Littlewoods Refuse to replace faulty item.

[mnrbig]

Hi

We bought our little boy a Nintendo DS. The screen packed up on it so we sent it to back to littlewoods for replacement.

We received a letter from them stating that they will not be replacing the DS as we are in arrears with Choice4you.(not of our own doing i must add.) Does anybody have a suggestion. My thought was that if they can refuse to honor a order because of another account, we can refuse to pay them or any of the companies they own(reciprocity of agreement)or am I wrong?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[sarah13]

in my humble opinion (and i am no lawyer or legal expert) - it shouldnt make any difference if your account is in arrears, if a product is faulty and in the guarentee time then they should replace it. I would ring them and insist to speak to the supervisor or write and sent 1st class recorded to the manager.

[buzby]

Agreed, they have no right of set-off. You can formally rejewct the goods under the Sale of Goods Act and demand a refund. There's a moot point they might try to credit the amount to an account (rather than providing a cheque) but that's a different matter. Just go back and ask again - NOT referring to the earlier discussion. If you get the same answer, say you'll be raising a Small Claim for the full amount and costs, the choice is theirs.

[mnrbig]

The goods were bought on the Littlewoods account, so theoretically I haven't paid for them yet. It just gets my goat that they can refuse to replace the item,that is still under warranty , because of another account.

[buzby]

Providing the goods are legally yours, whether you have paid or are paying for them is immaterial to any rejection under the sale of goods act, therefore they are being both unethical and unrealistic in making this demand.