Thread: Returning faulty goods - who pays postage?

It's not a case of should - it's more of a must. The distance selling regs specifically state that the seller cannot impose costs for an item being returned in accordance with the regulations. Most companies will send a pre-paid envelope.

The following is an extract from teh OFTs guide to businesses on distance selling:

Q. What specifically do I have to refund to the consumer if
they cancel?

3.48

The DSRs require you to refund any money paid by or on behalf of

the consumer in relation to the contract to the person who made the

payment. This means the full price of the goods, or deposit or prepayment

made, including the cost of delivery. The essence of
distance selling is that consumers buy from home and receive goods
at home. In these circumstances, almost every case of home
shopping will involve delivery of the goods ordered and so delivery
forms an essential part of the contract.

That is to do with cancellation. The next bit is more relevant:

Return of goods following cancellation (Regulation 17)
Who pays for returning the goods if the consumer cancels
an order?

3.57

If the goods are faulty or do not comply with the contract, you will

have to pay for their return whatever the circumstances.

After the deadline for cancellation has passed, a consumer

claims that goods are faulty or services do not conform to
the contract. Do I have to refund the consumer’s money?
3.67

In general the DSRs do not affect the consumer’s rights under other

legislation, for example the Sale of Goods Act 1979 or the Supply

of Goods and Services Act 1982. If the goods or services do not

conform to the contract and consumers exercise their rights to reject
them, you will have to refund their money.
3.68

If goods develop a fault within the first six months of being sold,

the law presumes that the fault was there when you sold the goods –

unless you can show otherwise. You should not charge return costs

for goods that have been rejected because they are faulty.

The above is from teh OFT guide here http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/bus...ral/oft698.pdf

I would contact the seller again, with this paragraph:

I wish to draw your attention to r.14(6) of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (SI 2334) Which specifically states that, where goods are returned as a right due to a breach of a term imlpied by statute (specifically s. 14 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979), the rights, given by r. 14(5), of a seller (yourselves) to require the buyer (myself) to bear the cost of a return is disapplied.

As such, ther cost of bearing teh retrun lies with yourselves. I therefore epect taht you will fulfill your contractual and statutory obligation to refund mys full costs including postage"

And apologies for the formatting!

Hi

For speed of repair the customer sends back, and retailer refunds the postage back to the customer when it is prooved to be faulty. This is how I have always known it.

Beau

I have to disagree with that - it is being held hostage and goes against the exact nature of consumer protection.

It's still their problem - not the customers. The real world is such a mess becasue we don' live to the ideals that would make it a better place.

It could be that the seller is simply unaware of his obligations re postage - not many businesses understand the legislation that applies to them.

We should not be bowing to sellers unreasonable requirements just to keep them happy - that only encourages bad practice. If they refuse to refund postage it will mean going to court. If doing that, one might as well get it repaired at a local shop and recover the money back.

I have ordered and returned online goods several times and used this policy successfully. And i have continued business with the seller in one case. But where they behave like this, I wouldn't trust them with the goods anyway.

Well, its something we will disagree on. I do appreciate the points made but cannot agree. Best leave it for people to decide what hey want to do. We can only give our opinions, help and advice. Whether people choose to take it (whichever one) is down to them.

At least its got through that the OP is entitled to not have to bear the cost of posting - something taht many would disagre on anyway!

Dhas,

Have you got T&C's from retailer ? if so they should show returns policy. it may even be on their website somewhere.

Beau

The returns policy is irrelevant. The regulations impose a requirement, and if the stores T&C's do not agree with it, then those particular T&Cs are automatically void.

Agreed gyzmo,

but if that is where the retailer manager is coming from, he will be just following procedure rightly or wrongly

Beau

I see what you mean - if its in their own T&Cs then they shuld really know . But where it not there it wouldn't matter anyway. Only wanted to clarify that T&Cs are only valid if they comply with legislative requirements

The thing is the op has had the goods for 7 weeks and the DSR only covers 7 working days, this means that he has accepted the good, so this is contract.

Also you quote gyzmo

You should not charge return costs

It's the word 'should' that would worry me. Should is not the same as 'must', so it looks to me like the seller is given an option.

The 7 days in DSR is really a cooling off period, as the buyer only has a chance to check the goods once they have been received - very different to buying in a shop. DSR also lpaces obligations on sellers, which if not met, can extend this coooling off period until they are met.

The period referred to however does not apply to where goods are returned becasue of a fault or misdescription etc. That is a different kettle of fish. Have a look at the guide (which is for sellers but I thnk it is better than the one for consumers) which I posted before - itanswers a lot of different situations quite clearly (and is one of the better guides produced by the OFT).