Receiving faulty goods

tom_e · 9 Jul 2013 at 14:50

Just a quick one.
My house mate bought a set of speakers from another well know electrical e tailor and they're DOA.
They've told him they won't do a straight swap and he's got to send them back and wait up to a month for them to test them and then they'll issue a replacement or refund.
That doesn't sound acceptable to me, is there anything in the SOGA to force their hand in either issuing a replacement straight away or speeding up the process?

amaru · 9 Jul 2013 at 14:57

Where they bought online? If they were the Distance Selling act will sort that, you have upto to 7 days i think to return anything for what ever reason if it was bought online, telephone, mail order etc etc which the retailer has to abide by.

tom_e · 9 Jul 2013 at 14:59

Yep they were bought online I've already checked the DSR regulations and that gives 30 days as the time limit to issue a refund, which is my main problem 30 days for either a refund or replacement just seems like a very long time when they were DOA.

Haggisman · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:10

Are they available elsewhere for a similar price?

I'd just cancel and purchase elsewhere if they're going to be difficult about it...

dfarrall · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:12

That's up to 30 days before legal action though.
If it's a half decent retailer they will refund quicker than that anyway.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:17

Under consumer law retailers are legally obligated to replace DOA at their expense! Decent retailers will arrange to come and pick the faulty product up and send you out a new one, other scummy retailers will try and get out of their legal obligation and make you pay for the return postage :mad:

, don't stand for this nonsense, exercise your consumer rights

tom_e · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:24

Like I said they will issue a refund or replacement eventually, so it's not an issue of them trying to get out of it it's more the fact that they're happy to leave you waiting for up to a month for something that was already broken when it arrived.

amaru · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:27

Under the DSR you have 7 days from the point of purchase (Even if you have recived the goods) to cancel the contract, if your still within this contact them to advise your cancelling the agreement under the DSR and would like a refund on the goods you have purchased.

Sudden · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:29

tom_e said:
Like I said they will issue a refund or replacement eventually, so it's not an issue of them trying to get out of it it's more the fact that they're happy to leave you waiting for up to a month for something that was already broken when it arrived.

True, but htey need to carry out tests as well to make sure they were and your friend isn't just trying it on.

As others have said, good retailers will normally do it much sooner, but if not, then I don't think 30 days is particularly long.

monkehhh · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:32

If they have their own policy they have to stick to it, but obviously that can't give you less rights than the law. They should pay for the return and send a replacement or honour the refund request within 'reasonable' timescales - anything you get quicker will be by complaining about what's reasonable, most likely.

dfarrall · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:36

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
Under consumer law retailers are legally obligated to replace DOA at their expense! Decent retailers will arrange to come and pick the faulty product up and send you out a new one, other scummy retailers will try and get out of their legal obligation and make you pay for the return postage , don't stand for this nonsense, exercise your consumer rights

They arent legally obliged to collect the product, just pay for the return of it.

Antony101 · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:37

Not sure of the problem, whenever I've had anything from Amazon break they have always had the money back in my back account in under a week from the time of me having an issue.

Don't buy from poor retailers.

tom_e · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:40

Antony101 said:
Not sure of the problem, whenever I've had anything from Amazon break they have always had the money back in my back account in under a week from the time of me having an issue.

Don't buy from poor retailers.

They've never been poor in the past but them to be fair I've never had to return anything to them, and almost every other retailer is never going to be as good as Amazon when it comes to returns.
Anyway they've organised a courier to pick up the goods tomorrow so at least they sorted the return and fingers crossed they won't take the full 30 days.

Sudden · 9 Jul 2013 at 15:43

tom_e said:
They've never been poor in the past but them to be fair I've never had to return anything to them, and almost every other retailer is never going to be as good as Amazon when it comes to returns.
Anyway they've organised a courier to pick up the goods tomorrow so at least they sorted the return and fingers crossed they won't take the full 30 days.

This is also something to keep in mind. They will normally say 30 days in order to cover any delays on their end etc. It could be much quicker, but they don't want to be in the situation where they say 'oh, normally a week' and then have people chasing them because it took 8 days instead of 7. This way, people expect 30, get it early and are happy.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 9 Jul 2013 at 18:25

dfarrall said:
They arent legally obliged to collect the product, just pay for the return of it.

I know they aren't I never said that, they are however legally obligated to reimburse ALL out of pocket expenses that are incurred in sending the DOA product BACK to them!

amaru said:
Under the DSR you have 7 days from the point of purchase (Even if you have recived the goods) to cancel the contract, if your still within this contact them to advise your cancelling the agreement under the DSR and would like a refund on the goods you have purchased.

Of course you could do this but you would then be out of pocket what-ever it costs to return the product to the retailer as they are not legally obligated to pay for this under the DSR 2000, which is reasonable and fair.