Maplins Attempted Rip Off

Bee

I was with a friend when he bought an item at Maplin electronics in Jervis St for €20. It came in a sealed plastic pack.

It was faulty when he connected it at home. He brought it back to the shop after being advised by a Maplins employee that they had more in stock.

He requested a replacement for the faulty unit. The employee had to get approval from a "Manager".

Initially the manager ignorantly (ignorant of the consumer law) refused to entertain a replacement saying that as the package was opened he could not re-sell it as the packaging was damaged! Why would he want to resell a faulty part to an unsuspecting shopper?

He refused either a replacement or a refund!

My friend stood their ground demanding their rights under the "Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980"

http://oasis.gov.ie/consumer_affairs...n_ireland.html

That they were entitled by law to a replacement or refund as the goods were not of merchantible quality. The "manager" ran away upstairs saying he was checking his "law book". HIs haplass employee was later summoned and told to give a refund by the "manager"

What dreadful service from a large store. My friend was not even offered a replacment or an apology. Obviously it sez a lot about the quality of what they sell. Let alone the rude and arrogant personnel they employ.

Bee



Be Warned!

wes

Tried the same thing as well with me one time. Seems to be like a company policy.

Karoma

What was the time difference between purchase and return?
What was the item?

wes

It was like 2 days for me.

AARRRGH

I doubt it's company policy. More likely just bad managers (which is not an abnormal occurance!!)

I'm sure if you told the owners of Maplin (?) they'd be shocked by this...

Pythia

Tell your friend to make an official complaint so.

Sponge Bob

complain to the ODCA and let them investigate Maplin training systems for their managers. The goods were not fit for the purpose , the legal definition, and should have been replaced no questions or refunded (do not take a credit note from these people )

fly_agaric

Bought a PCI WiFi card from there (not Jervis St. though) a while ago. Didn't work out of the box but they replaced it straight away without arguing. This was about 2 days after I bought it. I think maybe it had been returned before. (IMO), they assumed it was the loose nut in front of the keyboard, repackaged it, and stuck it straight back on the shelf without any testing.

Random

Sounds to me like poorly educated staff and management. If I was in the employees position I'd have told the manager what he was obliged to.

Staff and management appear to be lacking basic skills throughout the retail sector today. Bloody mess that it is.

Sleipnir

Bee wrote:

HIs haplass employee was later summoned and told to give a refund by the "manager"

"Oh no, no, no Mr. Manager. I want YOU to come over here and tell me I'm entitled to a refund, not send one of your staff"

Random

You'll proberly find out it was a poorly trained assistant manager and not in fact "The Manager" after all

Bee

Karoma wrote:

What was the time difference between purchase and return?
What was the item?

To answer your questions

2 days

An item that came in one of those sealed plastic containers not too sure what it was some sort of in line amp in a sealed metal unit(whatever that is?) The guy that bought it is a highly skilled tech so if he said it was faulty it was faulty

Bee

Bee

Sleipnir wrote:

"Oh no, no, no Mr. Manager. I want YOU to come over here and tell me I'm entitled to a refund, not send one of your staff"

I think you are missing a point or two.

He was told there were replacements in stock. The offended party was looking for a replacement initially, failing that a refund.

The "manager" was aparently miffed by being advised by his employee that a customer requested to speak to him.

The "manager" was in no way helpful.

Having had no satisfaction in putting off a customer who stood their ground and then walking away, he used the employee to give a refund rather than have the basic courtesy to speak with the customer.

Bee

Bee

ciaranfo wrote:

Sounds to me like poorly educated staff and management. If I was in the employees position I'd have told the manager what he was obliged to.

Staff and management appear to be lacking basic skills throughout the retail sector today. Bloody mess that it is.

Good point, but judging by the reaction to a simple request by a customer of the individual involved , if you were the employee you would probably be collecting your cards rather soon

Bee

neilled

Bee wrote:

I think you are missing a point or two.

He was told there were replacements in stock. The offended party was looking for a replacement initially, failing that a refund.

The "manager" was aparently miffed by being advised by his employee that a customer requested to speak to him.

The "manager" was in no way helpful.

Having had no satisfaction in putting off a customer who stood their ground and then walking away, he used the employee to give a refund rather than have the basic courtesy to speak with the customer.

