Being asked Return Fee for a “New” Item That Was Clearly Returned

lb00

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a cooker hood from Marks Electrical as part of a larger order totaling almost £3,000 for all my kitchen appliances.

When the cooker hood arrived, it was immediately clear that the item wasn’t brand new. The box had already been opened, with visible signs of tape, and inside I found a return receipt from a previous customer. It appears the item had been returned by someone else and it was sent to me as a new product. This is extremely disappointing, as I can’t even be sure whether the hood was used by the previous customer and how thoroughly it was checked by ME given I found the previous customer return receipt inside.

To make matters worse, the hood isn’t suitable for my kitchen setup, so I need to return it. I contacted Marks Electrical to explain the situation and requested a free return. However, they’ve insisted on a £35 return fee unless I arrange my own courier through DPD at my own cost.

Their response was particularly frustrating, as they stated, “The item was an unwanted return; this does not mean we cannot sell the item on as a brand new product. The return fee will stand for the unwanted goods.” I believe this is unfair because the item was sold as “new,” but I can't be sure it's in a new condition. It also seems they didn’t check the item before resale, given the previous customer’s return receipt was still inside.

While £35 isn’t a huge amount, I feel this situation is unjust. I’ve told them I’ll proceed with a chargeback through American Express if they don’t offer a free return, but they haven’t budged.

Am I within my rights to demand a free return under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states goods must be as described and of satisfactory quality? Or should I just pay the return fee and move on?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

sheramber

We all want the choice of returning unwanted goods.

What do you think retailers do with items that are returned?  

Do shops put returned items back on the shelves for sale? 

How do you know that any item  you are buying has not been returned as unwanted?


You can return the cooker hood as a change of mind. 

Marks Electrical website states

4. Unwanted items

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have the right to cancel your order within 14 days after receipt of the products, without giving a reason. All we ask is that you let us know within 7 days, that the item is 'as new' (you haven't used or installed it), and that it's undamaged and complete with all the accessories and original packaging it arrived with. You have a duty of care while the products are in your possession and we reserve the right to charge you for any damage that may have occurred during this period.

You have the choice of returning the products via your own means (at your own cost to Marks Electrical Ltd, Boston Rd, Leicester, LE4 1AU) or requesting that we collect them. We will charge you the direct cost to us of collection which is £70 per item, or £150 for range cookers/American fridge freezers. We may however choose to reduce the collection charge if you are purchasing another product from us.

We reserve the right to apply re-handling charges for returned items under some circumstances (see full terms and conditions for more information).

Alderbank

sheramber said:

<snip>

We reserve the right to apply re-handling charges for returned items under some circumstances (see full terms and conditions for more information).

What those full terms and conditions say (admittedly in rather clumsy language) is that for sales to trade, business or profession (ie. for sales not covered by the CCR regs 2013) you do not have the right to cancel, and if they allow you to cancel they will apply a cancellation charge of 25%.

7.3 - For the avoidance of doubt, and subject to Clauses 2.4 and 1A.2 (where applicable), cancellation rights do not apply for sales to trade, business or profession. If we do accept the cancellation of an order (in whole or in part), we reserve the right to charge you a cancellation charge (which is 25% of the purchase price of the Goods).

They are permitted to do that.

kinger101

In what way was the product not new?

Receiving something and then returning it doesn't make it used.

If they described it as new and unopened you may have a point.  But you were buying a cooker hood.  Not the nice box which it came in.

eskbanker

lb00 said:

When the cooker hood arrived, it was immediately clear that the item wasn’t brand new. The box had already been opened, with visible signs of tape, and inside I found a return receipt from a previous customer. It appears the item had been returned by someone else and it was sent to me as a new product. This is extremely disappointing, as I can’t even be sure whether the hood was used by the previous customer and how thoroughly it was checked by ME given I found the previous customer return receipt inside.

To make matters worse, the hood isn’t suitable for my kitchen setup, so I need to return it.

Do you accept that you've reduced the value of the item simply by opening the box and examining it?

If so, then how much of a deduction are you prepared to accept from the refund when returning it?

If not, then why would the actions of the previous customer be seen any differently, when, by your own admission, you can't identify any signs of use?

Jumblebumble

lb00 said:

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a cooker hood from Marks Electrical as part of a larger order totaling almost £3,000 for all my kitchen appliances.

When the cooker hood arrived, it was immediately clear that the item wasn’t brand new. The box had already been opened, with visible signs of tape, and inside I found a return receipt from a previous customer. It appears the item had been returned by someone else and it was sent to me as a new product. This is extremely disappointing, as I can’t even be sure whether the hood was used by the previous customer and how thoroughly it was checked by ME given I found the previous customer return receipt inside.

To make matters worse, the hood isn’t suitable for my kitchen setup, so I need to return it. I contacted Marks Electrical to explain the situation and requested a free return. However, they’ve insisted on a £35 return fee unless I arrange my own courier through DPD at my own cost.

Their response was particularly frustrating, as they stated, “The item was an unwanted return; this does not mean we cannot sell the item on as a brand new product. The return fee will stand for the unwanted goods.” I believe this is unfair because the item was sold as “new,” but I can't be sure it's in a new condition. It also seems they didn’t check the item before resale, given the previous customer’s return receipt was still inside.

While £35 isn’t a huge amount, I feel this situation is unjust. I’ve told them I’ll proceed with a chargeback through American Express if they don’t offer a free return, but they haven’t budged.

Am I within my rights to demand a free return under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states goods must be as described and of satisfactory quality? Or should I just pay the return fee and move on?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

You could always suggest to Marks electrical that the other customer may be interested in the fact that GDPR appears to have been  been breached if the receipt identifies them.
Be careful there is no suggestion of any form of blackmail ( although I suspect no one will care)

TELLIT01

The OP says the item isn't suitable anyway, so even if it had been sealed in the box they would still be returning it.  It seems the vendor is only charging half their normal return fee.  I would advise the OP to accept the offer.

GDB2222

FWIW, I'm with the OP on this one. It's part of the regs that sellers have to accept returns, but I'm not at all convinced that these items should be resold as new. There really should be some reduction in the price to reflect the "it has been opened and pawed over by another customer" status. Maybe less so for a cooker hood than for something more personal.

Amazon manage this with their warehouse items.

Ergates

Much less so for a cooker hood - to the extent that a 0 reduction would seem reasonable.

Okell

GDB2222 said:

FWIW, I'm with the OP on this one. It's part of the regs that sellers have to accept returns, but I'm not at all convinced that these items should be resold as new. There really should be some reduction in the price to reflect the "it has been opened and pawed over by another customer" status. Maybe less so for a cooker hood than for something more personal.

Amazon manage this with their warehouse items.

Because it's part of the regs I fully accept that when I buy something online that there's a reasonable chance that what gets delivered to me won't be "brand new" in that it will quite probably have been bought (and returned) by one or more previous buyers.

That by itself doesn't necessarily mean that the item has been "diminished in value" or that I'm entitled to a price reduction.

On balance, consumers seem willing to pay the full price in exchange for the undoubted convenience of trouble-free returns.

It is, however, one of the reasons I don't buy much stuff online.

ThumbRemote

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations states:

A commercial practice is a misleading omission if ... the commercial practice omits material information ... and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/regulation/6/made

The questions is whether an opened and returned box falls within this. I don't think it does. However, if the item has been used or fitted then I'd take a different approach and expect the retailer to sell it as a used item.