No shipping packaging for faulty item

Garethuk

Hi all looking for some advice please

Had a very large and heavy flat pack item which has been found defective and faulty. Spoke to retailer who offered 3 options

1. Replacement
2. Keep item and accept £50 refund
3. Refund

i have opted for refund as was not impressed with some other design features.

challenge is that I do not have the shipping packaging (which is all it was in anyway) as disassembling it obviously required cutting plastic strapping (needed it to keep the integrity of the box intact for shipping) as well lots of polystyrene (you get the picture) which has been damaged and not sufficient to send back in. Basically it’s not reusable.

the retailer is saying that unless I can repack it or provide sufficient material to ensure it’s safe return they won’t refund me.

Whst are my rights here as to provide packaging by a consumer is going to cost most likely a lot of money and I’m sure is being used to get me to accept a replacement or their £50 fob off.

I cannot see anything that specially states my responsibility (if any) to provide alternate packaging which provides sufficient protection to go back to them with eg. Section x of sales of goods act, etc 

can anyone advise a clause that I can use otherwise I’m going to have to spend £50+ just purchase packaging to prepare it for them to collect it

thanks in advance 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Where did you buy from OP?

What is the item?

Garethuk

It was an online retailer sorry - pool table 

Exodi

You still have the existing packaging right? Could you not use tape to 'keep the integrity of the box intact for shipping' instead of banding, and tape the polystyrene to cover the legs? I don't get why the polystyrene would not be reusable, sorry. Have you binned the packaging?

My gut feel is that it's not reasonable to suggest the retailer is obligated to refund you more than the items value, on top of arranging collection, because you have destroyed/binned the packing materials the item came with. But I could be wrong.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Garethuk said:

It was an online retailer sorry - pool table 

I hope was hoping it was something more simple and someone might have so ingenious ideas

This is covered under Right to Reject:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/20

(8)Whether or not the consumer has a duty to return the rejected goods, the trader must bear any reasonable costs of returning them, other than any costs incurred by the consumer in returning the goods in person to the place where the consumer took physical possession of them.

So they should cover the reasonable costs of the packaging IMO.

Paragraph (7) is also worth noting:

(7)From the time when the right is exercised—

(a)the trader has a duty to give the consumer a refund, subject to subsection (18), and

(b)the consumer has a duty to make the goods available for collection by the trader or (if there is an agreement for the consumer to return rejected goods) to return them as agreed.

Do the terms state the customer should return the goods in the event they are rejected, if not the retailer should collect them.