Taking things back to shops..

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If I don't have a receipt, can I take something back to a shop that I bought this year that doesn't work? I know shops get really sneery about it but I seem to remember watching some sort of consumer programme that said you could do this legally, and they had to replace what you'd bought..
This is in the UK, by the way.

Its Comet. I'll have to be convincing or they'll try and swindle me.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

It depends what it is, how much you paid for it, if you've got any way at all of proving that you bought it from them and when

― Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

how will you prove the item came from comet w/out a receipt?

xpost

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

I can't... Its a Sony Walkman, cost about 25 quid. An exchange will do just fine if they'll let me.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

It'll have Comet sense written all over it.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

In these situations, it's best to demand to inspect their CCTV footage from the relevant day.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

every comet shop keeps footage of their past transactions? that must be a huge archive! (i can't tell if alba is being serious or not)

i must say if i was (gd forbid) behind the counter at yr comet i wld tell you to poke yr 25 quid walkman

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

hmmm...nothing I can do, then??

gah. fuckers. Why did I think buying something from Comet would be a good idea??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

i wld tell you to poke yr 25 quid walkman

-- Ward Fowler (littlefielda...), November 23rd, 2005.

poke? Is this like "screw"... or poke it with my finger??

I have tried shaking it. That does nothing. AND turning it upside down. With both these fiendish tricks used, what's a boy to do??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

Do you have a credit card statement that shows you bought something from Comet for the value?

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

i don't think there are many shops/chains that wld take back faulty goods w/out a receipt

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

If they demand a receipt, they're basically calling you a liar. Threaten to sue them for defamation of character.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Another I have found another successful approach is to fingerprint all staff and match them with those found on the box.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

That wasn't English, sorry.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

The cunning approach:

Buy another one, then take back the broken one with the new receipt and demand a refund.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

a credit card slip only 'proves' that you spent money in comet, not that you bought the item in question

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

basically i'm from the 'tough love' school of retail therapy

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

they'll just offer, quite reasonably, to exchange like for like, and you'll be stuck with two.

(xpost)

Do you have a credit card statement that shows you bought something from Comet for the value?

best option by far, even if it doesn't specify - they can check on their own records using your credit/debuit details.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

If I don't have a receipt, can I take something back to a shop that I bought this year that doesn't work?

phat chance of getting a replacement or money for that matter. so uh no i doubt it. but try anyway, you never know...

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

I made Barnes & Noble take a defective book back w/o the receipt. I marched to the register and said to the poor girl, "I'm about to be a pain in your ass, so you may as well call the manager now and I do apologize ahead of time" and that's pretty much what happened. It was the printer's fault, the signatures of the book were mis-collated so one 32-page section appeared twice and another, not at all -- the store is going to get their money back from the publisher, anyway, and the flaw was obvious, not like it was just a little shopworn. If you stand firm and insist and it's a reputable retailer, what are they doing to do, make an enemy of a pre-existing customer?

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

I suspect it's policy for many larger stores / chains to be a bit generous on the whole taking-things-bak-without-receipt front for precisely that reason.

They don't want to broadcast that fact though, obviously.

It's aces when Laurel's fierce.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

The cunning approach:
Buy another one, then take back the broken one with the new receipt and demand a refund.

-- Alba (albab...), November 23rd, 2005.

This is so fiendishly simple, and marvellously clever. Yes, I shall try this if all else fails.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

Sales of goods act 1982 is the relevant piece of legislation.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

It was a bike manual, and the ONLY SECTION I NEEDED was the missing signature!!

PS: Tim, where have you been? Visit more often, pls.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

xxpost

What if the receipt has the products unique serial number on, you'll be exposed as a charlatan and a fraud.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

but it's obvious that you couldn't have damaged the book that way yourself. with electronics, it's a different matter. the store will probably claim that hobart could have caused the damage through mishandling and question how old the walkman is. i'm not saying this is fair, mind you, but i can see a megastore like comet taking this line.

xpost to laurel's post.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Do you want me to ask my dad to do it for you?

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Does your Dad have special secrets??

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Buy another one, then take back the broken one with the new receipt and demand a refund.

I ave successfully done this, and my heart was like to pound through my shirt when I walked into the store.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

I think my dad just bores them into submission.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

Can't you just send it in to Sony?

― svend (svend), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Buy another one, then take back the broken one with the new receipt and demand a refund.

I ave successfully done this, and my heart was like to pound through my shirt when I walked into the store.

b-b-but...what i said! most electronics stores in the uk have an "instant replacement" policy for items under £50, so you face the danger of ending up with two functioning walkmen (walkmans?).

i suppose, if they don't fuck with the receipt, you could then use the *same* receipt to take one of them back to a (different) store and exchange it for something else. i suppose.

but chances are, they'll mark the receipt and you'll be buggered.

(ps. this is a cassette-player, right? wow)

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

I think they will give you a credit note.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

which you can spend on blank tapes.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, a discman, not a walkman.. I'm not very up with the new technology.

But I do have a nice walkman too. And when it breaks, I'll buy another one.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

I did this in a small, independent shop that is notorious for screwing its customers but also notoriously disorganized.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

b-b-but...what i said! most electronics stores in the uk have an "instant replacement" policy for items under £50, so you face the danger of ending up with two functioning walkmen (walkmans?).

No, under English consumer law, if an item is defective then you are entitled to demand a refund, not a replacement. This is actually true.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

(Or at least that's what I was taught by an LBC legal phone-in hour back in the day)

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

ok, i stand corrected. but they'll still mark your receipt, no doubt, so...oh, wait, that doesn't matter if you get a refund. woot!

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

When I was in Ann Summers at the weekend, the woman in front of me in the queue was returning a vibrator because it didn't work. "Oh, we get a lot of these sent back," said the assistant, "you have to screw it up very tight after you've put the batteries in."

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

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