you will end up with court judgements in your favour but no way to get Amazon to respond to them.

I speak from experience: some years ago I was a civil servant and found that Amazon was breaking the law (selling products that are prohibited in the UK). I tried to discuss the matter with them but could only contact customer service people, who did not have a clue how to respond. 

TomB_on_the_Sax

Yes, I have to send them a letter telling them to turn up to Edinburgh Sheriff court. I need to look into that today.

la531983

TomB_on_the_Sax said:

Yes, I have to send them a letter telling them to turn up to Edinburgh Sheriff court. I need to look into that today.

Surely the step way before that is a final Letter Before Action giving them 30 days to AVOID court action by settling the issue? I cant imagine the Scottish procedure here is much different to the English/Welsh procedure, but happy to be corrected.

Mark_d

I would try a Section 75 claim first as it's less hassle/cost than taking court action

Aylesbury_Duck

TomB_on_the_Sax said:

If I had bought the Airpods from Apple directly then they would have given her a new set there and then. 

Easy for them to say that, and they often do.  Is there any evidence that it's true?

Mark_d

Aylesbury_Duck said:

TomB_on_the_Sax said:

If I had bought the Airpods from Apple directly then they would have given her a new set there and then. 

Easy for them to say that, and they often do.  Is there any evidence that it's true?

From my experience it has been much easier to sort out issue when you deal with a company directly rather than going via a reseller/travel agent

born_again

Mark_d said:

I would try a Section 75 claim first as it's less hassle/cost than taking court action

Which given OP has not stated how they paid is a guess.

They were part of a faulty batch. They knew the batch number and were able to cross-reference it. They also told her that Under Consumer Protection law that if a piece of electrical equipment is sold and has a manufacturing fault, then within five years iIn Scotland (it's 6 years in England and Wales), then you are entitled to a refund or a replacement from the seller.

If I had bought the Airpods from Apple directly then they would have given her a new set there and then. However, because I bought them from Amazon, they were the ones responsible.

This is really amusing & sad, as all Amazon could do is return to Apple, citing the same. So why do Apple simply not replace them & make themselves look good?
Given unless it was a marketplace seller, Apple products are sold via the Apple Store on Amazon. Although sold & dispatched by Amazon

TomB_on_the_Sax

I've tried doing a section 75, but since it is over 3 years ago, they won't deal with it either. Sorry if 3 posts turn up but they don't appear to be appearing.

TomB_on_the_Sax

And as for the 30 day letter - done that as well. No response.

la531983

TomB_on_the_Sax said:

I've tried doing a section 75, but since it is over 3 years ago, they won't deal with it either. Sorry if 3 posts turn up but they don't appear to be appearing.

Well whoever you spoke to at the bank doesnt know what they are doing then, its 120 days from when you first noticed a problem. Assuming you used a credit card.