Bee

This is in no way unusual. I've had it done to me many times before as managers have sent part time staff to deal with customers they did not want to face.

2 stroke

I've had problems myself in jervis street store. totaly different experience in blanchardstown and online. Is this store owned by different people?

Moojuice

I brought back a ****ty Linksys router that I bought there 7 months previoulsy. I was all prepared to be met with oposition. But I handed it over said, its faulty give me a new one. I ended up taking a more expensive router that would not work with my ISP, brought it back the next day and got a full refund. I wasn't prepared to take any **** from them, luckily I didn't get any.

Random

Moojuice wrote:

I brought back a ****ty Linksys router that I bought there 7 months previoulsy. I was all prepared to be met with oposition. But I handed it over said, its faulty give me a new one. I ended up taking a more expensive router that would not work with my ISP, brought it back the next day and got a full refund. I wasn't prepared to take any **** from them, luckily I didn't get any.

I would say this had very little to do with how you approached them. Either they saw you were gonna buy a dearer one and thought they could sell it to someone else, or there's known problems with them and they took it back without fuss.

Moojuice

Yeah they admitted that there were known issues with that particular model. I didn't approach them in any particular way, just gave it back and said "it doesnt work".

dazberry

I brought back a faulty wireless keyboard/mouse combo (keyboard stopped working - wouldn't sync with the controller). Told them I'd been on to belkin and they had advised me to return it. So they told me it all needed to be sent back to the UK to be tested blah blah blah.

6 weeks come and go (and then some) and I hear nothing, so I march into the shop one lunch time to enquire as to the status of said gear - guy disappears off - comes back down with the box with refund markered on a page stuck to the box (all the while apologising for not ringing me when it had been returned) and immediately offered me a full refund - no questions...

Using an old Jedi mind trick I knew immediately the dude was lying and they'd never sent it back...

A month later I get a call from some guy who'd been sent over from Maplin in the UK to the Dublin store for a couple of days - apparently to sort things out. It would appear the manager wasn't doing his job properly and was no longer an employee of Maplins. It transpires the keyboard was never sent back, and he wanted to know what was the situtation with it. Told him I'd got a refund.

Never cared too much for the keyboard but liked to mouse, so a bit of bartering ensued and I got the mouse back for a €10 - in retrospect they probably should have just given it to me for the hassle...

D.

paconnors

i baught a bluetooth dongle 2 weeks ago in jervis st, left it behind in me in relations house, got back to galway had to buy a new one in maplins galway, aunt sent me back original bluwtooth dongle, and maplin galway gave me refund with no questions asked, as to the op i say you got a w**ker of a manager there, i never liked the staff in jervis st dont find them helpfull at all

Sam Vimes

Bee wrote:

What dreadful service from a large store. My friend was not even offered a replacment or an apology. Obviously it sez a lot about the quality of what they sell. Let alone the rude and arrogant personnel they employ.

the manager was 100% wrong but that doesn't really say anything about the stuff they sell. they don't actually manufacture it themselves. they buy the same stuff all the stores do

Narcissus417

As usual Maplin did not have what I wanted in stock one Saturday - they promised to deliver my external harddisk by Wednesday.

Friday, no delivery still, so I call customer service.... they couldnt call DHL because "we dont do that". A refund? I was told to wait for the delivery first! They sent an email to DHL - "normally replied in 4hours" - which means nothing would happen that day! I called DHL myself and the address was wrong, so I corrected it. Monday and Tuesday came, still nothing, and anyway, why the **** am I calling DHL?

Google "Maplin Director UK" and its a simple case of slotting whatever name comes up into an @maplin.co.uk address, usually with an underscore or a full stop seperator. Second try, I got no delivery failure, but since I included a list of trading standards violations in the email I did get a phone call from a regional manager promising delivery the next day... which didnt happen! he only gave his first name though, so another search on his name+regional manager, another email, another phone call, and I got a diamond delivery from DHL at 9am direct to my workplace.

It helps to let them know they cant hide!:D

ejmaztec

4 Uniross 2700mah rechargeable batteries:

Maplin €26.49

Argos €19.99

What more can I say?

