Consumer Rights Help/Advice

King Damager · 9 May 2011 at 22:18

Ok, am now looking into advice on Consumer rights and what best to do...

I recently purchased a pair of Goldring NS1000's through a third party seller on the rainforest....

Unsurprisingly, given how many of these seem to break, although not having heard bad things about the rainforest stock, I bought a pair which have now snapped... The 'ear pad' section on the right hand side has snapped off after 31 days, and a maximum of 50 hours of use.

Due to the rainforests desire for you to contact the third party first I sent them an e-mail through the "contact a seller system" informing them how I had purchased the Goldrings, 31 days ago, and they were clearly defective as such small level of usage would not cause for them to break....

The third party in all honesty seems like a fairly small individual seller as the e-mail I got form him in response was "Hi jason unfortunately physical damage is covered by us I understand you didn't intentionally break them but will cannot accept returns as try have been broken you will have to contact the manufacturer.
Kindest regards"

There are some clear mistakes here, from what I gather he means to say "physical damage isn't", "we cannot accept returns as they have been broken" if not what he replied with simply does not make sense...

Now whilst admittedly the product seemed fully functional when I received it having it break after about 50 hours use (how much I've managed to use them so far) they clearly had some kind of defect and as far as I'm aware it is the retailers responsibility to prove that the product was not faulty when they sent it to me up to six months of purchase. What is more I'm pretty sure he's wrong in suggesting that physical damage does not require a replacement or repair organised by the retailer....

Your right to have an item repaired or replaced
Under the Sale of Goods Act, if something is not of ‘satisfactory quality’ you have the right have it replaced or repaired free. You can ask the retailer to do either, but it can normally choose to do whichever would be cheapest.

If the retailer refuses to repair the goods, you may have the right to arrange for someone else to repair it and then claim compensation from the retailer for the cost of doing this.

If it can neither repair or replace the item, you can either have your money back minus an amount for the use you have had of it, or keep the item and get a reduction on the price you paid.

You have six years to take a claim to court for faulty goods in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; in Scotland you have five years."

As far as I'm aware it should be completely in my rights to return this product... however the rainforest insists you deal with third parties first before going through them and try and come to an amicable agreement.

I realise I could contact goldring directly, but I'd rather get this sorted by not going through them, as the chances are they would give me a replacement, and considering the bad history and now bad experience with Goldring, I would rather simply get a refund...

Should I respond to the seller again and try and get this sorted out, and if so what should I say?

Or should I simply go through the Rainforests A-Z Guarantee Claim?
"File an A-to-z Guarantee Claim
If contacting the seller has failed to resolve the problem, file a reimbursement claim under ***.co.uk's A-to-z Guarantee.
Please note: The deadline for filing a reimbursement claim for this order is 8 July 2011."

Thanks for the help and advice

Mods feel free to move to general discussion if you feel it will receive a wider response there...

kd

Cleeecooo · 9 May 2011 at 22:32

give him another chance.
Tell him the goods clearly were not of a satisfactory quality and you will file a claim if he doesn't sort it. Tell him that the law states you take it back to the person you bought it from and that it is his responsibility to take it up with goldrings

stulid · 9 May 2011 at 22:34

I wonder if you wouldnt get a better response in General Discussion.

King Damager · 9 May 2011 at 22:38

Yeah Stuild wasn't too sure myself, but might well look into that cleee....

Mod's feel free to move it if you think it'll get a better response there.. I'll probably follow Clee's advice and post in General discussion after that depending on how many responses I get through here, but obviously don't want to post the same thing all over the place!

kd

Cleeecooo · 9 May 2011 at 22:38

King Damager said:
Yeah Stuild wasn't too sure myself, but might well look into that cleee....

Mod's feel free to move it if you think it'll get a better response there.. I'll probably follow Clee's advice and post in General discussion after that depending on how many responses I get through here, but obviously don't want to post the same thing all over the place!

kd

might be easier to RTM your OP

Operation · 9 May 2011 at 22:55

Things don't just snap though usually. Unless there was a latent manufacturing defect, and this would be very difficult to establish and the only people who can really ascertain this would be the manufacturer. I think you'd have a job establishing liability if you did make a claim against the seller. I think your best bet is to appeal to the good nature of the manufacturer directly tbh.

King Damager · 9 May 2011 at 23:21

Operation said:
Things don't just snap though usually. Unless there was a latent manufacturing defect, and this would be very difficult to establish and the only people who can really ascertain this would be the manufacturer. I think you'd have a job establishing liability if you did make a claim against the seller. I think your best bet is to appeal to the good nature of the manufacturer directly tbh.

Unfortunately the Goldring's have a tradition of having issues....
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18227604

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18234975

In all fairness, I should have just avoided them like the plague tbh...

It isn't a wear and tear issue, there's no way something like this should happen so shortly after purchasing the headphones... and they've always been stored correctly in the storage case it comes with....

Thanks for the advice so far

kd

wentalong · 10 May 2011 at 07:04

usually sellers have the right to reject returns as they may/may not know whether the damage was intentional or not, but if there is a defect, is it listed on goldrings site? if so it should be listed on the page of the auction, if not your more in the right tbh...