"Must be as described"

Random

"Must be as described" is part of the Sale of goods act or whatever.


Right. I bought a Nokia 3120 three weeks ago and the guy told me it had a camera. Can I get a refund?



- this is a hypothetical situation. How does one prove that the guy said it had a camera? Is it my word against his and I automatically win? Say I'm a small bit slow and I don't notice the absense of a camera for .. oh ... 9 weeks ... should I still get a refund on it?

whiskeyman

ciaranfo wrote:

I bought a Nokia 3120 three weeks ago and the guy told me it had a camera.

Who's "the guy" you bought it from?
Was it from a reputable phone store?

I doubt you'll get a refund in any case... the display card and packing pre-purchase probably clearly indicate it does not have a camera.
And as for the 9 week delay in realising it.... oops!

Random

ciaranfo wrote:

this is a hypothetical situation.

whiskeyman

ciaranfo wrote:

I gave a hypothetical answer...



my bit on the "who you bought it from" would stand though.
I presume you mean a retail outlet situation?
I really wouldn't think you'd have any recourse on it though, unless perhaps you brought it back within a day or two.
But even that would be at the discretion of the shop to give a refund.

Random

Basically, who's word is it you take on the issue? It's easy to run back in to a shop (say Vodafone or O2 or whatever.. a nice big retail outlet) and claim they told you anything.

gerrycollins

ciaranfo wrote:

"Must be as described" is part of the Sale of goods act or whatever.


Right. I bought a Nokia 3120 three weeks ago and the guy told me it had a camera. Can I get a refund?



- this is a hypothetical situation. How does one prove that the guy said it had a camera? Is it my word against his and I automatically win? Say I'm a small bit slow and I don't notice the absense of a camera for .. oh ... 9 weeks ... should I still get a refund on it?

unless it written down somewhere and you have said written proof then and only then can you challenge him but 9 weeks depends on any "cooling" off period but the majority are max 30 days possibly 60 but unless its somewhere in writing such as a leaflet you got which is from the store you bought it from well then tough

cabla

ciaranfo wrote:

"Must be as described" is part of the Sale of goods act or whatever.


Right. I bought a Nokia 3120 three weeks ago and the guy told me it had a camera. Can I get a refund?



- this is a hypothetical situation. How does one prove that the guy said it had a camera? Is it my word against his and I automatically win? Say I'm a small bit slow and I don't notice the absense of a camera for .. oh ... 9 weeks ... should I still get a refund on it?

Well to be honest you have no claim. its you word agains his. If it said on an advert comes with camera or in a brochure, then you would. I would clearly state on the box if it is a camera or not.

Sam Vimes

ciaranfo wrote:

"Must be as described" is part of the Sale of goods act or whatever.


Right. I bought a Nokia 3120 three weeks ago and the guy told me it had a camera. Can I get a refund?

before you said that it was hypothetical i was shocked at you ciaranfo. not knowing a 3120 doesnt have a camera, tut tut tut. whether or not you'd be able to get a refund would depend on the store. theres generally a 14 day return policy in most stores but if its longer then this hypothetical person should be given the refund. customers shouldn't have to tape their conversations with staff. if they come in and say they were told something wrong its just good business practise to believe them.

but if someone doesn't notice a phone doesn't have a camera for 3 weeks and then can't get a refund, i'd consider it an idiot tax

Random

It's an extreme example ... but I'm just trying to see where the law stands.

What if I bought a video IPOD for example. The guy in the shop told me I could put movies on it (which obviously requires 3rd party software but he didn't tell me) - can I get a refund the next day (regardless of store policy) if I go back and complain I can't do it "out of the box" ?

gerrycollins

ciaranfo wrote:

It's an extreme example ... but I'm just trying to see where the law stands.

What if I bought a video IPOD for example. The guy in the shop told me I could put movies on it (which obviously requires 3rd party software but he didn't tell me) - can I get a refund the next day (regardless of store policy) if I go back and complain I can't do it "out of the box" ?

no
this example is again "he said" "she said" scenario,dont forget this usually say stuff on the box and basically unless you asked you wont be told so its not as if it should be part of his sales technique for example that 3rd party software is required,

he said that you can view videos on it hence its a video IPod, does exactly what it says on the tin,after that its up to you to ask the how

the plainest form would be that a tv shows tv programmes but the sales guy wont tell you that you need an ariel or cabel unless you ask

Nightwish

ciaranfo wrote:

It's an extreme example ... but I'm just trying to see where the law stands.

