Shop not taking responsibility for faulty stock, how is this OK?

[VapeProblem1]

A vape shop opened near my house about 5 months ago which was great as there isn't another nearby and it works out cheaper than buying from a newsagets as they do a '4 for £16' deal which sees me through the week.

Every so often one of the vapes would be faulty so I'd return it to the shop and let them know. The guy would reluctantly replace it but explain that he can't really keep doing so (?) as though he's doing me a favour.

He said he'd spoken to his boss and the boss said it's impossible that theres anything wrong with them as only '5 out of every 10,000' are faulty. Neither of the men vape so I don't know how they've reached that conclusion but I can assure you it's wrong and I'm not a dishonest person nor somebody who is so hard up I have to lie to get free nicotine.

Apparently the boss said in future they will only exchange a faulty one if I open it in the shop and test it there and then. I'm not sure how he expects that to work when I buy for the week ahead..

Anyway, the vapes being faulty is becoming a much more frequent thing. Two out of the 4 I've bought this week do not work and the shop has made clear that they will no longer replace them so I'm not going to give them any more of my custom and will instead buy them online.

I'm just really annoyed about their stance and how it has been squared as a 'me' problem. Apparently nobody else has complained 🤔

AIBU?

I'm not interested in quitting vaping at the moment. I have used it to quit smoking cigarettes and will stop in my own time or when it is banned. I buy disposable ones and recycle them accordingly so can we please not make it a vape bashing thread 🙂

Well if you are the only one complaining about faulty vapes you have to admit it's odd that you are getting so many

Stop vaping.

Problem solved.

Otherwise involve trading standards, at which point your vape dealer will probably close down and this will help you give up vaping this way.

Otherwise you'll just have to suck it up. Literally.

I don't believe I am, but if I am then it's going to be because nobody else can be bothered to or are buying different vapes.

They stock multiple brands but I stick to one particular one and get the same flavours all of the time.

If they're genuinely faulty, what's the issue with you testing them all out when you buy them? I see their point, to be honest.

When I worked in retail, we had a serial "returner" and she cost us a fortune in time, refunds and lost sales.

YABU.

Cos vaping.

I've already covered this in my OP. I'm not getting into a discussion about quitting.

Its not on and as your purchase is from the shop then they have a responsibility to exchange if they are faulty. They are probably buying dodgy stock and telling you no one else is complaining.

If you are going elsewhere now I would probably just put it down to experience but I'd definitely be in there complaining if something I had bought was not working. Lots of shops I have found recently try to avoid dealing with faulty stock and incorrectly referring back to the manufacturers.

I don't smoke 4 vapes at the same time. I use them throughout the week. I work long hours and can't just nip to their shop when I want to open one.

Well you will just have to suck it up then. As I said per my post.

The issue is vapes are generally made cheaply in China who are not known for their quality control.

HTH.

Can you try a different brand? Are some better quality or more regulated than others?

They may not be the genuine product, in which case they may be dangerous so stop using them.

Right so it's OK for a shop to sell faulty items and take no responsibility for what they sell. Got it. What a bizarre take.

Report to trading standards?

But that doesn't mean the retailer can sell them and the shrug their shoulders if customers have wasted money, consumer protection surely still applies

We doesnt have laws that have (but doesn't apply to cheap Chinese shit) as part of the name

Just buy elsewhere. It might be cheaper but it’s wasting your time going in and out for replacements

Oh I agree.

But that's their profit margin... So you will just put them out of business.

You don't see to grasp that the market is an exploitative shit show.

I'm not surprised though.

Could you not open the 4 of them and try them in the shop before you leave?

What I meant was, can't you open them on purchase to check they're okay before leaving the shop? It's not like vapes go off if they're opened and not used right away.

I mean, if I was regularly buying faulty stock, I'd want to do that anyway so I didn't waste my time and money.

I'm going to switch to a different brand and buy online now, some brands are better than others. I used to buy Lost Mary's from my local newsagents and every so often there would be a dud one but it was so infrequently it wasn't worth making a fuss over, but this has become so often its a total waste of money.

You are within your rights to get a refund/replacement. They are also within their rights to choose not to sell to you.

They are giving you the option to buy but test when buying. I don't know about vapes, but can you not open all 4 and take one puff out of each?

They'll almost certainly be selling fakes, OP, like far too many online retailers, and the "nobody else has complained" is just the usual ruse to shut you down

Good luck finding a seller with genuine stuff though; I'm getting sick of buying batteries which used to last months but whose threads now become unusable in a fortnight

I saw a sign in a shop the other day saying that if vapes were faulty they couldn't do anything and to contact the manufacturer direct, something to do with it being a tobacco product. I've no idea how accurate it is, it was just a handwritten sign but maybe its something similar? This was just a general store rather than a vape shop though.

I think what @RedToothBrush is saying is that if you buy crap items then they are crap. Like fast fashion.

You are buying these vapes because they are cheaper but they are shit. Fifty percent of them don't work.

I agree with Toothbrush 🪥 that you should report them to trading standards.

I don't like vaping but of course you're perfectly entitled to expect to buy ones that aren't faulty!

What's the fault? I expect that's why they're cheap. Not that that should affect your rights, but it's clear the shop isn't interested in looking into it.

This.

It's also unlikely that it's only you that has problems.

As much as it's handy that a vape shop has opened that's in a more convenient place I'd stop giving them my custom if that's how they treat you.

The 4 for £16 Is not a bargain/saving if the product isn't fit for purpose.