Damaged item − any options after Amazon return window closed ?

coffeehound

Elderly parents bought a >£500 kitchen integrated appliance from a third-party seller on Amazon.  Item was delivered in January, directly to the garage.

We went to install it last week but found after removing the packaging it had suffered drop damage resulting in crushed lower corners.

The return window apparently closed about a month ago.  Are there any other avenues to pursue?  Paid for by debit card.  Amazon Prime member.  Thanks for any advice

BoGoF

Your consumer rights are with the 3rd party seller not Amazon but given the 2/3 month delay you are going to be hard pushed to argue the damage hasn't been caused by you.

DullGreyGuy

Have you spoken to the vendor yet? Inevitably they are going to argue you've damaged since delivery but it's still the first step. 

coffeehound

I believe the 3rd party has declined the return due to the timescale.  I guess it might be worth contacting them again outside Amazon.  Would household insurance cover this if it came to it?

DullGreyGuy

Home insurance wouldn't cover this unless you claimed you'd dropped it. With the average excess being a few hundred and the impact on premiums over 5 years it may be questionable if its economic to claim even it were covered.

First instance is to definitely go to the vendor and explain the situation and why it was only discovered now. 

TELLIT01

DullGreyGuy said:

Home insurance wouldn't cover this unless you claimed you'd dropped it. With the average excess being a few hundred and the impact on premiums over 5 years it may be questionable if its economic to claim even it were covered.

First instance is to definitely go to the vendor and explain the situation and why it was only discovered now. 

There isn't always a major impact on premiums, if any, if you claim on insurance.  I have had to claim on contents insurance in the past 12 months and, at a time when premiums seem to be rocketing, my premium increased by about £10 over last year.

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Home insurance wouldn't cover this unless you claimed you'd dropped it. With the average excess being a few hundred and the impact on premiums over 5 years it may be questionable if its economic to claim even it were covered.

First instance is to definitely go to the vendor and explain the situation and why it was only discovered now. 

There isn't always a major impact on premiums, if any, if you claim on insurance.  I have had to claim on contents insurance in the past 12 months and, at a time when premiums seem to be rocketing, my premium increased by about £10 over last year.

The average excess is something like £350, OP is trying to claim for something worth £500 and so effectively a £150 claim. Even if it is only £10 for each of the next 5 years thats still further eroding the value of the claim. 

Firstly the claim is likely to be rejected as not an insured loss and so you get premium increases in exchange for nothing. Secondly, you were lucky with a £10 increase... a quick check on confused.com and it adds 50%/£170 in year one if I were to declare a low value accidental damage claim and £150 in year two; going further is likely to trigger counter fraud/rate raiding protection measures. 

cymruchris

I know it's always easy to say once the horse has bolted as it were - but anything expensive purchased that's not going to be used for a while should always be opened/checked on arrival to look for physical damage, so that a claim can be made with the courier. If it's left for several months before you mention it - they could argue that you dropped a large iron girder on it or similar (although I'm sure you didn't!). You're reliant now purely on goodwill, and it seems they don't have much of that, so I think your options are limited.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Just to add OP as you have raised this within 6 months of delivery onus is on them to prove otherwise. 

If they fail to engage it's ultimately small claims with the out come decided on the balance of probability. 

Seller's address should be on their feedback profile page bit. Certainly worth a letter before action if the seller doesn't engage via email. 

Small claims is a toss up between reward vs headache.

Worth quoting Section 19 at them:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/19

(14)For the purposes of subsections (3)(b) and (c) and (4), goods which do not conform to the contract at any time within the period of six months beginning with the day on which the goods were delivered to the consumer must be taken not to have conformed to it on that day.

RefluentBeans

OP is the seller in the UK? I know there’s a lot of places that use Amazon as a web front and then are based outside of the UK? If they are, then I really think you’ll have a hard time to pursue this. 

You can contact Amazon (as they have an AZ promise) and see if they’re willing to intervene. This may be helped if it was dispatched through Amazon Shipping (ie third party using Amazon’s warehousing and dispatch service).

If they are based in the UK, and not engaging with a debate, you can contact Amazon too. They may be willing to help out, or they may want to stay out of it. It very much depends on your account I believe. 

Bradden

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Just to add OP as you have raised this within 6 months of delivery onus is on them to prove otherwise. 

If they fail to engage it's ultimately small claims with the out come decided on the balance of probability. 

Seller's address should be on their feedback profile page bit. Certainly worth a letter before action if the seller doesn't engage via email. 

Small claims is a toss up between reward vs headache.

Worth quoting Section 19 at them:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/19

(14)For the purposes of subsections (3)(b) and (c) and (4), goods which do not conform to the contract at any time within the period of six months beginning with the day on which the goods were delivered to the consumer must be taken not to have conformed to it on that day.

Unless the supplier has a signed delivery note stating all goods delivered in satisfactory condition and damages reported within 48hours.... in which case a court is likely to rule against them IMHO.