TV drama has a happy ending
IT LOOKED like the odds were stacked against a catalogue customer when her barely oneyear-old television broke down – a repair was not possible and a promised refund didn’t come through. And by the time Carol Buckley approached Crusader for help to get what she was due, she was at the end of her tether.
A long-term, happy customer of Shop Direct and its Littlewoods catalogue, her latest purchase of a £740 TV, however, had gone far from smoothly.
But as we started to unravel the mystery it became clear ownership was an issue.
When families or couples buy goods they are often unaware, understandably, that whose name is on the receipt or guarantee can be crucial if anything then goes wrong.
In Carol’s case the TV was a treat for herself but it was her daughter who took out a service guarantee on the set for her mum.
When the screen went blank just a year later Carol, from Liverpool, alerted the repair centre. The TV was collected but engineers later called to say nothing could be done.
“I then got an offer from them to reimburse me and I accepted but I haven’t heard a thing since,” she explained. “I’ve been without my TV for weeks now and I’m a pensioner who can’t afford to buy another one without the refund, so it’s been a bit miserable.”
Hold-ups are often caused when there is more than one owner in the frame so we asked Shop Direct to see if there were any obstacles and if it could remove them.
Within a couple of days it had traced Carol’s account but said: “In order for the guarantee to be honoured we needed to speak to the holder but were unable to do so with the contact information we had.”
Crusader helped update this and last week Shop Direct confirmed: “We’ve arranged for the customer to receive either £599 or a replacement TV, in line with the guarantee.”
“We work tirelessly in order to provide the best possible service to our customers,” it added. “In this case, we were unable to redeem the service guarantee without speaking to the holder. We’re pleased we have been able to do this and provide a resolution for the customer.”
A delighted Carol said: “I thought this might never be sorted out. I can’t thank you all enough.”