£450 for a plastic bag!!

Out of curiosity, what was the electrical item in question?

15% of £1800 = £ 270

also out of curiosity, who was the rip off merchant--sorry mean retailer?

quote:

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Originally posted by long-time-dead:
15% of £1800 = £ 270

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sorry i meant 25%

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Allen:
also out of curiosity, who was the rip off merchant--sorry mean retailer?

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sound and vision in Bolton

and it was a TV

Don't you (as a consumer) have the right to a 14 day return, regardless? I'd contact your credit card company about this - it sounds a bit dodgy to me, and if they're going to be that funny about it, contact trading standards.

John

In this case the retailer has no obligation to accept the return of the item. There is no indication that it was faulty, only that AL4N got his measurements wrong (assuming he measured at all).

It is a bit mean, and not good for business, to charge so much though.

cheers

Nigel

Oooh bugger - my mate works there

Regards

Mark ;0)

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It is a bit mean, and not good for business, to charge so much though.

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Assuming you've paid full retail, not a discount price, it is EXTREMELY myopic of them, assuming the product is otherwise in perfect working order and condition when you returned it.

There will no doubt be a cost to them of selling an open-box, and margins items such as this are tight, despite the amount spent; from my experience in retail many customers get very irate if you try to sell them anything that you do not open in their house, believing that the unit is second-hand, or ex-display (as opposed to tested before delivery, in my case!).

That said though, the potential loss of long term business, from a regular customer, is far greater.

I suggest writing to them (don't phone or visit) explaining the above in polite terms and see what the reaction is.

If you fail to get an amicable solution, withdraw any future business, ensuring you write again to tell them you are going to do so and further explain how you will ensure your friends, family and associates will also know about your experience.

An amicable solution does not mean you win and they lose, either; my guess is if the fee had been more 'reasonable' you would have less of an issue!

Businesses like that don't deserve good customers.

All the above though is based on the facts presented, I may have a different opinion if I heard another side of the story!

Andy.

quote:

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Originally posted by Misguided Fool:
Oooh bugger - my mate works there

Regards

Mark ;0)

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Maybe you could tell him that so far, 233 views of this thread have been clocked - and counting.

AL4N

As this item would not fit does that also mean that it is unused?

If this is the case then, I as a former high street electrictal store employee would give a refund or find an alternative product that suits your needs better.

As long as the TV is packaged perfectly albeit without the plastic bag then it can easily be put back into stock and sold as new.

If any customer queried the opened box then I would say that I opened it to read the instructions when answering a previous customers query.

Sounds like the store may have been struggling to hit target the day you went back and used the plastic bag as an excuse to delay the refund a bit.

Steve

AL4N - Time to go to work on this.
Create an e-mail with a link to this thread, then send it to The Daily Telegraph (they love this sort of thing), The Guardian, The Sun, The Mail etc, and then also to your local papers.
When this has been done, forward the email from your sent items to the manager at Sound and Vision Bolton.

quote:

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Create an e-mail with a link to this thread, then send it to The Daily Telegraph (they love this sort of thing), The Guardian, The Sun, The Mail etc, and then also to your local papers.
When this has been done, forward the email from your sent items to the manager at Sound and Vision Bolton.

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This isn't a very good idea, without first giving the company the chance to sort the problem out themselves.

If they are sensible, they'll realise.

As a customer you should be able to sort this yourself, without recourse to media intravention. Their interests lie in a 'good' story and not in perpetuating good service. If you think the media have any interest in you as a customer, think again.

Andy.

Sound and Vision are box pushers and sell at a discount that other shops have to match. They are not known for their sales service. However, I am suprised at your story. I can understand them not exchanging it for some sort of compensation as they wouldn't be able to sell that unit as new, but 25% is a disgrace.

Your best bet would be to try and come to a pleasant compromise, because as soon as you create an argument you'll probably find in the small print, that they are legally allowed to do what they did.

Parading outside with a placard is quite effective. A guy I worked with did this outside Capital Sound and Vision in Crawley. After he stopped a number of people from going in they gave him a full refund on his item. I can't remember the details of the dispute. Mind you they banned from shopping there no loss as ot turned out.

Howard

presumably had the item been defective, a full refund would have been forthcoming----makes you wonder if honesty is the best policy?

Obviously not advocating introducing faults to perfectly good equipment!

Mike

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Allen:
presumably had the item been defective, a full refund would have been forthcoming----makes you wonder if honesty is the best policy?

Obviously not advocating introducing faults to perfectly good equipment!

Mike

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mike,they would of probably replaced it with another one

my wife even asked if we could buy the bag from the one they had on display,in their own words"we can not sell an item off the shelf for full price"
there-fore it wouldn't matter if that one had a bag or not as it was being sold at a discount,but that was not possible either,like i said,i was willing to buy eqiupment upto or over the price of the original tv,but nothing would please them,the "bag" is like the stuff you use when you put laminate flooring down (under the flooring),but i have a feeling they would find fault with that.i also tried ringing Hitachi to get a new bag,they said they are packaged in Japan and i could not get one .
so i have 2 options redecorate where the tv goes or sell the tv at a loss,not good options.

quote:

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Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
In this case the retailer has no obligation to accept the return of the item. There is no indication that it was faulty, only that AL4N got his measurements wrong (assuming he measured at all).

It is a bit mean, and not good for business, to charge so much though.

cheers

Nigel

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to answer that question,i did measure the space in my bedroom width ways,but failed to take into account the arch in the recess where the tv was going,so the upshot was that i lost crucial inches to the arch and tv's being at a right angle(this one at least) the square peg would not go in the round hole.