Consumers Rights..... Trading standards

[burts]

Looking for anyone with knowledge about consumers rights and trading standards.

I am a plumbing and heating engineer, I purchase many items that are of a considerable weight. Boilers, radiators, bathroom products. I have never had an issue with packaging and in general packaging is designed to hold the weight otherwise what would be the point of packaging?

Today I purchased a close coupled toilet from Wickes. The box has two handles on the sides for lifting and moving. When I was outside the shop carrying the item to my van. The bottom of the boxes falls through resulting in a smashed toilet.

The customer service manager told me straight that it is my fault, common sense to get a trolley. They are not willing to do anything about it.

I told him the box should be designed to accommodate the weight inside whether carrying it 2 foot to a trolley or 20ft to my van. After all it needs to be carried wen arriving at the customers property. I was lifting it by the designed handles, what more can I do?

I then showed the manager the poor state of the rest of the boxed items. All opened and re sealed. So clearly they have been opened and not re sealed properly by the staff.

Where do I stand legally? Can the box be classed as part of the product therefore not being in satisfactory condition?

Anyone?

 

[big-all]

imho

not your fault
if the box has no handholds they you may argue
but it has hand holds so there for faulty

ask the manager where it says you must use a trolly ??

the fact is he is trying to shift the blame as "common sense"says carry by handles provided thats why they are there

 

[AronSearle]

+1

It was boxed, not wrapped.

 

[Bosswhite]

Did the Assistant that gave you the Toilet offer you a Trolley to take it outside, or did the assistant offer to take it to your van using the firms trolley, some firms will not allow customers to take baskets or trollies outside their premise (they end up in the local pond ).

What about a customer that is disabled and unable to carry the item, the manager is trying it on, he could easily return it to the wholesale department as broken on delivery.


Complain and get a replacement, what about time lost on job ?

 

[bernardgreen]

Can you find the manufacturer's name ? Most of Wicks own brand items are made by other companies and then badged as "Wickes" If you can find it then contact them and ask if the hand holds on their boxes are intended for carrying the item. If yes then either they are at fault ( sub standard box ) or Wickes have not taken due care in the storage of the boxes ( damp or other cause of the box being weakened. )

Some hand holds in boxes are intended only as aids to moving the box and not intended to be carrying holds that take the full weight. These should be labelled as "Not for carrying"

 

[EFLImpudence]

I don't think it is the handles that are in question.

The bottom of the box gave way which could have happened no matter how the box was lifted.
Are they saying that the box should never be lifted?

 

[bernardgreen]

I agree it looks like the box failed, and that was probably due to damage to the box between manufacturer and point of collapse. Storage in a damp area is a common reason for boxes to fail.

Getting all the information together and then presenting Wickes with a well documented claim that they did not store the box in a manner that protected it's strength is the best way to get compensation.

 

[Brigadier]

Out of interest, I have noticed that a significant enough proportion of larger boxed items at Wickes appear to have been resealed at some point, rather than as originally-packaged. I always presumed that they had a lot of returns, but it may point to a storage issue.

 

[snico]

100% the shops fault. The handles are there to lift the box, a box not designed to lift its content weight with handles would not have handle holes in it.

It is the shops responsibility to ensure goods are suitably packed for transit, if not it should be made known to the customer.

Send a letter to the head office if you get no where

 

[AronSearle]

If they don't give a refund, get an e-mail, maybe we can all spam them asking why they pack their goods in boxes with handles that can't be used

 

[gregers]

your contract is with the shop not the manufacturer.

 

[longdogs]

I think what I would do is ring Wickes customer services and explain the situation. Explain that the store manager was unhelpful and that the box could have opened up when transferring it to a trolley. Tell them that you are a tradesman and spend a lot of money in their store each year.