Matalan - Wrong item sent - charged to send it back

Gardenshedexplosion

Hello, first time poster. Wondering if this is worthy of a consumer complaint and who to?

I ordered a blanket from Matalan along with other items. The blanket arrived and it was the wrong design. I notified Matalan and they said that I need to send it back to them, I asked for them to arrange a courier - having just had surgery I didn't want to leave the house, but they said no, I had to send it by Evri at the shop and sent me a link to pay £2.99 to send it back to them.

I asked if they could send me the correct item, they said no, I have to reorder. In my initial order I only ordered a couple of extra bits to get free postage, if I reorder I will now also have to pay for postage.

This seems less than ideal for a mistake they made in the first place, notwithstanding I also don't have the original blanket I wanted on time.

It seems like pretty abysmal customer service to me, to make a mistake and cost me time and money to rectify it. They could easily alter their internal procedures to be able to handle this at little aggravation to the customer. Is there an external body I can complain to?

Alderbank

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6687006/matalan-wrong-item-sent-charged-to-send-it-back

Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like customer services misunderstood your request. They think you want to return the blanket because of a change of mind such as you don't like the design. For change of mind returns they charge £2.99 postage.

However they must cover the cost if the goods are faulty.

Make it clear that you are rejecting the blanket because they sent you the wrong pattern. Tell them you are exercising your statutary right to reject under section 20 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which says the trader (Matalan) must bear any reasonable costs of returning them. Also,remind them of section 8.6 of their own Terms and Conditions which say:

'8.6 If you have returned the Products to us under this clause 8 because they are faulty or mis-described, we will refund the price of the Products in full, together with any applicable delivery charges, and any reasonable costs you incur in returning the item to us.'

There is no time limit to returning faulty goods but you should do it as soon as you are able.

Okell

@Gardenshedexplosion - do what Alderbank says.

They are right… Matalan are wrong…

Alderbank

If the other bits and bobs you ordered are OK then you can't bundle them in with the faulty blanket🙁

However you asked for a replacement blanket (in the design you expected and paid for) and they refused but said you could re-order so it follows that they must have the design you ordered in stock.

That's not allowed under s23 of the Consumer Right Act. If you requested a replacement and they can reasonably do so, that's what you are entitled to.

Tell them that as well.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Send it all back OP as you are entitled to do so under the Consumer Rights Act.

I would first look for the CEO email for Matalan, normal customer service has become very poor for a lot of companies, higher up responses tend to be what normal should be if you see what I mean.