Appliances Direct sold our air conditioner instead of sending it back to us

[Iyamnotayam]

We bought a portable Air Conditioner from Appliances Direct last year. It worked for the entire summer, and in the winter we used it's dehumidifier function.

In this years heat wave, the air cooling function kept cutting off, and it would only work on fan function. My husband emailed them as it was under warranty, they asked for a photo of it installed. We sent one of it installed as per the instructions. Appliances Direct then claimed it was incorrectly installed and that we'd blown the compressor so the warranty was void.

DH pointed out that they can't make that judgement without opening it up as the compressor is internal, so they eventually agreed to take it back and have their engineer look at it to establish whether the fault met the warranty conditions.

My husband chased Appliances Direct after they'd had air conditioner a week, and Appliances Direct said that their engineer tested the air conditioner and it was in working order, however they were willing to refund, or pay £600 for the model they had in stock as all their air cons are out of stock.

DH emailed back asking if we can just have our air con back if it's apparently in working order. And they emailed back saying "apologies, we can't send your air conditioner back as we've sold it".

All correspondence has been via email, so we have a paper trail showing that it was definitely in for inspection and potentially repair. They never asked if they could sell it, we never mentioned it being sold.

DH wants to ask them to replace with one of the ones they tried to upsell us, at no extra cost.

I'm absolutely raging, and want to escalate this, because imo it amounts to theft.

AIBU for wanting to escalate now instead of asking for a replacement?

I wonder if you could report it as stolen?

Clearly they cant sell it as they dont own it

They have a complaints process on their website and if you dont get help from customer services it says to email:

[email protected]

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/crossheading/definition-of-theft

How does that fit with the situation?

Possibly a letter to the Legal Department

In the alternative ask them to get your unit back

It is very strange and not right

However I'd get the refund anyway as I wouldn't trust them anyway after everything that's happened

So you ask for a replacement surely. I know they want to just refund you but ask for a replacement and see what happens.

You could also try going through resolver:

www.resolver.co.uk/companies/appliances-direct-complaints

Because you can’t buy a cheap air conditioner unit right now for love nor money, and the cheeky fuckers want OP pay an extra £600 to have one of the ones they do have in stock.

Im with DH on this, I’d be demanding the £600 one for free, or at least VERY heavily discounted.

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

It'll cost you £70-80 quid upfront, but they may settle with a new machine.

Because Appliances Direct want an extra £600 for a replacement.

The replacement they’re offering will cost OP an extra £600

Slightly odd situation, but they have discharged their duty under the consumer rights act as they have offered a full refund (I am assuming it is a full refund of the original cost?).

Prior to six months (but after 30 days) they only have to repair/replace or refund. After six months they have to prove it wasn't faulty when you bought it. If it was (and maybe their check showed it was) they only have to refund you. Which they have offered to do. They could offer a replacement but if they don't have one of equal value they're not obliged to give one of higher value.

I'm assuming after finding the unit was faulty they have refurbed it and sold as seen. Either way, I'd personally take the full refund and buy from a better company, they don't sound that reliable.

@Iyamnotayam unfortunately, as they've offered you a full refund then there isn't anything you can do other than accept, as they have (more than) met their legal obligation doing this.

In fact, legally they could actually make a deduction from the refund for the years use you have had of it so far e.g. if it would typically last 10 years and you had it 1 year, they could offer a 90% refund.

I'm assuming the price has rocketed since you bought it, hence wanting it replaced/returned, as if you buy another it will cost you far more?

You could push them for a replacement, and try insisting on them sending you yours back or a new one at their cost given it was incompetent of them to sell yours and they shouldn't leave you in a position where you can't afford to replace it? (but if they don't play ball then you'll have to accept the refund.)

I’m baffled by PP comments that they’ve met their legal obligations and discharged their duty under the consumer rights act! Does this mean that retailers can sell on property that doesn’t actually belong to them?! If you take a laptop in for repair, for example, it’s not actually yours anymore and the retailer can sell it and offer you a refund? Surely not!

They legally have to get the owners consent before disposing/selling something. They did not do this. They took the item for inspection to see if the compressor was broken and the item met the warranty conditions, OR whether the fault was something repairable. We never relinquished ownership.

Yes
They sold your property WTF

Do they have a replacement? They can send you they shouldn’t be charging you any extra.

It's an Argo 10,000 BTU Sphera 10k. I'm sorry you're having issues with them as well.

Thank you for this advise! I'll be pushing for a replacement. They've been really stupid because everything is in email so it's very clear we didn't relinquish ownership

Thank you for this! We'll be emailing them saying that tomorrow if there's no suitable resolution zx

I wouldnt take it as gospel that they have actually sold it, even though theyve told you they have. Theyve been telling me different stuff constantly throughout the process, one text message told me how it had come back into stock so they could arrange a replacement and when did i want it, and in the same paragraph told me it was now out of stock so they couldnt replace it 😑

I wouldn’t settle for a refund OP, like some posters suggest.

With the demand air con units have either gone up in price or are generally unavailable. That’s not an acceptable resolution.

They either need to return the unit to you (as in source like for like) or give you the upgrade free of charge. Do not settle for anything else - they’re 100% in the wrong here and I hope there’s no mistake in your paper trail.

I’m also absolutely stunned that they would admit they sold your property on email!!!

This is there AI comes in handy:

Subject: FORMAL COMPLAINT: Breach of Bailment and Section 49 CRA 2015 – [Your Order/Repair Reference Number]
Dear Appliances Direct Complaints Team,
I am writing regarding my air conditioning unit (Model: [Insert Model Name/Number]), which was sent to you for repair under reference number [Insert Number].
You have informed me that you have wrongfully sold my unit and have offered a standard refund of my original purchase price. I formally reject this offer.
As the bailee of my property, you had a legal duty of care. Selling my property without authorisation constitutes the civil tort of conversion and a severe breach of Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015(failure to perform a service with reasonable care and skill). [1, 2, 3, 4]
Under UK common law, the measure of damages for conversion and breach of contract must place me in the financial position I would have been in had the breach not occurred. Because we are currently experiencing a heatwave, the market price of equivalent air conditioning units has soared, and stock is globally limited. [1, 2, 3]
A refund of my original purchase price does not fulfill your legal obligation, as it leaves me completely unable to replace the unit on the open market.
Therefore, I require you to do one of the following within 7 days:

1. Source and deliver an identical or upgraded replacement air conditioning unit to my property at your expense.
2. Increase your financial compensation to £[Insert current market price of an equivalent unit], which reflects the actual current market cost to source a replacement today.

If you fail to resolve this adequately, I will escalate this matter to your certified Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider and file a claim through the Money Claim Online (small claims court) system for the full current replacement value plus damages. [1, 2, 3] I look forward to your swift response. Yours sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Phone Number]

I very much doubt this will work. They have been offered a full refund which the supplier is entitled to do I believe. So the fact that right how they only have more expensive aircon units for sale does not mean they are obliged to give OP one

Also point out that they have sold something that doesn’t belong to them, which is theft.

If they bought it last year, prices for air con have gone up so much that you wont be able to get anything like it with the refund and this is likely what they are hoping as it would most likely have been sold for a massively inflated amount compared to last year. I bought one last year for £429 and this year they had a refurb of it sell for £900 when I looked.