AIBU to ask a charity shop to refund a fake designer jumper?

[Thelongestdayever]

My teenage DD has recently got into thrift shopping. She bought a designer sports brand jumper yesterday in a charity shop, new with the tags on, she paid £40 so not cheap but still a saving on rrp.

When she was showing me we realised it’s not real. I suspected as the quality is off and on closer inspection it’s a definite fake.

DD took it back to the shop today and they refused her a refund saying that they only refund faulty items. AIBU to go back with her and ask that they do refund? The RRP would be about £60 so not unreasonable of her to presume it was real but a bit cheaper, IMO (eg it’s not like it was a Chanel bag for a tenner which I would clearly expect to be fake). £40 is a lot of money to DD and it’s not even really a good fake in hindsight.

No it means purchased perfectly legitimately but the person who bought it never got around to removing the tags and wearing it.

The teen was handing over cash for goods. When I made a donation I get nothing in return.

One is a transactional purchase.

One is a donation.

Fake goods are illegal to sell and that's the bottom line. I wouldn't assume a £40 item was fake. I could buy any number of fakes at source in Turkey for under £20. But that's on me as I know Mulberry don't sell plastic bags. Charity shops near me do however sell the real designer items cheap as it's a very well off area.

Also I sell on my "designer" items on Vinted and you be lucky to get over a fiver for anything

@LoudTealHare the charity shops where I live (London) are all run like businesses. They often charge quite high prices and while they do have volunteers they also have staff who are employees. I know for a fact that they look up items online to get the best price. When you buy something from a charity shop it’s not like buying something from a car boot sale for £2.

They are not allowed to sell counterfeit goods, whether they made it known or otherwise.

Why would you be sucked in? It's not like branded goods somehow propel you to the to buy them, you simply don't buy things you dont want to buy. It's not a flex.

This is over simplistic.. it’s still illegal to sell fake goods!

This.

So, I guess the burning question is did you manage to get a refund sorted?

The OP and the daughter aren't an authority, the shop is entitled to think they are right and the OP is wrong they aren't required to agree and aren't trying it on if they genuinely don't agree.

I'm surprised they would mess around disagreeing though, they have the right to hold their ground and it become a civil dispute but I would expect them to not want to just in case even if they think they are correct.

Have a quiet word with the manager. Say you assume they didn't know it was fake and of course that it is illegal. Difficult if a donation as may have been passed off as the real thing. A refund is required and the shop can decide what to do with the fake. Sympathise with the manager for having a fake donated.
Maybe the volunteer thought it was real. Sometimes hard to know.

Have only just found this post and now I'm invested in whether or not you got a refund!

The only difference between a charity shop and an equivalent business is that any money left after covering costs goes to a charity.

Charity shops have the same legal consumer protection obligations as ordinary high-street retailers, they can’t just opt out of consumer law 🤦‍♀️

all charity shops refund if still with tags and you have the receipt.

As did the customer. There's no proof it's a fake. It's 2nd hand.

Since when is BNWT second hand?

What does it being second hand (but in this instance with tags) have to do with it not being a counterfeit item. Not sure why you'd assume the OP was lying about it being a fake item. Her daughter didn't realise, the staff might not have realised but clearly the OP has a reason to suspect it's not genuine, that's proof enough.

Personally, as it was bought from a charity shop, I wouldn’t be taking it back. Plus it’s a good lesson to learn for your DD.

I would be really embarrassed to take something back to a charity shop

Of course it’s second hand if you don’t buy it from the original store. I could sell something from my wardrobe which is BNWT but it’s still second hand if it has hung in my wardrobe for a few months.

I was at first, but then I reasoned that they offer a returns policy, I donate, I volunteer and more importantly I'm poor and feel pressured by society to shop ethically rather than buy from China - so zero guilt.

Why would you be embarrassed. They are a shop just like any other.

When you say it was 'new with tags', where were the tags from? Could it possibly have been bought in an outlet store? I live fairly close to a large outlet shopping venue on the South coast, and a fair few of the designer brands there make stock specifically for their outlet stores. The quality isn't as good as garments sold at full price in their high street stores, but they're not fakes.

Exactly. And unless it’s a small charity shop serving a local charity, the CEO is earning six figures. Should they be embarrassed?

Why shouldn’t her DD get what she paid for; a designer item?
Why is that a good lesson?
And do you know how much CEO’s of charities get paid? They’re hardly skimping themselves.

They are not obliged to.
No shop is, unless the goods are damaged or not fit for purpose.
Sale of Goods Act.

(edited for typo)