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.

Well done Claire that should say...
Well done Kirsty for 'winning' your argument in a blackmail kinda way

OP, I'd have accepted the gift voucher and bought nappies or similarly exciting essentials.

Just to add, I broke the plastic hook on the cot mobile, because I was heavy handed.

I've never forgiven Mothercare for the time I went in there desperate for nursing bras (this was before my local Bravissimo opened) and the woman looked me up and down and said 'Well, we don't do anything in your size'.

I was mortified.

YANBU and I work for them.

Why thank you mybrain, what a lovely 'compliment'.

I'm sorry you feel that companies breaking consumer law is acceptable, just because you would get it worse elsewhere.

And I wasn't slagging them off, I was venting because I was cross, because the manager was rude to me and implied I was lying - yet I think you will find my comments here were factual and not rude (well, apart from saying 'bloody' which hardly counts as rude on here!).

I have PMed Claire and I can assure you if she resolves the issue, I will definitely be back on to let you know.

Oh, and we have all the cloth nappies we need and I don't like the clothes, so there really isn't much we could use the voucher for - they have a Clarks shop in Taunton but apparently it doesn't include that, which is a shame actually as they will need shoes soon.

Quick update in case anyone is interested - I just got a call from a very nice woman at Mothercare Head Office. She apologised, explained that I should indeed have been given a refund in this instance and gave a refund back onto the card over the phone. She also said I could keep the gift card as an apology, which was nice of her and more than I expected.

So, it appears that Mothercare Head Office do in fact understand customer rights and good service. I just hope they manage to pass that on to their store managers. (One in particular!).

Thanks to Mothercare for sorting it out , just a shame it was necessary to in the first place.

So, a happy ending! Glad it worked out.

Well done Kirsty!

Glad there is people out there who stand up for themselves and don't let retailers lie and walk all over them

Good for you in persisting in what is right

Usually it is just the ass-y sales assistants that hate their lives, when customer services stick to the rules.

Happened to me more than once, not at mother care but kurt geiger, who's shoes are the poorest quality in the world.

Congratulations Kirsty and well done Mothercare!!!

Love these threads where customer services responds to the MNrs complaint and it is effectively dealt with. So satisfying!

Now, sorry to hijack the thread but I was wondering if I could pick Ladyjaxo's brains....

I also have a Hotpoint washer/dryer [bought 2009 from Comet] which seems to take forever to do a wash cycle. I haven't timed it but think I will do now, seems to be well over 2 hours.

And the dryer has never really worked. I think I used it successfully twice [if that] and then the machine always overheated and malfunctioned whilst in a drying cycle so I stopped using it.

But I understand the machine should still be covered under Sales of Goods Act? Rang Hotpoint and they said it sounded as if machine had a fault with the computer component. Spoke to Comet and they said they could send someone out to look at it [for about £150], parts of course extra

Spoke to Consumer Direct and they suggested getting independent washing machine repair person to assess machine and see if there is a fault.

However it seems as if you got results with your letter, do you have any additional advice? Thanks!

That's great news Kirsty. I had a very similar experience with Mothercare when my son's buggy broke. They wanted us to pay for it to be repaired even though it was only a couple of months old. Eventually they agreed to do it for free. That was about four years ago and it's still going so obviously it had been faulty to begin with.

I definitely think the fault is with the staff in store. They were very rude to me when I took the buggy back and I've complained twice - in two different stores - about there not being any boys' clothes in the sale and both times got very indifferent reactions.

Well done to mothercare for spotting this and dealing with it.

My top tip is this, if you don't get your rights then go to the top. I bought a new mobile phone last year and it was advertised as top of the range, best out there, cutting edge, yadda, yadda. It was worse than shite and I spoke to the lack of care department and they said it was fine, even their reviews website said it was shocking (disclaimer I bought on pre-release), so after a couple of days of tooing and froing I emailed the CEO, they let me keep my old phone and replaced it with a different, brilliant handset. Companies cannot just ignore consumer law as and when it suits them.

Well done to Mothercare Head office for sorting it out. I have had problems with the Mothercare stores as well.

If I had a problem with any retail stores , I ALWAYS go straight to Head Office. I know Boots hate if you go to Head Office cos it means their stores get less Brownie points :)

please could someone clarify my legal rights my pram was send back to mothercare for the second time for repair as they discontinued the model they were unable to replace it so I asked for a cash refund as it's still within it's two year guarantee, the manager i spoke to instantly took a dislike to this request and told me she would only refund onto a gift card when I tried to explain that they don't sell the pram I would want as a replacement and therefore the gift card would be worthless her tone soon became louder as if to try and belittle/embarrass me to be honest it did both everyone was staring at me and her people were mumbling about quality of customer is shocking so at least I know they thought her attitude was also of a poor quality when I asked her to clarify with another manager she said it's the managers digression whether to give cash or gift card and she'd decided I wasn't getting one I then asked her to clarify this with customer services dept she threw her hands in the air And told me she doesn't get paid enough for this love and went to get the senior store manager who just regurgitated what had previously been said I assumed I would have a refund in a faulty product in the same manner I had paid for the product is this standard practice/service At this point I have left my pram at the store and haven't got gift card as I said I wanted to seek advice before accepting so basically they have my property and I have no refund until I go in tomorrow but to be honest I don't ever want to step foot into let alone spend money in a shop where it's acceptable to reduce a customer to tears any advice greatly appreciated

Victoria - after ploughing through the whole thread to realised that your issue is unrelated to the original post, it might be better to start your own thread about your issue. There is a button headed 'Start a new thread' which will allow you to post your query as a new thread which is likely to garner more relevant responses than you will probably get by adding to this thread.

Was your pram a Mothercare own model? How long have you had it and after how long did it need repairs? If you include this on your own thread, people will be able to offer more advice.

Sorry - realised that my opening sentence sounded arsey, but it wasn't intended to be! Hope you get some help soon...

Dsis had two children and managed to buy nothing for them in motorcare despite being given vouchers and nothing was suitable compared to other shops. Says a lot that for babies mothercare isn't suitable. Isn't mother care on the blink at the moment business wise. Op write to head office. They haven't fulfilled their obligations. Good luck. Might also be worth as someone mentioned twitter or fb.

Just see. Update op well done x

Also this is an old post... 2012

London, the thread is nearly 2 and a half years old. Doubt the replacement mobile will still be on the go lol!