Manufacturer requesting 5 star review before faulty return

ButterCheese

I'd just like to run this past the forum and see if this is normal?

We bought a tablet in Feb for £200 off amazon. It developed a fault after the 30 day amazon return window, so we contacted the manufacturer on Amazon's advice. They said we should factory reset etc and do the updates, which we did, twice, and the fault is still there.

They have now said that they will send us a new tablet when they receive the old one. "Normally you (customer) would have to pay for the return, but as a gesture of good will we will pay the return for you. All you need to do is leave us a 5 start review on Amazon, send us a screen shot, and we will then send you the return label".

Is it me, or are they legally obliged to pay the return for a faulty item anyway? And are just trying to get a 5 star review? I'm tempted to do all this and just change the review afterwards, unless what they are doing is fully legal

ritz55

As your contract is with Amazon and not the manufacturer, the manufacturer is under no obligation to provide a return label or even repair or replace the tablet.

You can go back to Amazon and tell them your experience with the manufacture and ask them to resolve the issue as your contract is with them.

With Amazon's customer service they will give you a label to return the product and more than likely a refund once they receive it.

Alderbank

You have no contract with the manufacturer so no legal obligations between you either way.

Who did you buy it from? You just say 'off amazon'. Was it a marketplace seller?

born_again

If this is a marketplace seller, then contact Amazon informing of they are asking for a review to replace.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

For an easy life, post the review then delete it once sorted.

mikb

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82071334#Comment_82071334

Or update it to say "This 5 star review was a requirement to me getting my warranty service after the device failed" … ?

sheramber

Assuming the seller sticks to his word and actually sends a new tablet. Do you trust them?

ButterCheese

ok thanks for replies. At the end of the day it looks like we're getting free return postage and a new tablet, so i will abide by their silly rules for now until we have a working one in our hand. Thinking about it more, I would not like to delete my review or otherwise defame them on it, for fear that the new one may very well need returning in future!

It is just very telling of today's society, as summarised below:

1. Sellers who think they can side-step consumer rights laws by offering bribes for 5* reviews
2. Sellers who assume that the average customer does not know their rights or how things like faulty returns work
3. How you can not trust reviews anymore (see above); for all I know, x% of all the good reviews I've seen that have led me to buy a product, are in fact untrue but have been left so someone can benefit from consumer rights that they already have, or have perhaps received free gifts

To conclude, I do not have the time or energy to take this matter in hand as I normally would i.e. contact Amazon to say a seller on their site is bribing customers for fake reviews. And to then insist that my return is paid for anyway because that's the law.