To think Mothercare should fulfil its legal obligation and refund me? Preferably without implying I'm a liar!

[KirstyJC]

I am SO angry about this. It is only £12.50 but that's not the bloody point.

I bought a cot mobile 3 months ago and it broke when I wound it up one evening. The plastic hook at the top of the pole which holds the music bit snapped.

I took it back to Taunton Mothercare today complete with the receipt and all parts, including the snapped off bit of plastic.

The store manager said it was too long since I had bought it to give me a refund, although offered me an exchange or gift card. I didn't want another one - what is the point of a second potentially faulty item - so I asked her why she wouldn't refund me. She said it had been too long since I bought it and that she had didn't know how it happened. I explained that she did indeed know exactly how it happened - I had explained and also showed her how it happened and I asked her why she didn't believe me and was implying I was lying. She said she wasn't calling me a liar but that she wasn't technical (WTF?? You need a degree now to work out that a bit of plastic broke? At a guess I would say because it wasn't strong enough, no?) She said as there was no proof of how it broke - it could be a retailer problem or down to the user (ie I did something wrong with it) - she wasn't going to refund me.

I asked about why it wasn't covered under the Sale of Goods Act, since I thought it covered items which were faulty for 6 months from the date of sale. She agreed that was the case but then said it was too long since I had bought it, despite admitting that 3 months is in fact less than the 6 months covered by law and simply repeated that she didn't have proof of how it broke. I asked her how she thought I had miused it to break it in such a way that it was my fault and she wasn't able to say.

She then gave me a comps slip with the head office details to make a complaint. Which I will certainly be doing.

I should have known better than to buy anything from there really - and I sure as hell will not be returning to spend my gift card - but I am so cross that she just appears to have decided that I was lying or that she couldn't be bothered to meet her legal requirements.

So, AIBU? She certainly seemed to think so.

Cross posted again with you Fleur - wow, you can mind read too? So apply your mindreading skills to decide whether to fulfil your legal obligation? I am impressed. You do work for Mothercare, don't you?!

How exactly would you suggest I was lying - I said I was holding the piece of plastic, turned it in my hand and it broke.

I didn't try and say the dog did or, or that it mysteriously broke in the middle of the night. I said it broke when I used it so I felt it was too weak, since it was a part that was designed to be held when the other part was turned. What sounds dishonest about that? Genuinely, I am interested to know how I could have been lying here.

Fleur - you are the sort of person who would drive me insane in real life - :)

Wow at Fleur being a walking talking lie detector, I am sure that Trading Standards would take that as a defence when imposing a fine for flouting the law !

Hey Kirsty, here is the text of my letter to Argos, feel free to adapt to your situation. It is the principle that matters, sure there may be a few customers who lie, but the basic tenet for any business, should be the customer is always right. Argos solved my problem and had a brand new washing machine within 5 working days, I will now shop there again and recommend to friends and family. It is basic business.

PS don't have time to edit, so ignore the independent report stuff, that is only necessary AFTER 6 months as the onus shifts to the customer to prove the item was faulty.

Dear Sir / Madam,

Re: Order Number : 85078668 Faulty Hotpoint Aqualatis Washing Machine (Model # AQ9D69U)

I am writing regarding a faulty Hotpoint Aqualatis Washing machine purchased from Argos in November 2009.

The washing machine was advertised as being ?Super Silent?. However, recently it is no longer "super silent" has started to sound like I have a Formula 1 Grand Prix in my kitchen when spinning. Furthermore a simple 40 degree cycle takes over 2 hours. It has not been excessively used (1-2) loads a week.

On Sunday 29th January 2012, I put a wash on. An hour later there was an ungodly metal crushing sound. Cue a sprint to the kitchen to find the washing machine spinning and shaking excessively and smoke starting to come out of it, tried to press the off button, didn't work had to resort to unplugging it, just before it looked like it was about to blow. I examined the machine it seems as if the drum is gone.

I spoke to Argos customer service on Monday 30th January 2012, who explained that I would have to obtain an independent report detailing the fault and that costs would be refunded if it was found to be a manufacturer fault. I arranged for an engineer to examine the machine on Tuesday 31st January. The engineer explained that ?the front weight on the washing machine has cracked and split. Half of it has fallen off. It has rubbed on the drum and worn away the fixing locations. Therefore a new drum is required?.

As the weight is located inside the machine it is a non-user accessible part there is no way it can be faulty due to neglect or mis-use. Furthermore, by the way the concrete split it is a manufacturing defect that was inherent at the time the machine was purchased, although it may not have been apparent immediately. (A copy of this report is attached).

The Sale of Goods Act (herein SOGA) 1979 makes it an implied term of the contract that goods be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. Furthermore it places obligations on retailers to conform to these terms. It is reasonable to expect a top of the range Washing Machine (the Aqualatis is Hotpoint?s premium model) to last longer than 2 years. Therefore the machine as clearly evidenced by the independent report was not of satisfactory quality.