Borzoi

Narcissus417 wrote:

Friday, no delivery still, so I call customer service.... they couldnt call DHL because "we dont do that". A refund? I was told to wait for the delivery first! They sent an email to DHL - "normally replied in 4hours" - which means nothing would happen that day! I called DHL myself and the address was wrong, so I corrected it. Monday and Tuesday came, still nothing, and anyway, why the **** am I calling DHL?

Not making excuses, but I am aware that DHL moved their main Irish depot over last weekend - and it didn't go smoothly. They were running about 1-2 days behind earlier in the week - stuff missing - in old place when it should be in new etc, etc

Incursus

In Maplin stores, Sales Advisors are not able to give refunds. Notice those badges they wear that they scan when you buy something. That's their employee tracking number, and contains what they can and can not do on their till system. Only managers 'badges' are able to give refunds. Hence, in my opinion why the Sales Advisor had to involve a manager. It's the same in all their stores.

As for the manager of Jervis street. He's an ass, but i don't hold that against his staff.

uberpixie

Funnily enough I had a very positive experience when I bought an external seagate hard drive in November.

Unit died after two days, got back to the store within 7 days and was issued a replacement in less than 10 minutes and was given a fresh receipt there and then for the replacement unit.

Was handled very well and was given no hassle by the staff at all. So I guess as with at things it depends what staff are on when you go in!
(I guess it is not all doom and gloom with Maplin)

BArra

the sales advisers cannot do refunds without a manager or assistant managers badge, you are correct, and it causes serious delays with lots of people queueing up and getting annoyed at the length it takes to do a refund with the running to and frow to get a manager...

no maplins staff are trained in anything related to the store, only what they know on certain products, some have a good degree of knowledge, some do not, it depends who you ask for help and on what item you want some info with!

if the item was faulty it should have been replaced, and the faulty unit sent to the UK to be checked over. however if the box with the original item that came back was in absolute bits, it would have caused a problem.

in saying that you get some really stupid joe publics who buy things 7 months ago, come into the store and want an instant replacement, when it clearly states a 14 day money back and a 1 year manufacturers warrenty, which means after the 14 days its sent to the uk for repair or replacement, which can take a couple of weeks

their prices are crazy, HDMI cables for 200 euro, need i say more...

Sam Vimes

BArra wrote: »

the sales advisers cannot do refunds without a manager or assistant managers badge,

they were able to when i worked there. must have changed

BArra wrote: »

no maplins staff are trained in anything related to the store, only what they know on certain products, some have a good degree of knowledge, some do not, it depends who you ask for help and on what item you want some info with!

this is true. i received no training whatoever

Q_Ball

Commander Vimes wrote: »

they were able to when i worked there. must have changed

Yeah came in just after i started working there.

Commander Vimes wrote: »

this is true. i received no training whatoever

me neither

miju

BArra wrote: »

however if the box with the original item that came back was in absolute bits, it would have caused a problem.

it shouldn't cause any problems TBH. I have returned many an item without any packaging at all and the consumer is not obliged in any real way to return the packaging either (unless it's some kind of damaged in transit dispute or something similiar)

jay-me

I too have had similar problems with maplins but i quickly solved it. I never shopped with them again

wezzopalooza

Had a horrible experience with these cowboys in Jervis St today..Bought Belkin router and dongle off them for 150 eur this June, last week the router just stopped working..brought both of them back today and was told they have to go back to the u.k. to be inspected, will take 2 to 3 weeks blah blah blah. This was totally unacceptable to me and I needed a replacement then and there (totally reasonable request as I had the original receipt).. The assistant manager said I could only get a replacement of the exact same model that caused the problem in the first place instead of letting me pick out another router!! After my request for a replacement was denied I asked for a refund only to be told I needed to return it in the original box. Seeing as I was getting nowhere I took the router back and told him I was taking this matter further..No other option now but to take it to the national consumer agency..

Oryx

wezzopalooza wrote: »

Had a horrible experience with these cowboys in Jervis St today..Bought Belkin router and dongle off them for 150 eur this June, last week the router just stopped working..brought both of them back today and was told they have to go back to the u.k. to be inspected, will take 2 to 3 weeks blah blah blah. This was totally unacceptable to me and I needed a replacement then and there (totally reasonable request as I had the original receipt).. The assistant manager said I could only get a replacement of the exact same model that caused the problem in the first place instead of letting me pick out another router!! After my request for a replacement was denied I asked for a refund only to be told I needed to return it in the original box. Seeing as I was getting nowhere I took the router back and told him I was taking this matter further..No other option now but to take it to the national consumer agency..

