Shop won't refund or exchange faulty toaster!

I think you have been unreasonable OP. If I were you I’d call the hardware store and tell them you’ve had a rethink and realise you’ve been unreasonable.

You could ask for your raffle ticket money back but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Best plan is to see if you can fix it. Ask ai.

Seriously just buy yourself another toaster

Well done, OP. You have no doubt ensured that at least one local business will avoid supporting your dc's school in future. And potentially others if this guy decides to share his experience with other local business owners.

Result!

PMSL

Thanks for the entertaining thread @AcorgicalledTiffany

It brightened up my dull Thursday.

No I'm not.

Believe it or not, people sometimes have different opinions on things from others and can agree with the OP, even when the majority don't - and online discussion fora are a popular place for those opinions to be conveyed!

Apologies to anybody who wanted a 100% pile-on for the OP!

You didn’t buy it. It cost you a fiver. Just bin it.

Not what you asked but a Repair Cafe may well be able to fix this for you. It breaking is just one of those things.

When I started reading the OP, I thought she was going to say she complained to the school, which would have been cringe enough. But she actually went to the shop that donated it.

Maybe you’re a bit too heavy handed OP.

Was meant to quote

Are you the OP?

There's no need for a return or a replacement because nobody has purchased it. The perfect opportunity to kindly donate an item.

Offloading rubbish would be giving a broken toaster. This was perfectly working for 6 weeks. As a PP said, that's 6 weeks of free toast.

You're making yourself look a right nutter, OP.

Things do degrade over time; but most importantly from the pov of a shop/supplier with integrity, if an item is no longer produced, it can't be replaced like for like if it does turn out to be faulty.

Why on earth would he keep a toaster in stock for in excess of 5 years and never have reduced it to clear long before now - and then suddenly think of it when he's asked for a raffle prize? It's meant to be a shop; not a museum!

It's a shame when people see things like raffles and harvest festivals - and indeed charity shops - as a way of getting rid of old rubbish that then just becomes somebody else's problem. If you don't want to or can't afford to donate a prize, it's not difficult to politely decline.

Has OP changed her name to @Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService?

Well that's a non sequitur if ever I saw one.

It's a sodding raffle prize, given for free. OP has already said it was working when she received it, the fact that it's broken 6 weeks later is no fault of the guy running the business. OP got 6 weeks of free toast and has absolutely no rights whatsoever to demand a replacement of the thing. Fair play to him for sticking up for his business, frankly.

Next time I'm sure he'll just say "No, fuck that" because of OP's ridiculous actions.

What's dubious about an old toaster, new and unused? Do toasters have best before dates now?

The true spirit of Christmas

It wasn't really in good faith, was it?!

Personally, I'd rather have a world with old-fashioned small shops that were treasured and well-used for their expertise, customer service and integrity.

If you're only going to run a shop with a small, limited selection of goods, at considerably higher prices, but with no care for the customers at all, and no interest when things go wrong, why exactly would people value you over Amazon - who do actually have a very comprehensive and straightforward return and replace procedure for faulty items?

It's not enough to just open a small shop, growl at people with the very minimum of service and then start wailing about people not supporting small shops when they naturally go elsewhere.

Obviously we don't know if this man is surly and unhelpful with everybody in his shop, or whether he's super helpful and nice as pie to standard customers; but I'm not getting good vibes from how he treated OP.

There’s no contract between you and the shop owner. Your rights under the CRA 2015 will apply against the promoter of the raffle (the school/PTA) as they supplied the toaster to you. You are actually legally entitled to this prize so they should arrange repair, replacement or a reasonable alternative (I’m guessing £50 cash as the toaster isn’t replaceable).
Please don’t report, harass or badmouth the guy. His legal responsibilities have been met.

Jeez. Poor fucker donates something in good faith and then is expected to refund you. Just leave it. There will be no small businesses left at this rate. Do you want to live in Amazon Land with no real shops at all. Because that's where we are heading.

It's quite a leap between a toaster that stopped holding the toast down after 6 weeks (which may have been a mechanical lever) and it electrocuting someone or catching fire!

Have you ever had the unenviable task of sourcing raffle prizes. I held a quiz night in the summer and it's fucking stressful. He would have been asked to donate, probably felt duty bound, looked in his stock room and thought "this will do". If anyone had come to me complaining one of their raffle prizes was faulty I would not be impressed, and I imagine he felt the same way. But you've done him a favour, he won't be donating again. Seriously dude, it was a raffle prize, just chuck it away and remember why you got the ticket........ for the good of the school or whatever the cause was. No one cares about raffle prizes, it's just the cherry on the top of a good day.

How on earth is it a 'good deed' to knowingly offload dubious old stock on to a charity/good cause under the guise of it being a desirable, useful thing to win?!

That reminds me of the threads we see where people have family members who perpetually bring them bags of broken and filthy old toys 'as presents for their children' when they clearly are only good for the tip.

I'm sure nobody from the school PTA held a gun to the business owner's head until he handed over a prize, if he didn't want to or couldn't afford to.

Who ya gonna call? Toastbusters!! 😆😆