Who is best for returns on the 360?

[Dazzyman]

It aplies to everything sold in uk via a retailer. Its harder thru a personal seller like ebay as it could be sold as.

They need to contact Dell first and tell them its faulty and give them the oppertunity to say no. They need to tell them it isnt durable if they start and fit for purpose and if they wont do anything ask for their head office address as they will be sending a letter recorded and let them know in no certain terms that they will be contacting trading stanards and lodging a complaint and if needs be getting an independant engineers report and going to the small claims court to reclaim the repair or refund monies. If it goes this way then they also need to contact trading standards moment they put the phone down then put it all in writing and send it recorded delivery to their head office giving them 10 working days to contact them and arrange for a repair or replacement. If they dont do out then they will need an idependant engineers report as after first 6months onus is on the buyer to prove a fault and keep contacting trading standards who will also act on your behalf. Last resort is small claims court its around ?30 for ?300 and last time I was their ?75 for few grand.

Manufacters warrenty you can wipe your arse on it to put it midly durabilty law means around 5yrs min for something costing that amount. Its the reason they call extended warrenties peace of mind as they know full well that their liable if out goes wrong. Always remember though if your the shop they bought it from its you thats liable not Dell as the contract is with you and the buyer then its up to you to contact Dell yourself.

You dont need case law you just mutter fit for purpose and not durable under sales of goods act. If they paid with a credit card their laughing as they can also pursue under credit act of 1970s as their as cupable as Dell for lending you the money for shoddy goods. For that phone the bank up and let em know they will send you a statement for the month and then persue it.

Just keep at em though as they can drag it out I had my first case last 7months.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/Ukpga_19940035_en_1.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/mar/25/consumernews.howtocomplain

credit act what covers credit cards

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060014_en_1

[Dazzyman]

Regarding Game and Gamestation I posted about this last year. Game where lovely on the local store told me to ring head office confirm it and bring it back. Rang head office lovely again said should be no problem then came back from the phone different person and flatley refused. Id already contacted trading standards and lodged a complaint after MS fobbed me off (I actually wanted to send it to MS instead at the time to save me having to travel and arguing in a store) and trading standards just said dont bother with them phone local store if they wont do out we will pay them a visit and to contact my bank as it was on cc card.

His attitude stank on CS number at Game so I got their head office notified him Id be sending a letter recorded and logging it with TS and Id recorded the phone call and would use it in abritration if needs be. He didnt give a toss and thats where it ended.

I sent 3 emails direct to em and then did a massive letter. I got a phone call about 3 days later (gave em 10working days) and they said they would replace it "as a goodwill gesture" but they wouldnt admit any fault. They picked it up and I got a new one about a week later. I know at the time I was the first one to have dealings with Game over it and I posted it all over and let the flood gates open. As I said this it what companies will do they will stall you or give you crap that its not down to them when they 100% know it is. I remember at the time it really peeing me off with the attitude (so much so I switched to using Shopto so they did me a favour!) as they said both times at CS centre at game and when they rung me to exchange it that I should get an extended warrenty. Why? Oh yea because people make commision out of extended warrenties dont they (I worked in Dixons as a teen I know how they work).

They need to be very carefull giving information out like that because they can be suspended or even have the store closed. They really dont want county court judgements against em for loosing a case so 99% of time companies fight it till last minute then back down as well.

Just be a militant little father jack like me and you will be fine

[FelixofMars]

I am not saying that the individual is fobbing me off, I dare say they are being told this by head office and having to do this to keep their job. So I am not blaming anyone on here directly. Before anyone gets the wrong idea

[Dazzyman]

Head office probably will though as they all have targets so tell the manager who then tells the staff and if a staff takes a return they will probably get bollocked over it if it was anything like Dixons was with us lot yearssssssssss ago.

Their is something you have to be really carefull about as a customer and thats not to rant or kick off and swear etc.. and also understand the shops rights. When you walk into a shop your walking into a service providers domain they can refuse service at anytime so if you go in and they refuse to do out they can even ask you to leave and if you refuse they can call the police and have you removed (Police wont do out with the case as its a civil matter it wont even be a breach of law they just have the power to remove you). I remember same happening with Get dom in or whatever its called with PC world in Leeds last year (had dealing with them myself in past!) after he sent a bloke in who had a faulty I think 14month old laptop and the refused to do out even though he quoted the law and then kicked him out. Some managers have a ploy of refusing to help to get you angry then if you raise your voice at em or swear they can turn around and say right thats it you have abused me and you loose all your consumer rights over it. That is why you always remain calm and collected. Thing is a judge at small claims court later on wouldnt be that bothered anyway he would look at the case to why you lost your temper after them flately refusing but it is something to be carefull about.