You know the thing is busted, but they dont, and they have to allowed to check whats up with it. For all they know you could have dropped it in the bath. So I dont think you were being entirely reasonable. A receipt is a proof of purchase, which does not automatically entitle you to anything.

Sam Vimes

wezzopalooza wrote: »

Had a horrible experience with these cowboys in Jervis St today..Bought Belkin router and dongle off them for 150 eur this June, last week the router just stopped working..brought both of them back today and was told they have to go back to the u.k. to be inspected, will take 2 to 3 weeks blah blah blah. This was totally unacceptable to me and I needed a replacement then and there (totally reasonable request as I had the original receipt).. The assistant manager said I could only get a replacement of the exact same model that caused the problem in the first place instead of letting me pick out another router!! After my request for a replacement was denied I asked for a refund only to be told I needed to return it in the original box. Seeing as I was getting nowhere I took the router back and told him I was taking this matter further..No other option now but to take it to the national consumer agency..

they're entitled to replace it or have it repaired. they're entitled to verify that it is faulty before they replace it for you. They're not obliged to give you a different model and they're not obliged to give you a refund, whether you have the packaging or not

they've done nothing wrong here and the NCA will tell you as much

Random

wezzopalooza wrote: »

Had a horrible experience with these cowboys in Jervis St today..Bought Belkin router and dongle off them for 150 eur this June, last week the router just stopped working..brought both of them back today and was told they have to go back to the u.k. to be inspected, will take 2 to 3 weeks blah blah blah. This was totally unacceptable to me and I needed a replacement then and there (totally reasonable request as I had the original receipt).. The assistant manager said I could only get a replacement of the exact same model that caused the problem in the first place instead of letting me pick out another router!! After my request for a replacement was denied I asked for a refund only to be told I needed to return it in the original box. Seeing as I was getting nowhere I took the router back and told him I was taking this matter further..No other option now but to take it to the national consumer agency..

Why would you delay the process further for yourself by bringing someone else (the NCA) into this? Just ask the shop for details of their returns procedure and follow it.

axer

The item was faulty thus they are entitled to replace the item with another exact same model (they could argue repair but since there would be excessive delay then that could be fought against). You have no entitlements to demand a different model without good reason nor have you any rights to demand a refund (since the router is already a few months old) unless they were unwilling to repair or replace the item.

The manager actually was reasonable and said fine you can have a replacement now - that means a replacement with the exact same model. He acted within your rights fairly.

You do not have to go to the NCA for this problem - you should file a case with the small claims court if you feel your rights are being impeded on. I suspect if you do and if maplin are willing to stick behind their rights then you will lose since you are completely wrong and unreasonable.

I really do hope Maplin stand their ground - I hate when people are unnessarily unreasonable.

wezzopalooza

axer wrote: »

The manager actually was reasonable and said fine you can have a replacement now - that means a replacement with the exact same model. He acted within your rights fairly.

I would've been content enough and accepted it if they replaced it with the same model, but they said they had none in stock (not my fault!!) so NOTHING was offered to accomodate me. Shoddy shoddy service.

Sam Vimes

wezzopalooza wrote: »

I would've been content enough and accepted it if they replaced it with the same model, but they said they had none in stock (not my fault!!) so NOTHING was offered to accomodate me. Shoddy shoddy service.

you really should read all the posts above which point out that maplin were perfectly within their rights to do what they did and it is in fact not shoddy service

wezzopalooza

Sam Vimes wrote: »

you really should read all the posts above which point out that maplin were perfectly within their rights to do what they did and it is in fact not shoddy service

I've actually read every post in this thread- 90% of them are about how crappy the customer service and management are at Maplin.

Sam Vimes

wezzopalooza wrote: »

I've actually read every post in this thread- 90% of them are about how crappy the customer service and management are at Maplin.

that is true. i know it's crap because i used to work there. i was referring to your specific case, where you experienced no bad service and the shop was within its rights

biggles007

Maplins are not able to convert from sterling to euro.

dudara

Thread closed - dudara