John Lewis sees the light

QI BOUGHT a John Lewis self-standing light for £108. Because of size and weight, it was home-delivered. It had to be self-assembled.

Once working, I noticed a dent in the base. I phoned John Lewis which promised a replacement. The store said because I could not unassemble it, I should just wrap it as best possible with the returns number visible. Two days later, the replacement arrived. But the driver, a contractor, refused to take the unwanted light as it was “not in the original box”. He ticked “not ready” on his machine – not true.

The new light is lovely. I waited to hear further but all I got was an email saying it would charge again if I did not return the faulty item. I phoned and was told to take it back to a store where someone would help from the car park. But it’s taller than me and very heavy – and besides needing a big car, there would be parking and petrol costs. Please help. Anne M

AJOHN Lewis acted correctly in replacing the item – as you could not examine your goods before purchase, consumer law allows you to return it whether damaged or not. But where there is a fault, the Consumer Contracts Regulations says the retailer is responsible for the costs of returning an item which is faulty and has been delivered to a residential address.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, retailers are responsible for the service of any courier they employ. Your van driver was not properly briefed about the return.

The suggestion you should bring it to a store is wrong. In your case, the size and weight dictated a van collection.

You explained this to John Lewis in an email where you said if John Lewis charged for a second light, you would use Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act to challenge the fee. But as at least one subsequent email fell victim to the store’s spam filter, it might not have been seen and was not acted upon.

Leaving aside the hassle of unpacking and building the light twice, customer service was deficient here.

John Lewis says: “We’re very sorry for this. We have arranged a John Lewis van to collect the product at a suitable time, and following the collection we will be offering a gesture of goodwill to apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused.”