What (if any) compensation would you have requested? (non medical)

[AnotherCerealNameChanger]

Ok.
Long story short.
Bought tester pot of paint.
Painted wall. Nice colour so
Bought 5 litres of it (v v v expensive though not F&B)

Imagine my frustration when it became obvious the colour was much lighter, had painted about 75% of large kitchen diner. I don't like the colour either - its insipid. We both work full time, DD is SN and we have had crazy amounts of hospital appts recently so the fact we have half a day to finish our kitchen was a pretty big deal to us.

Rang shop (don't know if I can name it) and they said tester and paint should be identical, must be a fault with one or other of the paints.

Went in today, front line staff v sorry but can only offer a refund, I say I want a brush test as I don't know which colour is correct. A team leader appears and acts like a bulldog, passive aggressive indicating maybe it was my application of the paint, then I should have known the tester would be different, and that they are never exactly the same. Refused to offer any recompense for my time or inconvenience, refused to acknowledge I had bought the large pot of paint (£50) in good faith that the tester would be a good indicator of the correct paint, laughed when I suggested it was a trading standards issue. I even had a photo of the wall which shows the difference really clearly.

DD kicked off, I was about to lose my temper and burst into tears and the guy was quite intimidating, so took the money and went home. People in the customer services queue kept offering me luck and telling me to stand my ground.

Now though incensed. I have a 75% painted kitchen. I have to now find another colour to match the little tester (which they couldn't give me a full refund on as it was on offer today and i didn't have my receipt. And the bloke was horrid.

WWY have done?

[LadyMaryCreepyCrawley]

Sorry, but why did you paint 75% of your kitchen when you knew that it was the wrong colour? Surely you should have looked in the tin, painted a spot then stopped? This would have been the sensible thing to do.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

So they didn't give you a full refund?

Is this a chain? I assume it is because you don't want to name it. I would write to their head office and complain, as well as complain on any social media they might be on.

I don't know the particulars of the world of paint (hopefully someone else does) so I can't comment on the tester/pots of paint thing, but on a customer service level they have failed.

What would I have done at the time? I don't know. Having a child there kicking off makes everything more difficult, and I know mine ramps it up if he hears me trying to make a point in a discussion. I'd have asked to see a manager but I don't know how long I'd have held out with my child there.

Sorry for your experience. :(

[nancy75]

I think your refund is enough. The tester and the big pot are never going to be exactly the same, did you stir the big pot well enough if it was that different?

[ObiWan]

I think there are often variations in paint colour, that's why if you buy a couple of smaller pots, you are meant to mix them.

You were lucky to get a refund really.

[AnotherCerealNameChanger]

The 'big' pot of paint was lighter when it dried, but while it was drying it didn't look that different. I'm not an idiot, it was only when it became a solid colour next to the section done in the tester that it became glaringly obvious

thanks green eggs i didn't expect to be there 40minutes else DD would have stayed home.

If a tester and the full size are different, whats the point of them? And yes we did do a real stir with one of those drill attachments.

[RollerCola]

I wouldn't have expected any compensation, I'd have settled for a refund. IME testers are often different to the big pots.

[LadyMaryCreepyCrawley]

There's differences between the batches as it's virtually impossible for them to mix the exact colours. The testers come from batches, so it sounds like it was a different batch to the large pot. What you need to do is check that the batch numbers match, this will ensure that the colour is the same.

[AnotherCerealNameChanger]

lucky to get a refund

if testers routinely do not match the bigger tins of paint then why sell them? Its just another con isn't it? for £3 for a tester (had to be mixed up) and £50 for a tin of paint them I'm damn well getting a refund if there's been that much of a cock up. I've had loads of testers (always dulux) in the past and without fail they have matched the bigger sizes.

[Nancy66]

Unless the tin of paint fell on me from a great height resulting in the loss of a limb I wouldn't expect, or demand, any compensation.

[LadyMaryCreepyCrawley]

Because you need to look at the batch numbers! Match them up, and you'll get the same colour. Dulux mix in giant containers, so they are going to match. Smaller companies won't have the ability to do this so will make colour in small batches.

I'm very ashamed to know this.

[Rockchick1984]

From personal experience, when I applied a sample from a tester it looked darker than one coat out of the big tin. Once I did the second coat it looked practically identical so I presumed it was that I'd done a thicker layer with the sample pot (applied with the attached sponge) than I had with the paint roller. If you got a full refund I don't really think any other compensation would be appropriate, presumably they refunded for the tin you had already opened? Refunding the current selling price is normal practice without a receipt, as they have no way to know what price you paid.

[AnotherCerealNameChanger]

I'm just gutted that I wasted all that time painting a colour I don't like.

Never had this issue before.

[BeingBooyhoo]

compensation for what? were you out of pocket? do you mean for petrol cost to go back for teh refund? parking costs? time off work to repaint? what?

[LadyMaryCreepyCrawley]

Next time check the batch numbers and paint a little, then wait.

[eurowitch]

I would only have expected a refund.