Refund for faulty goods?

Richard53 · 16 November 2018 at 6:36PM

Earlier this year, I got a local mobile caravan service to carry out a service and some improvements to my caravan. I also asked him to supply a new awning, one of these inflatable types. The purchase was made in June. On our first trip out (within a couple of weeks of purchase) I noticed that there was a manufacturing fault with the awning. I told the guy who supplied it, and after a lot of toing and froing with photos etc, the awning was picked up by a courier and returned to the makers in France. After a lot of emails asking about progress, we finally received a new awning by courier yesterday (15 November).

I have examined it, and it has the same fault as the first one. I have emailed the supplier and said that I want to return the awning to him for a full refund. He was informed of the fault within 14 days of purchase, and the subsequent delays (which have cost us the rest of the season in the caravan) have been because of disagreements between him and the import agent on how to proceed.

I am prepared to do a small claims action over this (the total value is about £600), but I would appreciate any advice as I know there have been several changes in consumer law over the last few years. Have I the right to ask for a refund? Is a small claims action (probably via money claim online) likely to succeed? Or would I be better cutting my losses, putting the new awning on eBay, and trying again from a different supplier?

How I wish I had bought the awning from a retail supplier and not a one-man band! I could have returned it and had a replacement within a week. Lesson learned.

Any advice appreciated.

unholyangel · 16 November 2018 at 7:11PM

If you agree to a repair or replacement within the first 30 days, the 30 day period stops running on the day you agree to the repair/replacement and doesn't start again until the trader has provided goods in accordance with that. So if I've understood your post correctly, you had 16 days from receiving the goods to exercise the short term right to reject if they still failed to conform.

This means you're entitled to a full refund for the awning and you can insist on a refund rather than a repair or replacement.

Richard53 · 16 November 2018 at 7:51PM

Thank you. The awning was purchased on 12 June and the seller notified of a problem on the 24 June, so that takes 12 days out of the the 30. The new awning arrived on 10 November (sorry, was mistaken in first post) and I notified the seller today (16 November, first chance I had to inspect) so that's a further 6 days - total 18 days. I appear to be well within the 30 days mentioned.

I don't really want to take the guy to court, but it's good to know the legal background so I can do so if I have to.

Cheers for the info.

Richard53 · 20 November 2018 at 9:26AM

Good news - supplier has offered a full refund as soon as the awning is collected and the manufacturer refunds him. I'd have preferred a full refund straight away, but he is a one-man band and presumably cash flow is an issue.

Shows the benefits of keeping things polite and reasonable.

Refund for faulty goods?

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