Myself I swear by my olympus dictaophone and telephone mic as its been invaluable in the past meeting people for complaining and over the phone as they back right off when they found out you have recorded them (its inadmissable in court but its admissable to use if its in the public intrest ie a complaint or use in abritration).

[Strolls]

Thanks for such an informative & helpful reply, Daz.

In my case the customer bought the laptop direct from Dell & I just got called in to help fix it when it went wrong. But I don't like having to say "no, I can't help, you're stuffed", especially for this customer, so that's why I want to help 'em get it sorted.

I'll be the bloke writing the "independent engineers report" on headed paper basically saying the cost of replacement is prohibitive and that the failure basically makes the lappy worthless. Because I want to help out I'll also copy & paste the relevant parts of that AV Forums post into draft of an appropriate complaint letter, to make it easier for my customer to make the complaint.

[El Leone]

Sorry to bump this thread but just been reading this because my X360 recently died.

Anyway, So I bought my Elite from Game August last year, I've got the receipt somewhere. What are the chances that they'll accept and swap it with a new console? I'm not really that bothered, but I'd rather avoid contacting Microsoft because it'll take about 2 weeks (probably up to a month considering its now December).

[Brad]

Has it RRODd? If so then that's a known problem which means that the problem was there when you bought the machine, which means that under the sales of goods to consumers act 2002 you can demand a replacement. They would be breaking the law if they refused.

[El Leone]

Yup. Got the 3 flashing lights. Should I contact them beforehand or just go in with the Xbox and put them on the spot?

[Brad]

I'd do the latter. If the manager knows the law you'll have no problem but it does depend on who you get. Your rights are clear though. IN the first 6 months they have to prove that the unit wasn't defective when sold (nigh on impossible unless it's obviously been damanged). After that you have to prove that it was faulty. Ordinarily even this isn't difficult but in the case of the 360 there is a known, admitted to by Microsoft, inherent fault in the product. You should be fine. I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

[El Leone]

Well I'm going to try it tomorrow. I found my receipt, hopefully it won't be a problem that it states that its a trade in pre-owned, because I took advantage of that £140 quid trade in offer last year to swap your old Xbox for a Elite. The receipt just confuses because it says that it cost - £140, and then says "total to refund" and cash refunded at £140. Unless the receipt is talking from my perspective (cause by the time I walked out I was minus 140 quid) then that seems odd and wrong. I haven't got the wrong receipt because the date matches up.

[Daragon]

There is no legal obligation to replace it after 12 months unfortunately - they'll just refer you. All stores offer a 12 month warranty and that's it.

[Brad]

You can demand replacement if the cost to the seller is not disproportionate to having the goods repaired. IMO The repair option would cause 'significant' inconvenience to El Leone, especially if they cannot guarantee return of goods before xmas. It's deffo worth going for. If they won't budge and say it has to be repaired and that it will be back before Xmas then make it their job to get it repaired, not yours. Leave it with them and if it doesn't come back in a reasonable amount of time then you can complain and get a new one out of them. Once you start dealing with Microsoft yourself you've kinda set a precedent.

[El Leone]

Update:

Went into me local GAME and found it was pretty busy. So I got in que and waited for about 5 minutes and got to the till. Asked for the manager, and the guy went off and returned and said that the manager is busy and asked me whats up. Anyway, I told them what was up, quoted the sales of good act and the conditions and all that stuff and he went off to the manager again. He returned and said that the store policy was 12 months. He wasn't going to budge because he was just a tillworker and trying to communicate with him acting as the middleman was pretty diffcult so I just asked for a phone number and address.

I got a phone number but not address, so I'm just looking for a email/address I could send that letter to because then they wouldn't be able to argue back while I make a point.

Is this the correct address?
[email protected]

[Adrock]

Phone them up. They always used to phone the manager and make them do it eventually.

We had a guy who had clearly snapped his game disc and pretty much admitted it. But he still got it changed after calling customer services to complain. Was a good few years ago now.

[Strolls]

...
I got a phone number but not address, so I'm just looking for a email/address I could send that letter to because then they wouldn't be able to argue back while I make a point.

Write to them. It'll have more impact. Somehow I feel that companies are just better at replying to letters & that emails may be fobbed-off with an automated reply.

From http://www.gamegroup.plc.uk/gg/contacts/

Head office address:

GAME STORES GROUP LTD.
Unity House, Telford Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6YJ
Tel: 01256 784000
Fax: 01256 784093

Address it to the "customer services department" at that address.

FYI, the laptop I enquired about earlier in this thread - 2 years old, with a 12-month warranty - Dell sent a little man around to replace the graphics module 5 days after the customer posted the letter.