What if I bought a video IPOD for example. The guy in the shop told me I could put movies on it (which obviously requires 3rd party software but he didn't tell me) - can I get a refund the next day (regardless of store policy) if I go back and complain I can't do it "out of the box" ?

no you cant, because there is nothing misleading about saying that you can view videos on an IPOD. You can view videos you just have to convert the videos files. Its like buying an Ipod and asking for a refund the following day because you didnt know you needed a computer to put the music onto it.

Gillo

Nightwish wrote:

Its like buying an Ipod and asking for a refund the following day because you didnt know you needed a computer to put the music onto it.

I've actually seen that happen.

To be honest you are tryign to padantise the situation, eg, if I buy a car but the dealer dosen't tell me I will need petrol or can I get a refund the nightclub because Ihad a hangover the next morning.

Once the goods are as described then no one is breaking the law. You are never going to get something described in every little bit of detail ie, the video ipod you mentioned, would you expect to be told how may volts of power it uses when charging, what lum the display is, what the rpm on the hard drive is, the ideal operating tempature & the recommended force to be applied to the sensor to promote maximum life of the unit.

cabla

Ok example here. Buy this mobile in blue colour. When you buy it its red. Therefore not as described!

gerrycollins

cabla wrote:

Ok example here. Buy this mobile in blue colour. When you buy it its red. Therefore not as described!

ill be cheeky

"buy this in blue"?? i hope you mean the sales person says "this phone you are buying is blue" and it turns out to be red??

well ya you would be entitled to a refund in my case not the one you describe yourself but again it a "he said" "she said" scenario and to be honest the examples you cite are weak for explaination

why dont you tell us what really happened and we will try and really help you

Pythia

Nightwish wrote:

Its like buying an Ipod and asking for a refund the following day because you didnt know you needed a computer to put the music onto it.

That happened in my shop at Christmas.

Dub13

Pythia wrote:

That happened in my shop at Christmas.

LOL,what was the outcome of that one...?I am presuming it was someone over 50...?

Pythia

Dub13 wrote:

LOL,what was the outcome of that one...?I am presuming it was someone over 50...?

Well they said whoever sold it had never explictly mentioned the need for a computer when selling it.

Ie:
Customer 'I want one of those Ipod things'
Assistant 'Ok, this one holds 1.000 songs, this one 2,000 etc'
Customer 'I'll take the one that holds 1,000'.

That was pretty much what was said. So I dunno, was it missold?

Anyway, we refunded because we knew we'd never hear the end of it otherwise.

And yes they were old!

Random

"we refunded because we knew we'd never hear the end of it otherwise"

This same "rule" holds through for awkward customers too sometimes. The further up the chain you go and the more you piss head office off - the more likely you are to get what you want regardless of whether you're in the right or the wrong. Stupid people.

Nightwish

ciaranfo wrote:

"we refunded because we knew we'd never hear the end of it otherwise"

This same "rule" holds through for awkward customers too sometimes. The further up the chain you go and the more you piss head office off - the more likely you are to get what you want regardless of whether you're in the right or the wrong. Stupid people.

that aint necessarily the case where I work. The higher you go, the same response you'll get. The higher management generally stand by the store managers decisions if he was within reason to refuse the customers request.

Gillo

Nightwish wrote:

that aint necessarily the case where I work. The higher you go, the same response you'll get. The higher management generally stand by the store managers decisions if he was within reason to refuse the customers request.

Which is nice to be backed up on, but sometimes it is easier to take the hit and save alot of hassle, even when you are being threatened with "I'm going to phone Joe Duffy about this" and all you want to do is hand the ipod back with just enough force to ram it down the customer throat. But instead smile pretend you are enjoying the whole experience.

sorry about the rant having a bad day.

Sam Vimes

Pythia wrote:

Customer 'I want one of those Ipod things'
Assistant 'Ok, this one holds 1.000 songs, this one 2,000 etc'
Customer 'I'll take the one that holds 1,000'.

this wasn't about a refuind but something similarly funny happened in my shop. an old woman came in and said her phone had just turned off. to get the obvious out of the way i asked her was the battery charged. she didn't seem to know what i was talking about. apparently she'd had the phone for 6 months but only turned it on a few minutes a day so the battery had never run down. she didn't know what "the plug in the box" was for