Have you recently tried to overcome the recession blues by going on a January Sales spending spree? Have you now discovered that the items that you have bought do not fit, or you have changed your mind about them or they have broken?
Do you want to know if there is anything you can do to get your money back?
The good news is that you can do something about most situations.
FAULTY GOODS
The first and foremost thins is if the item is faulty, in other words it does not work as it was supposed to, or it does not fit its description, or it is not fit for its purpose. These rights are governed by the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended. Even if the item was reduced in the “Sale” it still has to comply with this legislation no matter what the seller says. The only way that the seller can get away with selling you an item that is marked or damaged is if they specifically draw your attention to the problem. So, by stating for instance that “this item has a damaged zip and is therefore reduced in price”, would mean that you could not return the item because of the faulty zip. You could still return it if the item fell to pieces as this was nothing to do with the zip.
If items do not fit because they are incorrectly marked you are protected by the above legislation as the goods will not fit their description. So for example if you bought a dress marked as size 12 and it did not fit because it was actually a size 16 this would be a breach of the legislation. If a settee was described as 246cm wide and when it was delivered it was 346cm wide you would have a valid claim under the legislation.
What happens if someone else bought the item for you and it is faulty? If you give the gift back to the person who bought it for you they can take it back to the seller. Or you can return the item yourself provided the person who bought it told the seller that it was a gift for another party and had this information written onto the receipt. The protection given to the receiver of a gift is that governed by the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. This gives the receiver of the gift the right to return the goods to the seller.
CHANGING YOUR MIND
If you do not like the item when you get it home or it is the wrong colour then you cannot take the item back and get a refund under the above legislation. You can return to the seller and advise them of your change of mind the seller may give you a refund at their discretion. A number of large department stores operate this policy.
If in any doubt about any of the above circumstances you should seek further advice, please contact Sara Checkley at Chattertons Solicitors on 01507 522456.
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