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Defective online purchase, advice required (1 Viewer)

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
 
I think you have taken the correct course of action - contacting your credit card company, I believe (but can be wrong) that they will reimburse you and take it up with the supplier themselves.
 
I had a similar problem with microdirect. They sent me a faulty monitor which I had to return. When they inspected it they couldn't find the dead line of pixels that I had reported. Because of this they said that I would have to pay an additional £30 for the engineers inspection :eek!: Eventually (5 months) I got a full refund but had to go through my local trading standards office. Unfortunately I paid by debit card which doesn't give you the same protection as a credit card.

Mark
 
A little known Federal law in the US mandates that one has 3 business days to look at a product and return it for any reason if not pleased. Restocking fees are illegal. However one has to know this, which most folks do not. Anything similar in the UK? Basically, what the vendor says doesn't matter — only what the law says in your country.

elkcub
 
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=adv0051-1111.txt

Your right to cancel, or the 'Cooling Off' period


The Distance Selling Regulations give you the right to change your mind and cancel an order within seven working days. If you do decide to cancel, then you should put this in writing, either by letter (a proof of postage certificate or even recorded delivery would be wise) or you can fax or e-mail. A telephone call is not sufficient unless both you and the trader agree otherwise. The time limits are:

For goods - seven working days after the day on which the goods are received

For services - seven working days after the day on which you agreed to go ahead with the agreement

If the trader has not provided you with the required information about your right to cancel, then the cooling-off period will be longer - take some advice on this, if necessary.

You must take care of the goods whilst they are in your possession, and either return them or make them available for collection by the seller. The seller may charge you the cost of collecting the goods or you may have to pay the return postage - unless the goods were faulty in the first place.

If you decide to return the goods within these time limits, you are entitled to expect your money to be refunded within 30 days. Also, if the seller had arranged a credit or hire purchase agreement for you, this should be cancelled automatically, and any deposits paid should be returned to you.

What isn't covered by this Cooling Off period?
  • Services that are to be provided within 7 working days. If you have agreed that the service will start before the end of the cooling-off period you will not be entitled to cancel once the service has started, but the trader MUST tell you this in writing, otherwise you will be able to cancel (IMPORTANT: you might have other statutory cooling-off periods, depending on how the trader approached you, under the Consumer Credit Act or Doorstep Selling Regulations - get further advice if in doubt)
  • Goods made to your personal requirements or specifications (i.e. specially made furniture)
  • Goods which may deteriorate quickly, such as flowers or fresh food
  • Sealed audio or video recordings or computer software that have been opened
  • Betting, gaming or lottery services
  • Newspapers, periodicals or magazines
 
Thanks Simon and Alan, in my last e-mail to Pixmania (the suppliers) where I wrote that their action was totally unacceptable, I also stated I would be taking advice and discussing it on a forum as well as reporting them to Trading Standards. I also reminded them I reported the faults within hours of receiving the scanner, It took them a good 24 hours to reply but the following just received.

Decision taken not to hide their identity any longer, anyone else had dealings with them?


Dear Stewart J.,

Thank you for your email!

We apologise for the inconvenience.

Your file has been sent to my manager, they should contact you soon with further information.

Best regards,



Team Pixmania

Pixmania.com : Number 1 in Europe. Low prices guaranteed. Always in stock.

Pixmania is a Fotovista company.


Only hope for a speedy and positive reply as I'll be unavaliable after this weekend for 3 weeks.

Stewart
 
Alan further to your posting the company concerned are Pixmania they appear to be based in France which further complicates things but the links you provided make for interesting and hopeful reading. Their web-site states they are "present in 24 countries" but e-mailing them is quite a convoluted exercise and can only be done through the Q & A web page so not sure where I am communicating? using the reply button in outlook is a no-no, you get an automated response stating they cannot deal with it in this manner and to go through the Q & A page.

Again thanks.

Stewart

PS Their web-site does not make it easy to determine where they are based.
 
Hi Stewart - I have used them - got a superb deal a year or two back on a Nikon CP 4500 with spare battery etc. - fortunately there we no problems, - I do get bombarded with promotional mails from them, but a small price to pay for such bargains.

Ebuyer, is another option for low cost peripherals.

By the way, you did the correct thing by contacting your credit card company.

I believe you're off again soon

have a good'un bonny lad.
 
Yo all seem to have gotten a result, following received this morning timed at 08.59hrs:-

Dear Stewart J.,

Thank you for your interest in Pixmania.

REIMBURSEMENT

Yourorderhasbeenrefunded
Your account should be re-credited within 4 days.
Please find here under a copy of the operation certificate:


Then confusingly the following 2 e-mails received one timed at 12.39hrs

Mr. Stewart J. ...

We have received today a parcel concerning your order marked " satisfied or your money back ".

Quantity Description
1 Scanner CanoScan 8400F

Before proceeding with the reimbursement, we are obliged to proceed with a technical expertise inspection, in order to evaluate the state of your product, which will take approximately 3 to 4 weeks.
After this inspection we will either accept or not accept the reimbursement of your product.

Thank you for your trust


James Felix
Customer Service Director


Then at 12.40hrs the following,








Mr. Stewart J. ...

Following the return of your parcel marked " satisfied or your money back ", we have proceeded with the technical inspection of the product.

Quantity Description
1 Scanner CanoScan 8400F

The product you have returned to us has been deemed " in good working order " by our after sales services.
We therefore have the pleasure to accept the reimbursement of your order (delivery charges not included) by re-crediting your credit card or by cheque if used other methods of payment.


Thank you for your trust

James Felix
Customer Service Director


Confusing obviously the various departments don't talk to each other? A very satisfactory result I hope, the first e-mail confirms full refund including postage so we'll see what comes through.

Why did they put me through all this and the resulting bad publicity? someone somewhere obviously made an error in dispatching a dodgy product, you'd of thought an apology or an admission of guilt instead of informing me refund could take at least 4 weeks and may not be in full, ie I would be charged for repairs or whatever. Not good customer relations methinks, and they came highly recomended.

Stewart

Thanks to everyone for their support and advice.
 
"Why did they put me through all this and the resulting bad publicity? someone somewhere obviously made an error in dispatching a dodgy product, you'd of thought an apology or an admission of guilt instead of informing me refund could take at least 4 weeks and may not be in full, ie I would be charged for repairs or whatever. Not good customer relations methinks, and they came highly recomended."

Stewart, raise a small claims action in the small claims court then. If the product was faulty, then you are entitled to a full reimbursement including out-of-pocket expenses. Dump a summons at their door. See what that does.

Regards

Malky
 
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