Returns

axer

Hi,

Do richersounds pay the postage for faulty goods to be returned to richersounds for repair/replacement as required by law?

I ask as someone who referred a customer to richersounds as it seems to be a business that can be trusted. Unfortunately the customer ended up with a faulty item but was told they had to pay to send the item back without that cost being covered by richersounds either before or after shipping.

Before you answer it would be worth looking at Directive 1999/44/EC (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31999L0044&from=EN) and an explanation here: https://www.eccireland.ie/popular-consumer-topics/consumer-rights-buying-goods-services/

Remedies
The Directive provides a uniform baseline for the protection of consumers in their dealings with the final seller, no matter where the goods are purchased within the EU/EEA. In particular, in the event of ‘lack of conformity’ consumers may require the seller to:
* Repair or replace the goods, in either case free of charge (e.g. shipping costs), or
* Apply a reduction in the price or rescind the contract (refund), if repairs or replacement are impossible or disproportionate, or cannot be completed within a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience to the consumer. The consumer is not entitled to have the contract rescinded if the lack of conformity is minor, e.g. scratch on the outer plastic cover of a CD case.

Thanks

Richersounds.ie: John

Hi Axer,

it depends..

For TV's this issue rarely arises any more as we generally use manufacturer's authorised agents to collect or service TV's in the Customer's home.

For smaller items we do not pay return postage unless a fault occurs within the initial period ( generally the 1st 60 days) outside that period we ask Customers to return the units to us, well packaged via a reputable courier - we pay any return costs.

With particular regard to web-enabled devices we have a 'no-fault' rate of over 50% on units that are reported as faulty, this is the main reason that we do not pay for all returns - Customers also have on occasion returned goods to us unsolicited using couriers that are hideously expensive and completely un-competitive and expect us to pay for the return which of course is not fair or practical.

If a Customer does return an item to us and we can verify that there is a fault with the unit then again we will replace or repair the unit and return it to the Customer and we are happy to refund the reasonable costs of return as long as they do not exceed twice our standard rate of shipping on that class of product or twice what the Customer paid in the first instance for shipping - in the event that the product cannot be repaired we refund the full cost of the item including any shipping.

Hope that assists,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

axer

Thanks for the reply. This is confusing as it is not what you told the customer via email.

This customer contacted richersounds to report the fault within 45 days of purchasing the item. You told the customer that richersounds doesn't pay for the postage back to the store - only back to the customer. The customer even very reasonably specifically asked which type of shipping to use (so as to avoid paying too much so that richersounds would not be left paying too high an amount) but that question was not answered. Now you say twice the standard shipping - which seems to be £6.99 x 2 (even though this has no basis in law). I 100% appreciate that you need to be competitive and return costs have to be reasonable but the customer did not want a faulty product and has been without it working for 3-4 months now so its not very good for them either. The customer seems to have been very reasonable and I was disappointed about how they were treated since I recommended richersounds as ye seemed like a transparent and trust worthy business from what saw on the forum here.

With regards the costs of shipping the faulty item back, would you consider sending the unit back using registered post with an post (which seems to be €13 - €16 depending on the packaged weight - going by the their online calculator) plus €4.50 for insurance as being reasonable even though it falls outside your figure of twice your rate? or do know of a cheaper way to send it back safely from the ROI?

Richersounds.ie: John

Axer,

We do not pay for return postage - and generally we do not arrange shipping unless the goods are within the first 60 days - we have extensive experience of Customers literally leaving a unit unboxed / unpacked for collection without any packaging and of course then the unit is damaged when it arrives to us - generally if Customers are shipping the unit themselves they are far more responsible and ensure that the item is properly packaged for shipping hence avoiding the potential for damage - but I guess that's just human nature.

You are correct in that we don't recommend any specific courier - we don't charge any outbound shipping on our Euro online sales but we charge £6.99 for £ purchases across the Island - so we are happy to refund up to approx £14 if the unit is found to have a genuine manufacturing fault.  I understand that you say our policy of refunding twice our standard shipping rate has no basis in law but we feel it is a fair compromise ( again remembering that it excludes large TV's which we come to your home to collect / service) and I am sure you would not expect us to refund an unreasonable amount without any ability to control what method the Customer uses or where the Customer is based - of course there will be exceptions and we are happy to look at these if your friends unit is extremely heavy or a particularly expensive unit but these are the exception rather than the rule.

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew