A few quiestions regarding SOGA

[raptor-21]

Hello everyone, I currently work as a customer service clerk for a large retail organisation and have been researching the Sales of Goods Act so that I am able to provide the best customer service to our customers and stay on the correct side of the law.

 

Now I have a few questions that I wasn't able to get an answer to, and I was hoping that some of you lovely people would be able to help me out.

 

1. Should a customer bring back a product that they have only had for a short amount of time (7 days for example), claiming that the product if faulty, however the fault they described can quickly and easily be fixed, must the customer accept this fix, or are they still entitled to a full refund?

 

2. Similar to the 1st scenario, only this time the fault that they are describing cannot be seen upon first inspection, are we (the seller) allowed to take more time to examine or test the product to see if the fault described is present? Or must we just take the customers word for it and refund them.

 

3. Now this one has been a cause for great debate with customers (and may even warrant it's own thread) - Software faults: I have always been told by management that software that is loaded onto products (phones or computers for example) aren't covered by any kind of warranty due to the fact that when a customer first uses a product, the software changes from what was originally loaded on the device. But from what I have read SOGA should still protect users for faults relating to software?

 

What we also quite often find is that the problem has been caused by something the customer has done, or by a piece of software that has been installed onto the product by the customer, and 9 times out of 10 restoring the product back to the initial factory settings resolves the issue that the customer is having, but if this is the case we would often charge the customer for doing this if they do not want to do it themselves.

 

4. So my next question is: Should a customer be expected to restore the software back to the state it was initially purchased in before a refund, replacement or repair should be considered, or does that constitute as a faulty product?

 

5. Also in the case that a separate piece of software or hardware that has been purchased from a different seller by the customer causes the reported issue, would the customer need to take the issue up with the other seller, or would be responsible?

 

 

Thank you very much for your time in reading and answering my questions.

Edited April 25, 2012 by raptor-21

[blitz]

My opinion on your questions

 

1. They are entitled to reject the goods for a refund

 

2. You can test the product, however this must be within a reasonable amount of time

 

3. If the software is part of the product as long as it hasn't been modified against the 'manufacturing' guidelines it will be included as part of the contract in most cases. (3rd party software / applications won't be however). If its the users fault by not following instructions, extra 3rd party software causing the fault which by removal the fault is fixed, that won't be a breach of contract unless you explicitly state it will work with this software.

 

4. Many don't understand how too, as below they should contact 3rd party if that's causing problems, if its because they haven't followed instructions i.e selected the wrong setting it would be good CS to fix it for them if its a quick fix for example, though imo wouldn't class as a breach of contract.

 

5. If its third party software causing the fault they should indeed take that up with the 3rd party.

[silverfox1961]

Hi

Regarding most of you queries, these can be answered by a visit to this website

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaataglance

[raptor-21]

My opinion on your questions

 

1. They are entitled to reject the goods for a refund

 

2. You can test the product, however this must be within a reasonable amount of time

 

3. If the software is part of the product as long as it hasn't been modified against the 'manufacturing' guidelines it will be included as part of the contract in most cases. (3rd party software / applications won't be however). If its the users fault by not following instructions, extra 3rd party software causing the fault which by removal the fault is fixed, that won't be a breach of contract unless you explicitly state it will work with this software.

 

4. Many don't understand how too, as below they should contact 3rd party if that's causing problems, if its because they haven't followed instructions i.e selected the wrong setting it would be good CS to fix it for them if its a quick fix for example, though imo wouldn't class as a breach of contract.

 

5. If its third party software causing the fault they should indeed take that up with the 3rd party.

 

Thank you for your input blitz, most of that is along the lines of what I was thinking too.

 

Hi

Regarding most of you queries, these can be answered by a visit to this website

 

Link removed (cannot post them as I have less than 10 posts)

 

Yeah, that was the website I was initially on, and just wanted a little clarification on certain scenarios, thanks for the link though!

 

 

One more question, which I believe I have found the answer to on this forum and on the website you have mentioned, but I would just like to be absolutely certain:

 

6. I have been told by my managers that when I am refunding items paid for by debit card, I can only refund the money onto the card used to pay for the goods, or a gift card, and that handing them cash to the value of their refund is illegal and classed as money laundering! Is this true?

 

A link to an official document or website would also be great in this situation so that I can also show my managers if what they are saying is wrong.

Edited April 27, 2012 by raptor-21

[blitz]

As far as I am aware (and unfortunatly fraud and money laundering are not where my strengths lie) for most values its not illegal, however many companies will do this for fraud prevention purposes. (Use a stolen card, get a cash refund - if your found as a soft target you will get targeted over and over). For non faulty goods you can set your own policy, for faulty goods you only have to return the customer into the same position before the contract so via the card that they paid is fine, there is no need to go beyond.

 

I certainly wouldn't disagree with your companies policy on this