Returning faulty item to ASDA but no receipt
Hugh Jboobs
Posts: 15,316 Forum Member
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Would be grateful for opinions on this.
A few months ago (I think it was around April/May) I bought one of those toddler bouncy castles from ASDA. It cost £75 and seemed good, proper mains run motor etc. I say "I" bought - my father-in-law picked one up for me and I paid him back.
My two young kids weren't overly impressed (typical!) and it has only been used for short periods of time on less than 10 occasions. During the most recent use of it, we noticed that one of the seams is starting to split away. It still works, but if it's used much more it will properly split open into a big hole and be useless.
Neither my father-in-law nor I have the receipt, but knowing ASDA for being reasonably good in their customer service I took it back to a store near to my work (not the one my father-in-law bought it from) and explained the situation. The customer service rep was pretty helpful to be fair. She said that the best she would be able to do is to give me an ASDA voucher for the £75, which I was happy with. However, when it came to actually carrying out the transaction, a snag was hit.
Basically, because they no longer have any in stock and I don't have a receipt or the packaging, they can't do any form of scanning through their system in order to issue me with a voucher. Apparently there is no way around this. After around forty minutes of the customer service rep speaking to various people in various departments, including finally one of the management team, she said that the manager had said they would issue me with a voucher for £45, not the full £75.
One thing they did say was that if my father-in-law had paid by card and could bring a statement in, they could refund it. He can't remember if he used card or paid by cash, but has checked his card statements and can't find the transaction anywhere.
So the best offer I had on the table was £45 on a voucher. Because I'd been waiting 40 minutes by that point and was late for an appointment, I said to leave it and I'd check the card situation with my father-in-law. (I didn't at that point know that he didn't have a record of card transaction of it).
So, what's my next move? Take the £45 and consider it generous? It's my fault that I haven't got a receipt after all.
However, on the flipside of the coin, the product is faulty and has only been used for it's purpose a few times. The lack of receipt doesn't seem to be that much of an issue for them: they would be willing to give me a voucher for the full £75 if they still had any of the product in stock. It seems the main issue is that their system can't cope with the transaction. If they're willing to offer a voucher for £45 and bypass the issue in the process, why can't they simply issue a voucher for £75 instead? Should I dig my heels in?
Thoughts and opinions welcome.
A few months ago (I think it was around April/May) I bought one of those toddler bouncy castles from ASDA. It cost £75 and seemed good, proper mains run motor etc. I say "I" bought - my father-in-law picked one up for me and I paid him back.
My two young kids weren't overly impressed (typical!) and it has only been used for short periods of time on less than 10 occasions. During the most recent use of it, we noticed that one of the seams is starting to split away. It still works, but if it's used much more it will properly split open into a big hole and be useless.
Neither my father-in-law nor I have the receipt, but knowing ASDA for being reasonably good in their customer service I took it back to a store near to my work (not the one my father-in-law bought it from) and explained the situation. The customer service rep was pretty helpful to be fair. She said that the best she would be able to do is to give me an ASDA voucher for the £75, which I was happy with. However, when it came to actually carrying out the transaction, a snag was hit.
Basically, because they no longer have any in stock and I don't have a receipt or the packaging, they can't do any form of scanning through their system in order to issue me with a voucher. Apparently there is no way around this. After around forty minutes of the customer service rep speaking to various people in various departments, including finally one of the management team, she said that the manager had said they would issue me with a voucher for £45, not the full £75.
One thing they did say was that if my father-in-law had paid by card and could bring a statement in, they could refund it. He can't remember if he used card or paid by cash, but has checked his card statements and can't find the transaction anywhere.
So the best offer I had on the table was £45 on a voucher. Because I'd been waiting 40 minutes by that point and was late for an appointment, I said to leave it and I'd check the card situation with my father-in-law. (I didn't at that point know that he didn't have a record of card transaction of it).
So, what's my next move? Take the £45 and consider it generous? It's my fault that I haven't got a receipt after all.
However, on the flipside of the coin, the product is faulty and has only been used for it's purpose a few times. The lack of receipt doesn't seem to be that much of an issue for them: they would be willing to give me a voucher for the full £75 if they still had any of the product in stock. It seems the main issue is that their system can't cope with the transaction. If they're willing to offer a voucher for £45 and bypass the issue in the process, why can't they simply issue a voucher for £75 instead? Should I dig my heels in?
