A lesson in Passing the Buck
One of my pet hates is when a company fobs responsibility onto a retailer when they produce faulty goods. This happened to us again at the weekend. Lily was reading The Borrowers, when having reached page 35, the book started again, and then skipped 50 pages when it reached the next page 35.
No worries, I said. Let's write an email to Penguin Books customer services, and I'm sure they will replace it for us. She spent quite a while composing it. To their credit, she received a reply today, but which flatly refused to replace it;
'Please note, Penguin cannot replace books purchased from bookshops. This
is because we sell our stock to the bookshops and they are then
responsible for dealing with any faulty products in accordance within
their own returns policies.'
Now, I can understand this approach to a degree, as it takes a lot of admin out of the business etc. and I honestly would do that if I knew where it was bought and by whom! This was a book given to her at xmas, along with various others, and I honestly cannot remember who it came from.
Well, I've replied with this information, and hoping for a (cue drum roll...) Exception to the Rule!
What do you think they will/should do?
Hmm...Tricky one! I am amazed that they didn't replace it. I personnaly would send it back to them anyway with an adult letter to the manager or whatever and tweet your story as often as possible...Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteResponsibility under Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) lies with the person who sold it, i.e. the retailer. In fact retailers try to fob you off in the other direction, Argos trying to get you to ring manufacturers heldesks or Post Office Counter telling you to ring ParcelForce.
ReplyDeleteYou're right of course (shocking - I did a law degree, but it was in 1989).
ReplyDeleteOh well, let's see if they respond out of goodwill - or it'll be a second hand copy on ebay!