Dodgy shower

[BenStiller]

Fitted a BQ gainsborough shower about 8 weeks ago for customer...
its just taken the knock, now i have fitted loads of these, but this one was a rare supply and fit, so i felt obligated to replace it, never again they can get their own...

I took the thing off wall and took it back to BQ, felt a bit of a kn*b when she said ring gainsborough...2 questions really
1) When you install a shower for someone, what are my obligations after a completed job were everything is working?
2) roughly how long will the shower service dept usually come out, and do you have no messing off them?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

took it back to BQ, felt a bit of a kn*b when she said ring gainsborough

You should have used the magic words: Sale of Goods Act.

If the shower really had failed, and had not been wrongly fitted or abused, the B&Q had (still have) an absolute duty to replace it or refund the full purchase price. It is not the manufacturer's responsibility, and you do not have to phone them and get it serviced if you don't want to. In fact, IIRC, if you do have it repaired you will lose your automatic right of replace/refund, so if it packs up again...

 

[BenStiller]

The girl at the desk told me that if electricity has run through it they cant take it back

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The girl at the desk told me that if electricity has run through it they cant take it back

The girl at the desk was wrong. If that theory had any validity then nobody could ever return anything, anywhere, that had broken when it was in use.

The polite interpretation of what she said is that she's a fool who has no idea what the legal responsibilities of her employer are who is putting herself at risk by ignorantly placing her employer in a position where they are refusing to comply with the law.

The less polite interpretation is that she is a lying cow who is attempting to defraud you.

If you bought a TV from John Lewis, and shortly after getting it home it stopped working, would you let them get away with "But Sir you plugged it in"?

If you bought a pair of shoes, and the sole fell off after few weeks would you let the shop get away with "But Sir you put these on your feet and walked about"?

Faulty products often don't break until you try to use them.

Go back, ask for the manager, and ask the girl at the desk if she is claiming that it was the passing of electricity through it that caused it to break. Should provide you with an amusing conversation while you wait for the manager to arrive. Maybe by the time (s)he arrives you'll be able to say that the employee claims that using a shower bought at B&Q will make it fail...

 

[Allenm]

Perhaps you should ask to speak the Girl's Dad!!

Exactly as B.A.S says, They have a Legal obligation to replace faulty goods within a reasonable time period.

It sounds like the girl was following the script marked "goods being returned due to customer changing their mind".

Go back and politely (but firmly) request that they fulfil their legal obligations under both the sale of goods act (1985) and the sale of goods and services act (1979).

Merv

 

[securespark]

Lobbocks!!

Ring them up, demand to talk to the manager, explain what has happened, mention the Sale Of Goods Act 1979 (amended 1994), and sit back to see what his reply is.

If the goods become faulty within the g'tee period, the retailer (or wholesaler) must replace them.

It should be no skin off their nose, as they will pack them up, send them back to the mfr, and charge them for the privilege.

 

[kevplumb]

i would be intrigued to know how they can prove electricity had passed through it

as for the rest as i belive has already been posted b*ll*cks

 

[Steve]

Dont have a go at the girl on the desk. Its not her fault she doesnt know all the rules, obviously her employer hasn't trained her properly. By all means have a go at the manager, it is his duty to ensure all his staff are properly trained.

Any of you ever worked in a shop? Probably not. So you dont know what its like to have a customer have a go at you for something you have no control over / know nothing about, through reasons beyond your control.

Look at the till receipt. At the bottom it may have a mobile number for the manager. Doncaster branch does this anyway. Cool eh?

 

[treacleman]

but.....

Gainsborough do have a nationwide service network.

If a shower doesn't work, and you've gone to all the trouble of fixing it to the wall, connecting pipes and cables, and spent the best part of an hour trying to work out why it doesn't work , as a tradesman, where time is money, do you feel obliged to un-wire, un-plumb, un-screw and go back to the supplier, get a replacement and go through the whole thing again?

personally, i'd call their service dept, explain the problem, trust them when they say they will contact your customer within 24hrs and get on with your next job, knowing that an "engineer" will be there fixing or replacing the shower.

How many times have you fitted something or other, and have been called back, once, maybe twice because the darned thing won't work as it should.

Shower manufacturers mostly all provide this service, if only other electrical manufacturers provided it.

or you can go back and give some non-professional grief about selling faulty products and do the job over again.

Know what I'd do.

 

[BenStiller]

Well thanks for all replies and here is an update...
Checked forum today and seen advice from BAS and allenm about sales of goods act, so armed with that information i went back to B&Q with shower.
Same girl on desk (hardfaced little mare), i told her i want to see a manager and spouted sales of goods act, she still insisted they was not changing it, i said fair enough, but i want a letter off manager stating that I tried twice to replace the shower and B&Q are refusing,
This was to give back to the customer to at least show that i tried for her.
Well after a few phone calls between the girl and manager lo and behold it turns out i can swap the gainsborough, its only the mira they wont swap, so a little persistence paid off...
Treacleman you are exactly right in what you say, and in future i will be following that line of procedure, but on this one occasion customer was old woman, and lets just say i went soft...cheers all