Ensure a fair return
Know yout rights before you take back any faulty or unwanted presents
they fit. You need to check sizes and colours and the like before parting with any cash.
Having said that, many of our larger retailers have a no quibble refund or exchange policy within 28 days or so of purchase, as long as goods are returned in perfect condition, and this may often include original packaging.
“We can’t help if you’ve had them for more than 14 days”
Retailers often try to hide behind the notion that if you don’t bring something back within 14 days you can’t be helped. It’s not true.
The Consumer Rights Act says that you have the right to reject goods within 30 days if they are faulty or not fit for purpose, or not as described.
Outside the first 30 days, but within the first six months, you have to give the retailer one chance to repair or replace before you can have a refund.
The presumption here is that the fault was there are the point of sale, unless the retailer can prove otherwise.
After six months, the onus is on the consumer to show that the fault was there at the point of sale. You could do this by asking for a report from an expert.
It might cost you but if the goods are shown to be faulty then the retailer should return the report fee.
“Sorry, you bought them in the sale.”
You have the same rights when you buy sale goods as when purchasing goods at full price.
The only time this may change, and it doesn’t just apply to sale goods, is when you were told about a fault in goods at the time of purchase and they were reduced because of that fault. You can’t come back and demand a refund in this circumstance when you were aware of the fault at the point of sale.
Email your problems to Or post them to The Money Doctor, Daily Record, One Central Quay, Glasgow, G3 8DA Unfortunately Fergus can’t reply to every question in person.
Financial worries or just looking for better value for money? Consumer champion Fergus Muirhead can help
WE’LL spend more over the next three or four weeks than at any other time of the year, perhaps more than the rest of the year combined in some cases. So it’s really important to know what to do when things go wrong. What should you do if you get a present that you don’t like, or doesn’t fit, and how should you deal with presents that your kids love but that stop working on the morning of Boxing Day before they’ve even had a chance to use them properly? Today we’ll look at some of the answers that we get from staff in shops when we return goods, and I’ll explain which ones are correct and which ones aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. It goes without saying that if you have any problems at all with anything that you buy then you should drop me a line at moneydoctor@dailyrecord.co.uk “You don’t have a receipt so we can’t help you.” Retailers aren’t obliged to give you a receipt, so it would be unfair if they insist that you need to produce one when returning goods. They may ask for proof of purchase. This could be a cheque, or a bank or credit card statement. If you’re buying something as a present then ask for a “gift receipt” that you can put in with the present you are buying. It won’t have a price on it but will act as proof of purchase.
“You’ll have to send it back to the manufacturer.”
No, you won’t. Your contract is with the retailer, so you are entitled to take faulty goods back to the shop you bought them from, and you should expect them to sort out any problems for you.
You may have a manufacturer’s warranty for the first 12 or 24 months and if that is the case then you can send the faulty goods back to the manufacturer but the choice is yours.
“We only cover you for the first 12 months”
Legislation under the Consumer Rights Act allows you to bring an action against a retailer for up to five years if something goes wrong with goods that you buy.
You won’t necessarily get all of your money back if you return a faulty TV that is four-and-a-half years old but retailers should look at the expected life of things that are faulty and act accordingly.
“You should have tried it on in the shop”
You have a responsibility to ensure that the goods you are buying are actually the ones you want, and that
Fergus is here to help