Thoughts and opinions welcome.
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Comments
To be honest, i think their offer is more than fair given you have no proof of purchase and could have fished it out of a neighbours bin and be trying it on (not that you are). The only thing that confused me was why they would give you a voucher for the full amount if it was in stock? Has the item gone down in price and they can only see the current price on their tills? But For the sake of £30, I'd take the £45 and chalk it up to experience.
Mike
You cannot provide evidence of what you paid
They accept they sold it.
If they cannot prove they provided the item at £45, but you can, then you are entiltled to £75.
If they can provide proof they sold it for less, then they are entitled to base their fund on that.
Personally I'd take it back into the store and insist on demonstrating the problem right there right in front of the public.. but them I'm an arse who won't put up with such nonsense and loves the chaos
Good luck!!!
I would just take it
Or they chuck you out of the store.
A retailer is entitled to ask for proof of purchase, which does not necessarily have to be a till receipt. But if you can provide a bank/credit card statement showing a transaction with the store on the day for the amount the item cost then that should be accepted.
If however you have no proof that you purchased the item from the retailer then the retailer can simply ask you to leave.
Yes they can but a store like Asda usually won't do that as it's not worth their while hacking people off since £75 will soon come back in from normal shopping. Having said that in the circumstances with no receipt £45 seems a decent offer.
Sorry for not being clearer on this in my OP.
I was getting slightly exasperated by the time the offer of £45 came back, as I'd been hanging around for ages and had my mind on getting to my appointment on time. I think that the offer of a £45 voucher was a "gesture of goodwill" on their part. I interpreted it to be their way of offering to meet me part way whilst still "punishing" me for not having the receipt.
The item has not gone down in price. They simply have none in stock any more, presumably because it's more of a summer item. As I understood it, if they had some in stock, they would have been able to scan a different one so that the item "went through" their books, and issue me a refund for the full £75.
As mentioned, I think their main issue in not giving me the £75 was the fact that their system couldn't cope with it - not because I didn't have a receipt.
FIGHT!"!!
or otherwise eveyone else has to do it one at a time,
(and if you can't spare the time - I'll do it for you ;-) )
A great plan - ingenious in its simplicity!
I hadn't thought of it.
But I've just looked - no joy. They sell bouncy castles, but not that particular one any more, it seems.
If the item is out of stock it should be on the system, if its deleted stock it probably wont be.
Contact head office and see if they can find the barcode.
Tracing the transaction is difficult, you would need to know the date of purchase, method of payment, the till number and roughly the time, card payments are easier to trace but it takes time, cash payments are much more difficult.
*I haven't worked for ASDA for over a year so this information may be slightly out of date.*
Don't be fobbed off by them saying No.
(but it may be that the till operator logged in may not have permissions to do it and a supervisor does)
The £45 offer is just the Manager being 'cute' and trying to do his cost saving bit.
You had a verbal offer of £75 at the till. Hold them to it.
If they try to argue that the member of staff was not authorised to offer it, explain that is not your fault, the offer was made.
roland rat, his ASDA anecdotes were class.
As many others have mentioned, it is really down to Asda whether they will be willing to do this, but you'd be surprised at how many people think it is their right to try and return an item without any form of proof of purchase whatsoever and then put it down to bad customer service!
The simple fact is that ASDA are compliant with the statutory obligations, and have gone over and above what is required of them. Bare in mind that the OP doesn't even have a contract with ASDA (they didn't buy the product), so is owed nothing.
The offer of £45 was probably the lowest sale price for that item when in stock. Hence the offer in absence of any proof of purchase.
ASDA (in store) are good with customer service, usually going over and above what is required of them. Ranting and raving in store is not only embarrassing for the store and other customers, but also not something the store don't have to entertain.
If the goodwill of stores is abused, then expect the cost to be added to the bottom line and passed back to consumers in the long run, or worse still revoked. I guess then we'll see more stores with no give in goodwill like Sports Direct or comments about rip-off Britain.
I have highlighted the important points of this post , and the second highlight is what this post is .
Pay it no regard and follow some of the other excellent advice