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Takings faulty goods back.


Bannon
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In English law goods sold have to be of a "merchantable quality" [Sale of Goods Act]. A defect such as you mention would be covered by this. The guarantee is irrelevant since the protection you have under law is more powerful. Now the question is do the French have a similar law and the answer to that is I have no idea. But maybe a legal eagle out there does know.

Patrick

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There's a selection of views in a recent thread in the Legal section:

http://forums.livingfrance.com/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=287&MessageID=233869

I'm afraid that France is not the country where the Consumer is King.  It does happen rarely, but mostly you have to stand your ground and just keep standing until you get what you want.

Your strimmer, whatever it was made of, does not fulfil its stated function.  Threaten them with 60 millions Consommateurs.

 

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Stand your ground. My french isn`t brilliant but I have a huge husband to stand beside me!  We were given a bill to repair a chainsaw under guarantee, when we refused to pay the guy took it away and put it on a shelf at the back and looked smug, I told him to take out the replaced part and give us the chain saw back as that was ours and could we have the faulty part as well , the guy went to speak with his boss who insisted we pay, by this time there was a queue waiting to be served, so we just stood there whilst they tried to sell their 6 ft pieces of timber and bags of cement, about 1/2 later the boss came , gave us our repaired chainsaw and told us it was `a gift`, needless to say we do not buy in there now!

Also recently bought a fridge that had a dimension on the box but when we unpacked it was a different size, we repacked it , took it back and asked for a refund, whereupon they insisted we could have a creditnote which would last a  month. No way was that acceptableas they didn`t have a fridge with the dimentions we needed, a stand off ensued with a few phone calls to their boss . Afew crocodile tears on my behalf et voila , a refund.

If I can do it anyone can.

Mrs o

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I bought an electric cool box in a large supermarket in the Auvergne. Back in Burgundy I realised it wasn't working so I took it to the nearest branch of the same supermarket. You'll have to take it back where you bought it, I was told. You're having a laugh, I thought. I stood my ground - the service staff were absolutely hopeless and completely disinterested. It eventually went as far as the manager who eventually agreed to change it. So, along with others, I would advise stand your ground. But it would be nice to know what the legal position is - anyone know?

Patrick

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My own limited experiences have been that stores have been helpful. For example, with Leroy Merlin I have on several occasions taken stuff back just because I purchased too much and did not need the extra (the stuff I was returning was unopened, as new, etc.). I’ve even returned stuff to a different branch of Leroy Merlin without problems. Similarly, I have got refunds at Boulanger, though they did try the credit note thing first but I said no (or maybe I commented on the weather – my French skills are not great). I’m sure that some stores are more determined to separate you from your money.

I’m sure there are laws covering things like that (there seem to be laws for most things).

Ian

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Although not very plentiful in the SW, I think Toulouse has one, the only Leroy Merlin I have seen was at Calais on a day trip, before coming here. The bathroom stuff, taps, fittings, basins etc were twice as dear as any brico I had been into in the SW while house hunting  and LM even made B&Q at Folkestone look cheap.  Is it or was it deliberately expensive to capture the day tripper market or are the prices now national and comparable with its competitors?
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Thankfully, I've only had one experience with faulty goods during the guarantee period, and that was on a mountain bike, top of their range, bought from Carrefour St Junien.

The front gear shifter refused to work properly. I took the bike back the very next day, but unfortunately, we had around 50 receipts and couldn't find that one!

Dispite the saleslady and the guy who got it out for me, and took it out to my car both recognising me, the store refused to help.

I repaired it myself on the next visit with new parts brought from the UK...........better than the ones actually fitted, but you live and learn. Cost me £20, but I've got my own back on the store since, won't say how on here

Alcazar

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I have always understood that our current UK consumer laws are EU legislation eg,  Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended by the EU 1999 Directive.  Although I have never had to use it, I assume that you have the same protection throughout the EU.  Of course as with every law it is a question of how you enforce it.  In the case of consumer law it would be a question of who you approach next with regard to enforcement.  Although not nearly so bad as France things are not absolutely straightforward in the UK.  My sister-in-law is currently having a battle with Comet despite the above law.  
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My French isn't good enough to do this in France yet, but when I buy in England and I'm offered the extended warranty, I say "Why? I thought this was a good make, if I think it is going to break down within 5 years, I don't think I want it". They usually then say that they expect it to last that long, but the extension is just an insurance. To which I say "Well, if you expect it to last that long, then I expect it to last that long, if it breaks down, I can bring it back under the Sale Of Goods Act because it is not of merchantable quality". I know the logic doesn't quite work and I've never tried to take anything back like that, but it usually ends the discussion about whether or not they try to "get me to pay their bonus".... sorry, I meant to write "sell me an insurance policy".

 

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I had Comet offer me an extended warranty on a washing machine in the UK, which like a mug I took,after recent experiences at the time with washing machines,  When I got home I found that the item, I think it was a Bosch, was guaranteed for three years anyway and for a small sum you could opt for five years parts and labour.  Comet did refund the cost of their policy.

But as I posted on a similar theme a few weeks back, our Mr Bricollage must take the biscuit for helpfulness and customer service above and beyond, if iou do not have the receipt or you have opened the item, it will not be refunded  They do not explain how you establish the item is faulty without taking it out of the packaging

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Sorry Ron, but I think we can beat M. Bric.  Brico Depot in Gaillac informed that the paint we had taken back because it was not the colour on the tin (yes we had opened it!!) was absolutely fine and the problem must be our wall!!

Finally managed to get it changed by suggesting that perhaps it was not their superb and helpful staff who had messed up, but the German paint mixing machine.  Ever the diplomat me!

The car - Citroen - which I bought with a guarantee in May and which went wrong in June is still languishing in a garage somewhere in Albi as no-one has been able to repair it since.  Despite much jumping up and down on my part there seems to be no redress and the garage owner keeps mumbling unhappily about the amount of kilometres I am doing in the car he has lent me.

My telephone was out of order for 2 weeks following recent storm - but France Telecom told me cheerfully that it didn't matter much as B & B was not a real business and, anyway, no one would want to visit if it rained.

I think customer service is not only dead, but also buried, in our lovely corner of France.

Maggi

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Our experience of taking faulty goods back here in Deux Sevres as so far been quite good.

We bought a bed that you put together yourself a couple of years ago from Conforama. We did not unpack it for a couple of months and then found that the headboard had been damaged and was cracked. I took it back to the shop and they did not even want to see it but ordered a free replacement right away.

 An electric strimmer purchased at Bricomarche failed after a couple of months use and they sent it off for repair, again free. It has since failed again but this was a lot later and it had been heavily used so I did not pursue them again.........................John not Jackie 

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