Retail Customer's Rights.

[therascal]

The Sale of Goods Act, 1979, gives retail customers legal rights with regard to 'fitness for purpose' and quality, but some retailers, especially those selling electrical goods, impose their own company policies to deny these rights to its customers. For instance, if a customer cannot produce the receipt, some retailers will simply refuse to either refund the cost price or replace the item, claiming that it is against company policy.

 

The problem with receipts is that if you purchase, say, a television set, from a supermarket, and then the weekly shopping, the television is included in the long receipt. One supermarket chain refuse to issue a separate receipt, and who keeps all their till receipts ?. The Sale of Goods Act does not require a customer to produce the receipt, all you have to do is return the item to the store where you purchased it with some evidence of when and where you bought it. You don't even have to return it to the specific supermarket or store, any in the chain will suffice, and do not be put off when the manager tell you that you have to return it to the store from where you bought it.

That evidence can be your bank statement if you paid by cheque or card, or if it was cash, then your word will suffice providing you can establish on the balance of probability that you bought it from that store.

 

One High St. electrical shop manager tried to **** me off because he said I could have bought a very expensive T.V. recorder from anywhere, but when I made enquiries, I discovered that the model concerned was marketed exclusively by that chain.

 

Some will tell you that you have to send it back to the manufacturer, this is another ploy to persuade you to give up. It is the retailer's responsibility to deal with your complaint, not the manufacturer. Ignore the warranty, that will have T's and C's buried deep in the bumph to give them a 'get out of gaol free' card. It is the retailer, I repeat this because it is specified in the Act.

 

'Fit for purpose' simply means what it says on the tin providing your complaint is not trivial, say a tiny scratch where is cannot be seen.

 

If the manager still tries to put you off, politely remind him of his obligation under the S of G Act, and if he still refuses, then you raise the stakes by sending a formal letter to the store informing the manager of your intention to taking the matter to the small claims court. Include the date you bought the item, how you paid for it, details of your complaint, and a summary of the manager's response. Allow the store 14 days to respond with an amicable solution, and give warning that following the expiry of that period, you will take legal action without further notice.

 

I will prepare a specimen letter and further instructions on how to take the complaint to the small claims court, and if anyone needs help, get in touch with your e mail address and I will send copies to you.

 

In most cases, your claim will be indefensible inasmuch as the retailer cannot file a logical defence in answer to the complaint, in which case, you ask the court to strike it out and issue a result in your favour. Example, I bought a bed which, after six months sagged around one side and in the middle. The store's 'technician' claimed that I had been sitting on the edge and using the bed as a trampoline. A girl in the office dealt with the summons and filed a defence to that effect. The court struck out the so called 'defence' and ordered the store to pay up.

 

Most stores will not even use solicitors to deal with your legal claim, they get some clerk or other to deal with it in the hope that you will give up and abandon the case.

 

In another case, I was beaten up and held prisoner for two hours whilst the hospital where I was being treated cleaned up one ward bathroom of hardened excrement on the floor and around the sink and toilet bowl, and removed a corpse from the next toilet. I discovered these conditions and tried to leave, so the ward sister got the security guards to intervene.

 

The police didn't want to know when I eventually escaped, and so I issued process against the hospital and took the police to the Court of Judicial Review to order it to do its duty. The hospital chose to use the Coroner's Officer as their legal eagle on the basis that he, like me, was ex police, but he was useless, incompetent, and didn't have a clue. When the case finally ended up on the desk of a solicitor, the hospital trust settled out of court.

 

My advice therefore is to stick it out, don't be put off, the law is there for your protection. You can ask Citizens Advice Bureaux in the first instance what to do, and more than likely, they will take you through the procedures.

 

DO NOT BE PUT OFF.

 

Get in touch and I will discuss these things further with anyone in need of help.

 

P.C. PLOD.

 

No retailer in their right mind is going to issue anyone with a refund if they have not got a receipt to prove it was bought from them. It leaves it wide open for anyone to commit fraud and try to obtain a refund without proof of purchase. After reading the post first time round i had to check and make sure it was December and not the 1st of April .

[999tigger]

No retailer in their right mind is going to issue anyone with a refund if they have not got a receipt to prove it was bought from them. It leaves it wide open for anyone to commit fraud and try to obtain a refund without proof of purchase. After reading the post first time round i had to check and make sure it was December and not the 1st of April .

 

No, but they will if you have other proof such as a bank or credit card statement.

[orangetango]

Just to shed some light on a few things from a different point of view.

 

It's true that often shop staff aren't so well clued up on the SOGA, however, many are. Definitely make sure you know what you can and can't have and don't try to amend parts of the law to suit you, because sometimes there is discretion, and lying for your own benefit isn't going to go well for someone's inclination to help you...

 

Thermal receipt paper, particularly the stuff we use will stay legible for years provided you don't wash/tumble dry it several times, that can't sometimes be helped so if you're asked for your details at the time of sale, it's always good to give them. Remember, if you don't want marketing, you only have to say so and a tick of a box opts you out of it.

