Stewart J.
Well-known member
Yo all, after months of research took the plunge last week and purchased a new Canon 8400F flatbed scanner from a well known internet retailler. It arrived late friday morning as we were about to go out for the day, so signed for it and left it till we returned home that evening. On taking off the outer mailing wrapper it was obvious box had been previously opened as it was not sealed. On opening, the accessories bags and set up CD seals were also broken. The power transformer cable was unwound and fitted with a continental type two pin plug. Amongst the paperwork I found some printed sheets in a foreign (Dutch?) language and annoted with blue biro. Strange and off putting, scanner itself appeared in pristine condition.
Anyways loaded set-up CDs as instructions, then plugged in scanner and power transformer, dead, checked out with a meter and no output from transformer. I Immediately e-mailed supplier and told them of the conditons of the scanner packaging and the letter found within and shortly received a confirmation stating tech team would contact me within 24 hours. Nothing by late Sat evening so e-mailed again. Monday late morning following received,
Dear Stewart J.,
I apologise for the trouble. I will arrange for Parcelforce to come andcollect the goods. Please have the parcel ready for collection with in the next 3 working days.
Please make sure that the original box is safely protected and makesure that the returns address is cleary marked on there (please do notattach any information on the original box).
So as to considerably speed up the processing of your return,please write your CCL number (***** ordernumber) on the form thatthe driver will have with him. And please include in the box a copy ofyour invoice and your returns coupon.
So far so good, instructions followed to letter, Parcelforce duly arrived Tuesday morning and collected parcel. I then e-mailed supplier and gave them the tracking number and asked if they could not provide me with a replacement before Sat 20/8 I would be unavaliable to accept any parcels and therefore would they reimburse my credit card.
So you can imagine my fury when I received the following e-mail from them this afternoon.
Dear Stewart J.
When a product is returned because of a fault, whether it is to be a refund, an exchange or repairs, it must go to the manufacturer or to an authorized repair center for a technical inspection. Beause of that we will not be able to redispatch this week, and your request for a refund has been taken into account. The purpose of this technical inspection is to establish what happened to the returned product. Unfortunately, in the past some people have returned items claiming they had never been used or saying that they had simply broken down when in fact the product had been tampered with / dropped / subject to misuse.
We apologise that we have to put you through this check, which has now become a standard routine, but we have no other option: the manufacturer is the one who agrees/disagrees to replace the product. Therefore, the return must be submitted to the manufacturer for the "green light", so to speak... If it makes it through their technical inspection then they agree to exchange. If so, we can also refund if that option was chosen/open to you. If, however, it does not make it through the technical inspection, you will be issued with an estimate for refund or you will be refunded only a fraction of the value of the new item.
I agree that the manufacturers generally take a rather long time to perform this technical inspection, and it is very hard to speed things up in any way, but it is a compulsory move (and, incidentally, is also mentioned in our Terms & Conditions).
We expect a delay of approx 1 month from the date we received your goods here.
Please accept our apologies for the delay and for the incurred inconvenience.
Best regards
I immediately e-mailed them back stating their action was totally unacceptable and I would be in further contact after taking advice. I then phoned my credit card company who were sympathetic and are sending me out a claim form. They will also approach the supplier asking that I be given a full and immediate refund.
Obviously suppliers need to protect their interests but this seems extreme, the agreement I entered into was for them to supply me with a new scanner (they do not deal in used goods) and what they sent me was unfit for purpose and at least the accessories packs and paperwork had all been opened suggesting it was not new and a fault was pre-existing.
Before I name and shame I would like to put it to all you very knowledgeable folk and ask your advice on what my next course of action should be?
Sorry its so long winded, I'm still seething.
Stewart
Anyways loaded set-up CDs as instructions, then plugged in scanner and power transformer, dead, checked out with a meter and no output from transformer. I Immediately e-mailed supplier and told them of the conditons of the scanner packaging and the letter found within and shortly received a confirmation stating tech team would contact me within 24 hours. Nothing by late Sat evening so e-mailed again. Monday late morning following received,
Dear Stewart J.,
I apologise for the trouble. I will arrange for Parcelforce to come andcollect the goods. Please have the parcel ready for collection with in the next 3 working days.
Please make sure that the original box is safely protected and makesure that the returns address is cleary marked on there (please do notattach any information on the original box).
So as to considerably speed up the processing of your return,please write your CCL number (***** ordernumber) on the form thatthe driver will have with him. And please include in the box a copy ofyour invoice and your returns coupon.
So far so good, instructions followed to letter, Parcelforce duly arrived Tuesday morning and collected parcel. I then e-mailed supplier and gave them the tracking number and asked if they could not provide me with a replacement before Sat 20/8 I would be unavaliable to accept any parcels and therefore would they reimburse my credit card.
So you can imagine my fury when I received the following e-mail from them this afternoon.
Dear Stewart J.
When a product is returned because of a fault, whether it is to be a refund, an exchange or repairs, it must go to the manufacturer or to an authorized repair center for a technical inspection. Beause of that we will not be able to redispatch this week, and your request for a refund has been taken into account. The purpose of this technical inspection is to establish what happened to the returned product. Unfortunately, in the past some people have returned items claiming they had never been used or saying that they had simply broken down when in fact the product had been tampered with / dropped / subject to misuse.
We apologise that we have to put you through this check, which has now become a standard routine, but we have no other option: the manufacturer is the one who agrees/disagrees to replace the product. Therefore, the return must be submitted to the manufacturer for the "green light", so to speak... If it makes it through their technical inspection then they agree to exchange. If so, we can also refund if that option was chosen/open to you. If, however, it does not make it through the technical inspection, you will be issued with an estimate for refund or you will be refunded only a fraction of the value of the new item.
I agree that the manufacturers generally take a rather long time to perform this technical inspection, and it is very hard to speed things up in any way, but it is a compulsory move (and, incidentally, is also mentioned in our Terms & Conditions).
We expect a delay of approx 1 month from the date we received your goods here.
Please accept our apologies for the delay and for the incurred inconvenience.
Best regards
I immediately e-mailed them back stating their action was totally unacceptable and I would be in further contact after taking advice. I then phoned my credit card company who were sympathetic and are sending me out a claim form. They will also approach the supplier asking that I be given a full and immediate refund.
Obviously suppliers need to protect their interests but this seems extreme, the agreement I entered into was for them to supply me with a new scanner (they do not deal in used goods) and what they sent me was unfit for purpose and at least the accessories packs and paperwork had all been opened suggesting it was not new and a fault was pre-existing.
Before I name and shame I would like to put it to all you very knowledgeable folk and ask your advice on what my next course of action should be?
Sorry its so long winded, I'm still seething.
Stewart