Argos gas cooker complaint

lovelyjubbly

I didn't see if there are Argos reps here but I was hoping for a bit of feedback. My mam spoke with an argos staff member about a bottled gas cooker (LPG) and the sales person sold her a Bush Gas Cooker, it was to arrive within 12 working days but it didn't arrive for 17 working days which is really inconvenient but she needed the cooker so she had to put up with it.

When it arrived the guys didn't unpack it although it said in the catalogue they would and when Mam unpacked it, she discovered that it wasn't a bottled gas cooker. She rang Argos in Navan and the manager was clueless but he said he'd find out what the story was. When he rang back it's with an English number for us to ring and get it sorted, I had rang the consumer agency for advice and they said it was up to the store to remedy the situation so Mam refused to ring and told the manager he had to sort it out.

The manager gets back to us and told Mam the cooker needed an adaptor kit to make the cooker work safely as a bottled gas cooker. So this now means that Mam will have to get someone in who is qualified to adapt cookers at her own cost. She doesn't accept this, there are other cookers available that don't need to be altered and if she had been told this she would've bought one of them.

The manager got shirty and asked Mam if she expected Argos staff to know all 200,000 of their products. Well yes Argos we do expect your staff to know about these kind of things. The manager then went on to say that the staff member that served Mam doesn't remember the conversation and therefore Argos does not have to fix this problem. My Mam remembers the conversation clearly but the manager rejects that she asked for bottled gas and then smartly tells her that she should've checked online to see the specifications herself, despite the catalogue advising that she could ask in-store for specifications. Mam doesn't use the internet for shopping although when I checked today online it is noted that an adaptor kit is needed but the hard copy catalogue does not say this.

So our next step I guess is a written notice to Argos asking them to take back the cooker or send out someone who knows what they are doing because the manager clearly doesn't and none of us are qualified to safely change use of the cooker. I'm pretty annoyed by the managers attitude- he has placed the blame of this on Mam and is washing his hands of it. My Mam is now going to be without a cooker and has three kids still at home with her and if it goes to small claims (which it's looking like it will) this will go on for 6-8 weeks.

At this stage Mam would prefer them to take back the cooker and refund the money so she can buy a bottled gass cooker which is what she asked them for, not one that needs to be adapted.

Are we being unreasonable?

dudara

No - if your mother explicitly asked for a bottled gas cooker and she didn't get one, then Argos have to address her issue.

One of the requirements for Consumer Law is that goods/services are as described. In this case, the goods are not as described.

Under law, Argos must offer you a replacement, refund or repair. In this situation a repair probably not right, so a refund or replacement (to equivalent value) would be the way to go.

lovelyjubbly

I reckon she would take a replacement but Argos aren't listening.

dudara

Write a registered letter of complaint to their HQ (which I believe is in the UK). Give them XX working days to resolve the issue, or else advise them that you will be initiating a Small Claim Court case.

lovelyjubbly

we were wondering what is a reasonable time frame to sort this out was. Given that this is a vital piece of kitchen equipment, and it was already delivered 5 working days late, is 5 working days reasonable?

skinny90

Sorry to jump on to this but did I not read that all cookers are mains gas and some lpg convertible ie you need to get the kit sent out free of charge but pay for installation

Procrastastudy

lovelyjubbly wrote: »

we were wondering what is a reasonable time frame to sort this out was. Given that this is a vital piece of kitchen equipment, and it was already delivered 5 working days late, is 5 working days reasonable?

I'd give them ten working days. Have you got an admission from Argos they where in the wrong though?

lovelyjubbly

@skinny90 In other stores there were specific LPG cookers that we can install ourselves, we've done it before. The adaptor kit requires someone to fit it out so we would have to pay someone to come out which she can't afford and why Mam wanted one specific to LPG.

@Procrastastudy No admission from Argos at all- they are blaming Mam for it the manager asked her if she expected staff to know all their products and told her the girl serving her didn't remember the sale and therefore this absolves Argos of fault.

Procrastastudy

lovelyjubbly wrote: »

@Procrastastudy No admission from Argos at all- they are blaming Mam for it the manager asked her if she expected staff to know all their products and told her the girl serving her didn't remember the sale and therefore this absolves Argos of fault.

I'm a little confused on this point. Are Argos saying the member of staff was asked and gave the wrong information or no information at all?

I'd suggest getting a copy of the catalogue where it asks you to 'ask in store' and note the managers comments. Get on to their head office and explain the situation. See what they say. If they are not forthcoming with a solution I'd write to the store giving them ten working days to resolve the situation or you will go down the route of the small claims court.

Depending on how quickly you need this sorted you may want to convert it and simply sue Argos for that amount.

GASMANN

Op presuming you live in the ROI, you will need a registered gas installer to fit the cooker, whether it's LPG or nat gas - this is the law.
Are you positive that you didn't get a conversion pack with it?
All it contains (usually) is 4-8 small brass injectors, and are normally in a small plastic bag taped the the manual. The majority of cookers/hobs come with these for the alternate fuel source. A lot of times they can go out with the waste packaging unintentionally.
Personally speaking, I would do a conversion free of charge as part of an installation and I know most rgi's are the same.

lovelyjubbly

Argos are saying that as the girl doesn't remember the conversation they don't have to do anything to remedy it- basically they are saying that Mam didn't ask for a LPG cooker and it's her fault.

We got the catalogue and it does not say that an adaptor kit is needed, I was going to send in a copy of it with the complaint.

Procrastastudy

lovelyjubbly wrote: »

Argos are saying that as the girl doesn't remember the conversation they don't have to do anything to remedy it- basically they are saying that Mam didn't ask for a LPG cooker and it's her fault.

We got the catalogue and it does not say that an adaptor kit is needed, I was going to send in a copy of it with the complaint.

Well I have no idea about Gas installations (other than my own propensity to use a lot of hot air) so taking Gassmann's word for it you have no damage so won't be able to claim in my opinion.

lovelyjubbly

@gasman Argos have accepted that there was not an adaptor kit sent out with the cooker. We have never gotten someone in to install a cooker before.

lovelyjubbly

@ Procrastastudy the online catalogue (I checked it when I was starting the thread) does say that an adaptor kit is needed to change use to LPG if the girl had told Mam this she wouldn't have bought it. We went into other shops and they had two types of gas cookers- mains and LPG. If the girl in Argos had said she didn't know Mam would've went elsewhere but she told Mam it was LPG.

Procrastastudy

lovelyjubbly wrote: »

@ Procrastastudy the online catalogue (I checked it when I was starting the thread) does say that an adaptor kit is needed to change use to LPG if the girl had told Mam this she wouldn't have bought it. We went into other shops and they had two types of gas cookers- mains and LPG. If the girl in Argos had said she didn't know Mam would've went elsewhere but she told Mam it was LPG.

It will come down to who the registrar believes - I find it hard to see him/her coming down in favour of Argos given what you've said but then I've no real experience of the SmCC. This one is complicated as you've got an issue with items not as described on one hand - which you may have recourse - but you're ignoring a legal requirement on the other if you were just looking to recoup the cost of the conversion kit.

You're going to have to leave it as is and wait for this to work it self out though either Argos or the SmCC.

lovelyjubbly

Cheers for the advice. Genuinely didn't know we had to get an installer in, always did it ourselves.

aujopimur

If you go down the SCC route, make sure you bring a copy of the relevent piece of consumer legislation and the Argos catologue and any other paperwork etc. with you, as not all judges are familiar consumer law as I found out myself on one occassion.

GASMANN

is it possible to get the set of injectors off argos in a relatively quick time frame?
if it is your local rgi will probably be able to install and convert and certify as safe your new cooker, proboably at 24hrs notice or less.

skinny90

Agree with gassman(the name really suits the topic)
If the adaptors are not supplied you should be able to order them free of cost and pay an installer