As Argos is in breach of contract, I am entitled to have the item refunded, repaired or replaced at no extra cost or inconvenience. I request that you confirm that you will do this within the next seven days. Furthermore I request a refund of the full cost of obtaining the independent report (£63.00 GBP) and also any associated costs of using a laundrette, while the machine is out of commission. It is an important item and there is a young child in the house. So I wish for this matter to be dealt with quickly as possible as it has already caused significant inconvenience.

This is not just a SOGA matter. There was a serious health and safety risk. The machine could have exploded and caused death or serious injury.

As a long time Argos customer, I also feel that it is important that you speak to Hotpoint / Indesit as your suppliers. I was advised on initially contacting Hotpoint about the washing machine, that there would be a charge of £120 for a callout. When I mentioned the age of the machine and SOGA, I was told that ?Argos will not do anything for a machine that age?. I feel that people unaware of their consumer rights would be forced into paying the call out charge, without contacting Argos. This will lead to significant reputational damage to Argos, as Hotpoint customer services are not performing well.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Sincerely

Thanks Zumm, i aim to please!

Op- i didnt serve you, so could not possibly comment on how the sales assistant judged your character. I am merely offering my personal opinion as someone on the other side of the counter, and speaking from experience.

I found it easy to spot the 'try-ers' amongst the genuine customers.

Ladyjaxo , it was Argos that i spent the vast majority of my customer service time with. Bingo!
In the situation you have posted we would not have been 'allowed' to offer you a refund at store level either.

Fleur seems strangely proud of p1ssing off the customers of the companies she has worked for and acting illegally by denying them their statutory rights. For me, she sums up everything that is wrong with customer service. Incidentally, I note that in the current tough economic environment, companies with a reputation for good customer service (deserved or not) (such as John Lewis) seem to be thriving where as those of whom you often hear tales of poor service (such as Mothercare) are not.

Goods sold should be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. A mobile used as a mobile for 3 months before breaking doesn't sound like it was either. Hopefully a complaint to head office will bring about results for the OP.

"Edam, they offered her a replacement or repair. They are not obligied to offer a cash refund."

That's bollocks. And trying to evade Sale of Goods.

And this is coming from someone "the other side of the counter".

How can anyone on this thread say the item was faulty? (as defined under the SOGA)

None of you have seen or handled the item in question.

The OP and the lady at MC have done. The lady at MC made her own judgement on whether or not it could be defined as faulty (under SOGA) and refused a refund.

The hook could have been made of highly durable thick unbreakable plastic. It could have been made of thin crappy plastic. How do any of you even know?
It could be very likely the OP would have had to handle it badly for it to break or it could be very likely it wouldve broken under mild stress.

Blindly screaming NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE THEY ARE EVADING THE SOGA is a bit daft.

Well, how do you know it WASN'T faulty? Shop managers have been known to refuse refunds for reasons other than they don't believe there is a genuine fault, you know.

Where have i said it wasnt?

Well, as I understand it, they can say it was faulty because it broke when I used it as it was intended. That is pretty much the definition of a faulty item, isn't it?

And actually she only gave the mobile a cursory glance, she looked more at the receipt than the item itself. In fact she was shaking her head when the sales assistant found her in another part of the shop and was on her way over to the counter with her, even before she had seen it. So forgive me if I say I disagree with your statement that she used her judgement to decide if the item was faulty - she had already made her decision before she even saw it.

The plastic hook was about 2-3mm thick. If it was made of thick unbreakable plastic, then it wouldn't have broken. As it was made of crappy thin plastic then it shouldn't have been as it obviously wasn't strong enough.

Why did she say she would've refunded it if it was only 1 month old not 3? How would that affect whether she thought it was faulty or not?

No. She was simply trying to get out of giving me back my money by telling me it was too long ago.

You haven't explicitly said it but the tone of your posts make it sound like you think the OP is lying.

You could say the same of anything taken back as faulty: customer could have done it.

Fleur,

Yeah I know my situation, was largely different as it was after 6 months, so I knew the onus laid on me to prove the fault.

That's why whenever I have problem with goods or services, I always contact head office / marketing office and to be fair with regards to SOGA , I have always got satisfactory results by speaking with those with the authorisation to act.

I do feel that stores need to train their shop floor staff better with regards to consumer rights though. When I was a student I worked for a famous american sports company who would issue a partial refund years after purchase if the goods became faulty. They were and are still number 1 in their field as they understood that the customer is King. Also remember that companies are insured and have deals with manufacturers for this kind of situation, so there is no excuse really.

Hi Kirsty

I'm really sorry to hear what happened, I'd love to be able to resolve your complaint for you if we haven?t already. Please can you send me a Private message with your details so I can give you a call?

Thanks in advance
Claire
Mothercare Customer Care Manager

I've bought loads of stuff from the Taunton Mothercare over the years and have never had any problems, even when I changed my mind about a buggy I'd bought and took it back a couple of hours later :). It sounds as if I've just been lucky, from what you've all said.

