Nightmare with The Range

[Blondmusic]

My Fiance bought an Aquarium Air Pump from our local branch of The Range.

 

Within 48 hours it packed up and stopped working.

We took it back (lost the receipt though) and asked for a replacement.

They couldn't find the transaction on their system even though we could clearly show the payment had been made using a debit card as it was on the online bank statement.

 

They still refused to replace the faulty pump as they said we could not prove we bought it from them.

They told us to contact the manufacturer Interpet to get a replacement from them.

 

In the meantime we went out and bought another air pump from a local pet shop.

 

I contacted The Range customer services by email asking them to find the transaction.

I provided all the information they needed to do this and they found the transaction.

They said they would contact the store with the contract of sale and that we should get a refund.

 

We went back to the store today and they knew nothing of the contact from customer services, we had to provide all the details again by going through the online statement and calendar dates.

They found the transaction then the tills went offline.

They took our details and said they would phone once the tills were working again.

 

Got a phone call an hour later saying the tills were up and running again.

we head back to the store again.

 

The assistant dealing with the case takes the air pump and says she wants to test it.

She takes it off the shop floor for about 10 minutes before coming back and telling us the pump works fine so no refund.

 

We took the pump home and set it up.

Yes it works but at a much reduced rate.

You should be able to see air bubbles appearing clearly from the air stone but we can hardly see them.

 

A phone call to customer services got me no-where. I was told if the store says it works then thats it.

 

Where do we go from here?

[unclebulgaria67]

Depends how much hassle you want. The Range are known for being very difficult. In a thread i read awhile back they argued all the way to court.

 

Given that it works but not very well, you would have to get it tested at your cost. Now it depends how much you paid for it, as to whether it is worth proving it is faulty and then taking it further, issuing a court claim if necessary.

[vengeancedemon]

Agree with Uncle B, the Range seem certainly at branch level to think that they are above the Consumer rights Act.

We had an instance a while ago when a food mixer drive gear broke up they constantly said "refer to makers"

 

 

it was only after a sharp and pithy exchange of emails with head office and a suggestion of Trading Standards and a County Court that they quite speedily agreed a full refund

( but they didn't have to as it ideally would have been a partial refund due to time of purchase/to date of fault)

Don't let them fob you off they are notorious for abnegating their responsibilities

[stu007]

Something to consider is if your account shows the payment for this in a code ask the bank for confirmation of the code being payment to The Range on the date you purchased this item.

[Blondmusic]

The pump was only £10. It's not the money it's the principle. If an item breaks down within 6 months then its deemed faulty at point of sale therefore a replacement or a refund should be issued. I've plugged the pump back in and waiting for it to pack up again

[unclebulgaria67]

The pump was only £10. It's not the money it's the principle. If an item breaks down within 6 months then its deemed faulty at point of sale therefore a replacement or a refund should be issued. I've plugged the pump back in and waiting for it to pack up again

 

It has probably already cost you much more than £10 in dealing with this issue already.

 

Best way to get your own back, is not to shop in the store again and use social media to let others know of your experience. You could cost them thousands of pounds in loss of business. If everyone did the same, you would start to see these stores either change how they treat customers or they would go out of business. So go onto Facebook, Twitter, Google reviews etc and post a negative review.