 

Otherwise, a credit/bank statement is all that's needed. Remember, it may seem obvious, and I've seen it countless times; if you pay cash, your receipt is your sole proof of purchase. Discount for paying cash is something that went out a long, long time ago, so there isn't any benefit to using it.

 

In all cases, all we want to do is help you in anyway we can (believe it or not, we get no pleasure out of standing there arguing, it's actually quite exhausting), but there is also a business to look after, so when you bring your expensive electrical item in, unless it keeps going wrong, you're probably going to be looking at a repair instead of exchange. This would cost a company an absolute fortune, which in turn, puts people out of jobs etc etc.

 

It's always worth contacting the manufacturer first, or checking the support section of their website. Nobody is trying to fob you off, take some perspective, are you definitely sure it's a physical failure? many electrical items nowadays are heavily reliant on software and simply re-installing/updating can save everyone a headache. Again, it may seem obvious, but the retailer doesn't make the product, try the people with the expertise first, you might just end up not having to be without it.

 

You'll usually find anywhere that publishes a returns policy will say "This does not affect your statutory rights", because it doesn't. There is no legislation in place that places an obligation on a retailer to take an item back simply because you don't want/like/need etc. It is your responsibility to check that the item meets your needs before you buy. If you ask someone in the shop and they tell you that it will do something, but it actually doesn't, then the 'Not fit for purpose' part of the SOGA comes into play.

 

Most returns policies only require you to keep the item in a 'saleable' condition, the best way to judge that is: 'would I pay full price for this product in its current condition?'. Some go as far as to say completely unopened.

 

If you do open a product and realise you've made a mistake, it may be worth taking it back anyway, have a word, be polite and completely honest and at the least you might be offered an exchange or credit note. When working with people, you can be a pretty good judge of character, if someone's trying it on, it's not difficult to tell; as good a liar as you may think you are!

 

In all cases, just being a decent human being to the one serving you, is likely to bring out the best results. Most of us love our jobs and love nothing more than seeing a smile on someone's face, it makes the day go quicker and makes us all happy! And remember this Christmas, you think you're stressed with your shopping? We're all having to deal with all of you getting stressed, and are pretty good at keeping our cool... so just bare with us whilst we try and do our best for you :-)

[kidley]

Well Orange tango, what an excellent first post, Welcome to the forum:cool:

[orangetango]

Well Orange tango, what an excellent first post, Welcome to the forum:cool:

 

Thanks!

 

On another note: I forgot to mention, if you buy anything online, you're covered by the Distance Selling Regulations, which allows you to return anything within 7 days of delivery even if you have opened the item(s) to inspect, as sometimes a website thumbnail isn't the best way to choose something! But be careful, you're still obliged to return in the condition in which the item was received (minus a seal being broken on a box, obviously). The exclusions are DVD's etc, where these are sealed, you can't watch a film then decide you don't like it!

[Super Hans]

This thread might be useful for idiot customers who think they have the right to return unwanted Christmas gifts in the new year without a receipt or proof of purchase.

[Gleadly]

Some stores, such as Curry's/PCWorld save your purchase details, together with your name & address, on their system.

 

I returned a faulty item to Curry's without my receipt.

I showed my idendity, they found my purchase on their system, and they exchanged the goods without any problems.

Mind you, it took them some time to find the item on their system even though they had my postcode.

 

Sometimes I love PCW & sometimes I hate them.

[Super Hans]

Some stores, such as Curry's/PCWorld save your purchase details, together with your name & address, on their system.

 

I returned a faulty item to Curry's without my receipt.

I showed my idendity, they found my purchase on their system, and they exchanged the goods without any problems.

Mind you, it took them some time to find the item on their system even though they had my postcode.

 

Sometimes I love PCW & sometimes I hate them.

 

How can you complain about that? If you don't have your receipt you need to accept that it takes time for them to trawl through their records.

 

You give them a postcode, the system still has to go through thousands of different transactions until it gets a match.

 

If you don't want to wait, provide your receipt. Simple. Otherwise it takes as long as it takes.

[dosxuk]

If you don't want to wait, provide your receipt. Simple. Otherwise it takes as long as it takes.

 

In these cases they often have to find the transaction on the system anyway before they can do a refund / exchange / whatever - having the receipt just proves you actually did buy from there, and I've had an example (in Maplin's IIRC), where even though I had a receipt, they still couldn't find the transaction on the computer - after nearly ten minutes they gave up and just selected a random purchase of the same item and replaced my item as if it was that purchase.

[Super Hans]

In these cases they often have to find the transaction on the system anyway before they can do a refund / exchange / whatever - having the receipt just proves you actually did buy from there, and I've had an example (in Maplin's IIRC), where even though I had a receipt, they still couldn't find the transaction on the computer - after nearly ten minutes they gave up and just selected a random purchase of the same item and replaced my item as if it was that purchase.

 

I've never come across this, it sounds like an exception rather than the rule.

 

Generally speaking, and I say from experience...a receipt can be scanned...that receipt has multiple values that vastly reduce the search time. Date, time, till, operator ID, store...etc.

 

If you just give them a postcode, the search perimeters are huge. It has to search through all stores on all dates on all times on all tills on all operators...which is why it takes a lot longer.