is shop allowed to do this?

[libelulle]

I bought a fairly expensive pair of shoes about 4 months ago (90 quid). The peg that holds the strap in on one shoe has come unscrewed and fell off in the street, so the shoes are unwearable.

I just went in the shop and the sales assistant said they'd have to send the shoes off to the manufacturer to 'check whether it's a manufacturing fault' as it's been four months. This will take two or three weeks to get a reply. In the meantime I have no decent shoes to wear.

Can they do this? The shoes are clearly unwearable and the fault is obvious. They are also saying that they can only exchange and not refund me. Consumer law experts, heeelp!

I am not sure (hope someone more helpful will be!)

I think that goods need to be fit for purpose and last a reasonable time, for shoes I would expect more than four months.

A couple of times I had returned faulty things and have had differnt outcomes:

Kurt Gieger - I returned a pair of court shoes that I bought as a size six and they fitted fine, within a few weeks they had streched so much I could not longer wear them. I tried to return them as faulty and they were "sent away to manufacturers" who found no fault - apparently I had streched them by wearing them????

Startrite - DS summer canvas shoes - worn less than ten times immacculate apart from hole in sole at hell. Sent to manufactuers and they agreed a fault and refunded me shame they had been in the sale!

I would hope in your case that they agree it is a fault and replace with a non faulty pair?

As you have had the shoes less than 6 months any fault is assumed to have existed at the time of purchase. If they want to argue otherwise it is up to them to prove that the shoes were not faulty when you bought them.

I'm afraid you have had the shoes too long to reject them and get your money back. You still have the right to have the shoes replaced or repaired. You can ask them to do either but they can normally choose to do whichever is cheapest. They clearly want to replace. They must do this within a reasonable time and without causing you significant inconvenience. If they fail to do this you can claim a reduction on the purchase price or demand your money back less an amount for the four months you have used the shoes.