I recently purchased a PC from a catalogue, when I opened it there was a letter from a customer saying about why she returned the product as it didn't have a CD drive, is this a case for trading standards? I rang the company concerned and told them, I was meant to get a phone call from "Customer Excellence" last week, no call has been recieved, Are companies too big these days to even care, I have been sold a brand new Item that has clearly gone to someone else before me, i would have thought I would of got the call ASAP
To be fair, I can fully understand chessington's concern. If it were me I'd be livid. If there's a letter from the previous recipient in with the computer then it obviously hasn't been checked by the catalogue firm on its return, so for all they knew, it could've contained bricks or anything! It's always been my understanding that if you return something such as a computer, it then has to be sold as a customer return and not as brand new.
I also understand chessington's concern. Agreed an unused jumper wouldn't bother me but it seems unlikely the previous customer just opened the box, didn't switch it on and immediately noticed there was no CD drive and packed it up. More likely started it up and goodness knows what else.With a PC I'd expect it to be brand new and in this instance I'd bang on until I got a response.
I would insist on a full refund or a good reduction in price (if you are happy to keep it).At the end of the day you paid for a new machine and you do not seem to have got this. Even if the previous person just opened the box and looked then realised it did not have a CD drive it is still a customer return in my eyes.
thanks for your replies, I will not let it rest with the company, It all looked brand new etc and I would not have known any different if the letter had not been in there, at least it wasn't ebay where I brought a brand new mp3 player (samsung) and it was full of the sellers pics and music etc and was passworded and I had to google how to bypass this.
I am going to try and get some money off the PC, they are actually lucky I have not gone to trading standards YET.
Also a Jumper is a bit different from a PC!!
Thanks again everyone
I don't think 'customer returns' can be passed off as new, most big Companies bundle these together and sell them by the pallet as customer returns, a friend of men used to buy these.
They can be anything from 'customer didn't like it, changed their mind' right up to seriously faulty.
"The Trades Descriptions Act and the Sale of Goods Act both say that goods have to be as described. Therefore for a product to be called "new" there should have been no transfer to anyone else between the shop and the purchaser. "Even if something is bought and then brought back the next day it is still second-hand," said a spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry."
I'd be pretty pissed too. You pay for something which has been described as 'new', and it's second hand, therefore you should be paying second hand price - it's irrelevant how long the other person had it for.
Ask for a refund and go somewhere else.
Also, make sure they foot the bill for you having to return it.