To expect a refund?

[Kai1977]

I bought a top from Zara a week ago, got it home to find a buttonhole was damaged. I can't find the receipt but the amount shows on my credit bill.

Zara will only offer an exchange. Does the credit card bill not count as proof of purchase?

Oh and all the paper tags are still on too.

Surely it only proves you spent money with them, not what you actually bought? I think an exchange without the receipt is fair enough. Yours is faulty and they’re willing to replace it, what’s the problem?

Having worked in retail for many years, we always accepted a statement as proof of purchase. You need to speak to the manager or customer services.

Go into the shop when it’s busy with customers at the checkout and ask again!

In my experience Zara are quite strict with this.. I used to shop there all the time (now I am pregnant with number 3 so no can do anymore, sigh) and I have seen many customers trying for refunds with no receipt, to no avail. I think an exchange is best you'll get... or maybe a credit note might be better?

Yes - it is evidence of payment, not the actual receipt that is required

I'm sure I saw on a consumer website somewhere that they must take it back if you can reasonably prove you got it from them - I don't know much about Zara but isn't it there own label stuff in which case surely they can't say you didn't get it from there?

Why not accept the exchange? You wanted the top when you bought it.

I think an exchange is fair enough.

If it's faulty (and the fault wasn't notified to you at time of purchase) you're entitled to a refund. You don't have to accept an exchange.
There is nothing in law that requires you to furnish your actual receipt as proof of purchase.
Just show them your credit card receipt and stand and wait.

Please don't do as a po posted and go back when it's busy just to cause a fuss and effectively force that person at the till to do as you wish. All it'll do is intimidate the worker and make you look like a bully.
If they're following company policy they're job will be at risk if they break just because you want to 'win'

You don't even need a receipt if you say "I bought this top on xx date and it is not fit for the purpose for which it was intended as it is faulty"
Legally they can't refuse as it is a trading standards term.
I learned that from Martin Lewis MSE

They should offer you a refund.

You must offer a full refund if an item is faulty, not as described or doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.

From www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds

Thank you all.

Does anyone have the actual law/Act which says I could get a refund with a statement as proof of purchase?

I don't want to push something if it's not covered by consumer rights but ay the same time, it's obviously a poor quality item and I don't necessarily want an exchange, I want my money back.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/citizens-advice-consumer-work/the-consumer-rights-act-2015/

Don't understand why you won't accept the refund, though. Surely you wanted the top when you bought it only a week ago?

A retailer can offer an exchange,repair or refund

It’s the retailers choice which

However, they can look up your card payment v easily on their back office till system.... or customer services can

I don’t always accept statements though..... depends on the customer really

A statement proves you bought something with them

You need a receipt with amount spent for that item as it could have been on sale or reduced for some reason..... so if it was reduced due to a small fault to say £10 from £20.... how would they know without a receipt?

You want a refund.... so could pocket £20 after ( maybe) only spending £10

Running does your electronic stock / till system not show you what the product cost on that date? You just look it up and compare to the bank statement surely?
I.e this garment was in the sale for £16 on 15th Sept so that's what your refund would be.
OR without a receipt the shop will refund you the cheapest price it was sold for - even if you paid £100 but then it went into the sale for £50 you would only get refunded the £50 without proof of purchase.
That's standard practice in the UK anyway

The thing with a credit card statement is that the shop still doesn't know what you bought unless your thing happens to be the only thing that could have been bought for that price. I Zara I assume lots of things cost the same so I can see why they don't accept a statement unless I suppose the statement had a very specific time that they coudl check to the till system

does your electronic stock / till system not show you what the product cost on that date? You just look it up and compare to the bank statement surely?

I can't speak for PP, but ours certainly doesn't. It shows the original price and the current price, but not what price it might have been in-between. Things often go into sale, go back up to full-price then get reduced even further in another sale. We also have various offers and events throughout the year that could mean people got a 10/15/20% discount on X-date, but not on Y date.

It's the retailers choice they are quite entitled to offer you an exchange in this situation instead of a refund. They possibly suspect that you got the top home, lost the receipt decided you didn't want it so damaged it to get a refund. Not saying you did but it's something I've seen hundreds of times myself.

Without the receipt the shop is under no obligation to offer you a refund in this situation it's unfortunate but they don't have to.

It may well be worth speaking to manager but please speak to them like they are a fellow human being don't go in shouting or quoting websites and please for the love of god don't say I know my rights if you said any of these to me I would go out of my way to see you got nothing.

I would be interested why you are unwilling to accept an exchange presumably when you bought it you wanted to item and if the only problem was the damage why not accept the exchange?

@Running, I used to be able to search for transactions in my last job, but I wasn't supposed to do it to aid a return. I would occasionally check particulars against total figures on bank statements and I once traced a transaction to stop someone trying to defraud me. These require long tedious written explanations to my auditor to justify why I've done this. The process is also really slow and occasionally turned up zero results.
For those saying you don't legally have to show a receipt, that might be true but just having the item proves fuck all; was it a present- so you didn't pay, did you get discount, did you pay or use a gift card, did you actually buy it from the brand itself (e.g Joules sells wholesale to next, john lewis, Amazon, garden centres, has a separate eBay trading arm- buy from those places and you'd need to go back there for your refund as they are the vendor). If you can't prove any of this, don't expect a refund!

Thanks for your help.

To clarify, I don't want an exchange for the same item because it's clearly rubbish quality (the button loop broke after simply being tried on by others in a shop).

Here's what I can find:
"If your goods are faulty and you don't have the receipt, you still have the same rights to a repair, refund or replacement as under the Consumer Rights Act.

Under the Consumer Rights Act you have an early right to reject goods that are unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, and get a full refund.

But this right is limited to 30 days from the date of purchase.

After the initial 30 days, you can't demand a full refund in the first instance, but you still have the right to a repair or replacement."

It is a new season item so Zara know I can't have had it long.

If you only bought the one item and the price on the bank statement supports that it was that item on that date they may be more amenable.

Like I say speak to the manager and see if you can come up with an arrangement they may offer a credit note which again would be perfectly reasonable.

The problem with the different laws and acts is that they are open to interpretation.

So for example your are entitled to ask for a refund but in your situation the manager could claim that they are not willing to refund because they believe you have damaged the top yourself, now even if you haven't you can't prove you didn't just like you can't prove it was damaged when you left the shop.

Also I don't like accepting bank statements and this is the reason why:

An example I have I once refused a lady a refund on a board game. She had no receipt but she had a bank statement stating that she had bought something from our store. The thing was I know that we have never stocked that particular game so I said no and explained why. I got told I had ruined the child's Christmas, that I would go to hell, various different rude words where shouted at me in front of other customers anyway I stuck to my guns and she left.

Later the same day the woman came back in really sheepishly and apologised for shouting at me and lying about what she had bought with the bank statement she had shown me it turns out she had found the receipt and the item was bought from one of our competitors If I had just returned this I would have lost money and got into all sorts of trouble because I'd have returned an item we don't sell.

So bank statements are not always reliable. I know for us without a receipt we will not exchange or refund but if it is faulty and it was paid for via card I will out of good will try to find the transaction on our till computer.