Are they a UK based company?

Because if so, you're covered by the Sale of Goods Act, which states that goods have to be fit for the purpose for which they were intended, and of reasonable quality - otherwise you are entitled to a refund!

There's a Watchdog guide to the Act here.

Good luck!

Yup, they're UK based.. Seems odd, how else are you to know if it's any good without opening the packaging.. it could have been faulty... oddness

Okay now I'm worried...I bought a hard disk from them about 10 months ago but it's started making a lot of noises and crashing the pc intermittently...gonna return it right now and see what they say...they better give me a new one or else

I think that because the machine will actually play a CD, and you can turn it on and off, Dabs don't classify it as faulty. At least, i think that's their argument. I don't think that my dissatisfaction with the sound quality or the cheap build quality counts as "faulty". So, because I've opened it, I can't return it as "unwanted goods" or something.
But surely there's something I can do????

I would mention SOGA to them - they may just being trying to pull a fast one. Consumer goods should be free from defects unless this was pointed out at the time of sale, so if the player is cosmetically damaged, it may not affect the sound quality but I think it would still be considered a fault.

If they still won't budge then your local Trading Standards might be able to help.

However, you have no legal comeback if you've simply changed your mind. But if there is something wrong with a product, you are entitled to a refund.

---

by Milky
Okay now I'm worried...I bought a hard disk from them about 10 months ago but it's started making a lot of noises and crashing the pc intermittently...gonna return it right now and see what they say...they better give me a new one or else

---

try running scandisk with surface scan. It'll take some time, but if scandisk finds any bad block the disk is faulty.

Sodd that, it is faulty technically. As you said, the paint is peeling off. Either that or make it faulty your own way

How did you pay? If it was by credit card, it may be worth contacting the card company - if they consider the goods faulty they will reimburse you themselves, then get stuck into the company for the money back. Not sure what the definition of faulty is though...

I use people like Dabs, Scan, Simply etc quite a bit because they're cheap and efficient for getting stuff to you. However, because they are fundamentally box shifters, their post-sales service sucks. I'm prepared to take a risk on that because I'm reasonably confident most stuff I buy will work as expected or that I can sort out most problems but I also know that any sort of returns or other process will be a nightmare. Price of cheap IT goods, I guess.

Thanks for the advice, guys.
White Hart - Thanks for the idea! Hubby's just sent them an impressive email quoting sections of SOGA. Haven't had a reply yet, funnily enough.....

Well I used the automated returns service yesterday to request the return of my faulty hard drive, got an email back last night with instructions on what to do..it's gonna cos £7.50 to send it away and will take 4-6 weeks for them to sort it(ie give me a new one) though

Milky - How did you get them to do that??
We've just received an email saying:

"The Distance Selling Regulation states that a company must not make a loss on an order and as you have opened and used and there is a fault, we will not be able to resell the part, therefore we are within our rights to refuse the return."

I just can't get my head round it!!!!

It appears to be an EU regulation to *help* the consumer...

Looking up info now..

I'd suggest contacting BBC's Watchdog as well..

Edit: found a link to ask the experts on watchdog here

(Edited by Stoo 20/12/2002 17:35)

---

by Sunnydale_girl
Milky - How did you get them to do that??

---

I went into the My Account area of the site, looked at my order records and next to the order status (which said completed) there was a small R symbol which was the returns button..had to fill in a small form adn got an email back okaying the return.

Looks like they're trying to pull a fast one...

I've found the distance selling regulation they are quoting.. www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm
But it seems to not mention the clause they were quoting..

Sales of Goods act: "The law says that goods must be of 'satisfactory quality' - goods must be free from defects except when they have been brought to your attention.

They must be 'fit for their purpose' - this includes if the seller assures you they are capable of performing the way you describe you want them to."

Found a better contact link www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/contact/shopping.shtml

Good luck hon, they're clearly trying to evade the issue, so go get em

From a quick skim through the regulations, I guess that they're saying that by opening and using the product you've waived your rights under the distance selling regulation (statutory cooling off period) - which gives you the right to change your mind if you realise something isn't what you wanted when it turns up.

However, it seems a bit pointless to quote that when you're claiming under SOGA that the goods were unfit for the purpose for which they were supplied!!

As Stoo says, I think you'd be best off contacting either Watchdog or your local CAB or Trading Standards - they should be able to advise you better

Actually that's a thought, tell them that only applies if you have simply changed your mind about the product, but they are still bound by law to provide a refund under the SOGA, under which you are claiming. Furthermore the quote they made doesn't even exist in the said regulation, and if they continue to evade their legal obligtion that you will have no choice but to take it to the small claims court and/or the media (i.e. BBC's watchdog) as they are clearly in the wrong.

Happy Complaining

Stoo and White Hart - I'm really touched by your help -thank you for going to all this effort.
I've looked at the Distance Selling regulations, and there doesn't seem to be the clause Dabs mention.

Anyway going to escalate it by stating "see you in the small claims court" - let you know what happens!