| Product: |
Currys |
| Date: |
08/01/07 (155 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Knowing never to shop at Currys again?
Disadvantages: Browbeating customers and disregarding their rights
My father bought a satellite navigation system from currys on 30/09/06. We used it all day everyday for work, but it kept cutting out. We thought we hadn't charged it properly, or plugged it in properly, but as it turned out it was an intermittent hardware fault, so on 03/11/06 my partner went back into the store and explained that the product was faulty, and had been from the moment my father purchased it.
Curry's answer to that was, 'you are outside of the 28day guarantee, here's TomTom's number, ring them, it's their problem'. Er, no, it isn't. Our contract is with Curry's, nowhere in law does it say anything about faulty products having to be returned within 28 days. Statutory law covers faulty products for about 6 years from the date of purchase! However, we duly contacted TomTom, thinking we could maybe drop it off for them to look at, but it turns out you have to post the unit to Holland (!!!) where they look at it and decide whether you are entitled to an under guarantee repair or not, then post it back to you.
I think this is disgraceful. Our contract is with Currys. The attitude of the staff was disgraceful, utterly terrible. This has rumbled on and on and at no time have I had an apology for them selling something to me that has never worked. It isn't up to me to post it to Holland. Since my contract is with them, in an ideal world they would replace the product (most smaller independent shops would have done this without question), or at the very least send it to Holland themselves with a guarantee to return it within 7 working days. I did NOT expect a sullen shop assistant to write TomTom's number on a scrap of paper and literally chuck it at me across the desk.
I would urge anyone buying anything from Currys (not something I would now recommend) to be aware of their statutory rights. Goods have to be fit for the prupose they were intended, i.e. working, and don't be fobbed off by this 28 day nonsense. If a product is faulty, it is THEIR responsibility to put this right, by way of a repair or replacement, which does not significantly inconvenience the customer. And I would say having to post something to Holland, to be returned whenever, is quite a significant inconvenience. Do not accept that you have to go back to the manufacturer, the buck stops with the store that sold you the product.
Trading Standards have taken up my case but unfortunately cannot act on one single case alone. So again, anyone that has locked horns with Currys over their '28 day policy' regarding faulty products, should get in touch with trading standards. The more complaints they have, the quicker something could be done about this. All major stores seem to be disregarding the 'shoppers rights' and spouting the same old nonsense, with the attitude that if they tell us all enough, we'll accept that they're right.
I will never set foot in Currys, or any of its sister companies, ever again.
Summary: How Currys are getting away with not replacing faulty products
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