Free Traffic Legal Advice

Customer bought a kids bike on 18/11 and only just opened it this morning to find that there is a slight defect in the paintwork. It’s not quite a chip. He reckons the paint has delaminated.

Basically, they are made in Thailand and get shipped around the world and handled many times. This rarely happens though where damage is reported.

Offered to send him a paint macropen to touch it up it he can return it unused for full refund.

He said neither solution is satisfactory and wants 10% of the price (£28.50), paint stick (£15) and a guarantee that the paint will not deteriorate for 12 months.

At first he asked for £50 plus the paint stick.

It feels like he is trying to hold us to ransom.

He said if we do not agree it with, he will let his child ride it because he has no other option now and will raise a claim with his credit card company and get a full refund.

Where do we actually stand legally on this?

Current price is £330 but when he bought we had an offer on at £285. I know this is academic. I did say to him that if he had have paid full price we would have offered him £45 back. Like I say, that’s academic anyway.

Just feels like he is trying to ruin our Xmas.

My huskiness partner doesn’t like the fact that he is making the demands and the threat to get his CC company involved automatically costs us £15 or £25 and they will no doubt simply refund him.

The way he painted it sounded like a veiled threat.

What should we do?

Merry Xmas to one and all.

For the first 30 days they can just reject for any faults.

30 days to 6 months the onus is on you to prove the faults did not exist at time of purchase, presumably you're not disputing it's a manufacturing defect.

The consumer is entitled to one of the following, at your discretion, in the first instance:

• Repair
• Replacement
• Full or partial refund*

They are not entitled to refuse the first two options unless it will cause significant inconvenience, is disproportionate to the cost of the goods, attempts to repair or replace have failed, repair or replacement is impossible, or repair/replacement will take a significantly long time.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl

https://www.businesscompanion.info/sites/default/files/CRA-Goods-Guidance-for-Business-Sep-2015.pdf

FWIW: I have claimed through S.75/Chargeback (the card company I use has the same form for both initially) and they did reach out to the other company for their side of the story. If you are complying with the consumer legislation I can't see them siding with the customer unless you're being unreasonable.

That said, would it cost you more in return postage than the CC fees?

Thank you.  In terms of return postage, we have a very good contract so it would be have far cheaper than the CC fees for him opening a case up which I think are either £15 or £25.  The fear was he would open a case anyway out of spite.  I didn't particularly like the way he spoke to me given that he had had over a month to open the item but it was clearly all our fault for not opening a sealed box and checking it over before it was sent out.  Perhaps that is a lesson for future. Open, inspect, take photos and re-seal but at the end of the day if the bike had left us in perfect condition and arrived with damage it would be of limited use to us in making a claim as ParcelForce would simply have rejected the claim as it was outside of the 30 days notice period for us to report.  A double-edged sword.  They've already failed to pay on claim of £430 for damage because my partner filled out the form with the wrong details.  I think she used her name instead of me being the signatory. That was an expensive lesson.

Anyway, it all turned out OK in the end. We offered him a 10% refund and a touch up paint stick.

Felt helpless when he'd had the bike for so long without bothering to open it and check it over. He wasn't particularly the best of communicators it has to be said.  Following his initial barrage and demands and following agreement, it was as if he hadn't read a word I'd said and started pestering for the refund and touch up stick before we got back from annual leave (despite the partial refund having been processed on 26th December and us not being able to send out the paint until we arrived back in the country as it needed a specialist paint shop to mix it up and match the bike colour exactly).