Samsung "Gift with Purchase" Promotion

btr2

Hello all, first time poster here.

In February this year, I was incentivised to purchase a Galaxy Ultra s24 phone, through a promotional offer of a free set of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro headphones. The retailer was Samsung themselves.

Within a week or so, it was apparent that these headphones were faulty, and so they were repaired. This repair failed, and so they were returned for repair again. They are still faulty.

You can probably see where this is going. What rights to a refund/replacement/absolutely anything is there for a promotional gift? That gift formed part of my reasoning for purchasing another item.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung have refused a refund or replacement, as there was no actual order raised for the item. Essentially, I could offer a free Tesla when you buy another Tesla, and if the promotional Tesla does not even switch on, that's the end of the matter. 

That doesn't feel right, but I fully appreciate that the law doesn't always have to 'feel right'.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, or is there any law that I could reference?

TIA.

Ben R

Aylesbury_Duck

I think the item would normally be considered to be part of the original contract, so consumer rights apply.

btr2

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I think the item would normally be considered to be part of the original contract, so consumer rights apply.

Me too! Now I just need to find some legal text on it, or I guess it'll be hire a solicitor time. Thanks!

Aylesbury_Duck

A solicitor isn't necessary.  Write to them telling them you want a remedy under the consumer rights act.  As I see it, you're entitled to a repair, a replacement or the value of a replacement.

btr2

Aylesbury_Duck said:

A solicitor isn't necessary.  Write to them telling them you want a remedy under the consumer rights act.  As I see it, you're entitled to a repair, a replacement or the value of a replacement.

Already done. They're holding firm that free items aren't covered. Which seems crazy.

lincroft1710

What would be the retail value of the buds?

Tucosalamanca

£159 from Samsung or £104 from Amazon.

btr2

Tucosalamanca said:

£159 from Samsung or £104 from Amazon.

Bearing in mind the hours spent in online chat (easy for me sat having my lunch, but someone is being paid to chat I guess), cost to use DPD delivery x 4 (so far), and twice being 'serviced' at a repair centre, surely they've lost money on this already? What would the cost price be? £30? £40?

lincroft1710

Tucosalamanca said:

£159 from Samsung or £104 from Amazon.

Definitely worth pursuing via Money Claim Online

btr2

I've just looked that up - I did not know such a thing existed. It looks like an online version of the small claims court?

RefluentBeans

What is it you want done here? How long ago was the original purchase? How was this invoiced (ie was it phone + earbuds in one line or was it phone and then earbuds on separate line items - two distinct products) and how was these product(s) valued on the invoice - were the earbuds FREE or did the subtotal have the cost of the earbuds and phone then some discount for the earbuds? 

I actually don’t think it’s as clear cut as others seem to think. 4 replacements/repairs is beyond the consumer rights act, and they (the retailer) can opt to give you a refund less any use charges (if over 6 months). That refund is normally what you paid with a straight line reduction for number of months of ownership vs expected life time (typically capped at 6 years). If the earbuds were billed separately, and had a value on the invoice that is clearly easy to work out. If the earbuds and the phone were packaged together on the invoice, this too could mean you could reject the whole package as faulty and get an entire refund. The issue is if the earbuds are valued at FREE/nil on the invoice as this would mean refunds would be nil too. 

In the latter case - I think it’d be under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Act as you arguably may not have purchased them from Samsung if you knew the quality of the free gift was going to be so shoddy. 

Answering the above questions will be able to dictate which arguments you stand the best chance with, as I don’t think it’s a unilateral slam dunk if your favour, depending on the answers to the questions.