Legal rights to return faulty alternator under warranty without receipt, with bank statement

Sromeo20

Full story: friend of mine offers to change my car's dead alternator; buys alternator from GSF car parts, replaces it, only for it to fail within the week. Goes back with receipt for FIRST alternator, they make him purchase a new alternator in-store (same brand, WAE...) before first one can be sent off for testing. First alternator gets full refund once tested. 

SECOND alternator works on my car for approx. 4-5 months before failing again (never buy WAE parts...)

Now, between us, we can't find the receipt for SECOND alternator; thought, ok we just show bank statement. GSF car parts say they cannot send the alternator for testing without Invoice number, which would be on receipt, and while they can find the invoice / transaction details for alternator No.1 (which I have receipt for), mysteriously, their office has lost invoice details for alternator No.2... and they say - despite proof of purchase, under a 3 year warranty - without invoice details (which they can't find) or receipt (we can't find), they can't do anything.

(I have now bought a 3rd alternator from a different company, been working fine ever since).

Do I have no legal standing when we can provide proof of purchase via bank statement? I simply want a refund for a faulty alternator still well within warranty...

Apologies for lengthy story, any help greatly appreciated..!

DullGreyGuy

Does your banks statement show you bought an alternator or circa 350 items that cost £1 each (estimating based on their price for a Saxo alternator)?

Ultimately it would come down to a judge to decide if they believed you or not but personally think the whole bank statement thing is really weak proof however can encourage a company to try and find the transaction in their own records to validate what actually was bought. In this case their record keeping seems as poor as your own.

Sromeo20

Thank you for your advice, I'll try encouraging the company to find the transaction but I have a feeling that is part of what they can't seem to find...

I always thought in such situations that proof of purchase was all that was required i.e. bank statement, but perhaps not that simple. In this instance the bank statement shows "GSF Car Parts" and amount like £101.99; £100 for alternator, £1.99 for a can of something car related (this is my colleauge's statement as he was sorting this for me, so I don't have it to hand). The company in question aren't actually disputing we bought the part from them; just saying without invoice number they can't send part for testing, and thus, can't issue refund.

Re my record keeping, while I get your point, it's just unfotunately one of those sod's law occassions; I keep receipts for *everything* but I didn't actually buy the part; my friend maintains he left it in my car after fixing, I have no recollection of ever seeing it - either way, it's disappeared into the ether; the one time I actually need the bloody thing! -_-

user1977

You have your consumer rights by virtue of being the person who bought the item, despite popular belief the law doesn't say anything about "proof of purchase" or the like. In theory it would be decided upon by a court (on the balance of probabilities) if the retailer wanted to quibble about whether you bought the item from them (or when you bought it). But any sort of evidence is permissible - in your example you've got at least two witnesses for starters, along with the bank statement. 

The bureaucracy for the retailer to get a remedy from their supplier is their problem, not yours.

Okell

@Sromeo20 -  it doesn't really matter if the seller needs an invoice or receipt to do testing for a warranty claim.

Forget the warranty and instead tell the seller that you are exercising your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk).

As @user1977 has said you don't need a receipt or invoice, you just need to be able to establish on the balance of probabilty that you bought it from the seller.  You need evidence to do that but it doesn't need to be a receipt or invoice.  A bank statement and witnesses might be enough - especially if your statement shows £299.97 being paid to the seller and their system can't prove that that amount didn't include an alternator.***

When the second alternator failed, did you bring it back to the seller within 6 months of purchase?  If so, there is a legal presumption that it was faulty when you bought it and (unless the seller can prove it wasn't faulty) you are entitled to a full refund.  If it was after 6 months it gets a bit more complicated...




*** In fact aren't you saying that they don't even dispute that you bought the alternator from them anyway?

Sromeo20 said:

... The company in question aren't actually disputing we bought the part from them; just saying without invoice number they can't send part for testing, and thus, can't issue refund...

that was silly of them.

As @user1977 said, if the seller needs an invoice or receipt to make a claim off their supplier, that's between them and the supplier.  Nothing to do with you...

sheramber

user1977 said:

You have your consumer rights by virtue of being the person who bought the item, despite popular belief the law doesn't say anything about "proof of purchase" or the like. In theory it would be decided upon by a court (on the balance of probabilities) if the retailer wanted to quibble about whether you bought the item from them (or when you bought it). But any sort of evidence is permissible - in your example you've got at least two witnesses for starters, along with the bank statement. 

The bureaucracy for the retailer to get a remedy from their supplier is their problem, not yours.

The OP did not buy it. His friend bought it so it is his friend who has any claim.

Sromeo20

Thank you all, this is incredibly helpful.

user1977 said:
The bureaucracy for the retailer to get a remedy from their supplier is their problem, not yours.

This is what I thought. Until recently it's been my colleague (kindly) dealing with this as he purchased it, and so far he's just been giving up on the 'no receipt, nothing we can do' - which is why I'm now actually getting to grips with it.

Okell said:
When the second alternator failed, did you bring it back to the seller within 6 months of purchase?

Argh, it failed after 4 months 2 weeks, but it was coming up to Xmas and my colleague didn't take it back until mid Jan which just takes it past 6 months.

Okell said:
*** In fact aren't you saying that they don't even dispute that you bought the alternator from them anyway?

To be more precise, I say the company isn't disputing; it's the store manager doesn't dispute we bought it from them per se, but in the same breath, he would say the bank statement only proves we bought it from the company and not the store itself, and that he can't issue refunds without head office approval -_- He's not been inclined so far to go further than say, speak to their customer services (whom are useless). 

But I wanted to be sure of my rights and position before I go in with a little more vigour, and I feel more confident of my position to argue that this is more of a 'them' problem than a 'me' problem in terms of their need to get a remedy from their supplier.

Will have another chat with them and update in due course... thanks again all very much for your input!!

user1977

sheramber said:

user1977 said:

You have your consumer rights by virtue of being the person who bought the item, despite popular belief the law doesn't say anything about "proof of purchase" or the like. In theory it would be decided upon by a court (on the balance of probabilities) if the retailer wanted to quibble about whether you bought the item from them (or when you bought it). But any sort of evidence is permissible - in your example you've got at least two witnesses for starters, along with the bank statement. 

The bureaucracy for the retailer to get a remedy from their supplier is their problem, not yours.

The OP did not buy it. His friend bought it so it is his friend who has any claim.

Yes, I know, it's just a bit easier to discuss without making everybody the third person...but the OP might need reminded of that given the last response...