However, Waitrose - what can I say about their customer service? What customer service? . The saga of the two faulty electric toothbrushes. They wouldn't give me my money back, refused to accept that it was faulty, pretty much accused me of being a liar, and eventually after a couple of weeks of wrangling sent me a gift voucher to cover the cost. I then went to Argos and bought a replacement which is still working some 18 months later :).

Customer service in this country is often shite.

i dont shop at mothercare anymore, a shame really as we had another baby 5 months ago and needed a hell of alot of stuff.

My reason for not going there anymore is simply lack of customer service and wanting to help. I went in to see if they had any of those buggy board things, spoke to a really surly woman who would clearly rather eat her own eyes than be there. They didnt have any in, I asked when/if they were expecting them, blank look and a "well I dont know do I?", so I asked if there was any chance they could order me one as I am always in that area so could pick one up and would even leave a deposit, again got a sniffy "no we dont do that" so I then asked if they could ring another local MC to see if they had one in for me (didnt have my phone with me) and she actually sighed, said "oh......so you want ME to ring another store FOR YOU to see if they have a buddy board that YOU want" and said "WAIT THERE" and walked off huffing

Needless to say I just turned around, left the trolley with about £100 worth of stuff in it in the middle of the shop and started to walk out, but I was so angry I actually stopped a couple who were looking at the buggies and told them not to bother as they were all shit (I had a MC buggy which kept breaking - thats a whole other story) and I now tell anyone who mentions MC about how turd they are.

Terrible customer service.

Claire that's one hell of a difficult job you've got being the manager of 'customer care' at Mothercare!

"I think some of you need to look up what 'fit for purpose' actually covers."

Fleur
Allow me to point you in the direction of the Macmillian dictionary
www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/fit-for-purpose

And just in case you're not able to click on the link allow me to help.
it defines fit for purpose as "something that is fit for purpose is good enough to do the job it was designed to do" . Since the item in question broke within a short period of time, it was not fit for purpose. #
If you're going to get snotty with people on a thread please at least make sure you actually know what you're talking about first.
And yes, in answer to your next question, I did study law. So I do know what I'm talking about.

Kirsty you are fully within your rights to demand a refund. Not a gift card or exchange.

I think you are right OP and I think it is incredibly bad practice for Mothercare to behave like this. Now, for the sake of their refunding you £12.50 you will probably never shop there again plus you will tell lots of people about their poor service. More fool them. This sort of thing happened to a friend of mine in Monsoon once. She chose a lovely dress with embroidery on it. It became unstitched so they replaced it, it became unstitched a second time and the shop asst accused her of lying and damaging it herself. It was such an upsetting episode and put my friend off the shop permanently.

I didn't realise people still actually shopped in Mothercare!

I (or rather my mum) had a shocking experience at MC when she tried to return a nursing bra that had broken after the first wash.

DD was only 4 days old so my mum took it to the store where the manager held it up to the light, stated the bra had clearly had good use and called my mum a liar.

Fortunately MC keep a record of all their exchanges and when they took my details they could see that the bra had been exchanged less than three weeks ago (I'd originally bought the wrong size) however they still wouldn't refund the bra despite not being able to offer an exchange as they didnt have the correct size in stock and so I was left with a gift card, which was irritating because we moved overseas two weeks later.

I wrote to MC who were very good and offered a replacement but I never got the opportunity to accept (due to move). Shockingly bad in store service and a pity because actually I could always find something to buy in there but o longer will.

OP I would persevere with this one. If you don't get any joy with at your local branch could you try another branch? The staff might be more helpful there This has sometimes worked for me in this sort of situation, it can be purely down to how helpful the individual staff member is and whther they are having a bad day,. HTH

Oh and try not to accept any vouchers cos you won't be able to use them if Mothercare go bust. Which they deserve to do if they continue to be so abysmal at customer service.

Fluer sounds like the kind of employee that could ruin business reputations
No wonder she has had to work at "many" high street stores

Op hopefully this will be resolved. It's the principle of it.

I was refused a refund on a top I bought online from warehouse 4
Years ago and never been back since. Cannot believe shops damage reputations and future sales over what is pennies to them

1. Not living in the UK any longer I bloody well miss Mothercare. Mine had a lovely cafe and noone minded when we tried out looked at their toys.

1. I think you can spend fifteen quid at MC on books and the clothes were nice way back when so a gift voucher is perfectly reasonable after 3 months.

1. Slagging off places - hotels, retailers etc to get your own way as they don't need the bad publicity - is becoming the norm here.

1. Well done Kirsty for getting back promptly you poor sod.

1. Kirsty - I am impressed you still keep your receipts tbh - mine get chucked out after the item is out the box. I know you're pissed off with MC but a credit note is not that bad surely?

In light of the above YABU and No, I have bugger all to do with retail or MC but I do live somewhere where, broken or not, receipt or not, I would have got fuck all (the customer is always wrong outside of the UK) so be grateful for small mercies....