Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

[Ragdog]

I will try to keep this brief.

I bought my partner a new Xbox 360 in September of this year from a big chain store, and recently he bought a new game from the same shop. The game started freezing, so he duly returned the disk back to the store. The manager is an absolute prick (this was the term used by 2 of his staff who pre-warned my partner about him). To cut a long story short, the Manager said the disk was scratched. My partner was confused about this as the disk was bought new, and was put into the machine and not removed, although the machine was turned on and off - apparently they can overheat so he is careful with that.

My partner took the disk to Xtra-vision, to get is cleaned. On inspection, the Manager of Xtra-Vision said that the disk scatch was very very minor, and should not interfere with the playing of the game, he said to check it is not a hardware problem. He cleaned it anyway, and my partner tried the disk again only to find it stuck again. He tried another game that previously worked with no problems, and the message came up on the screen to 'insert the disk into an xbox 360', even though it was in the xbox.

He took the box back to the shop with the receipt, and the Manager acted true to form. He took the machine in the back room, wouldn't let my partner witness the 'tests' that he performed - which turned out to be only to switch the machine off and on and said that it was loading up okay. My partner explained that the machine didn't load up with one game, but did with another, and the disk that did load was sticking during the game, so switching the machine off and on wasn't exactly a thorough diagnostic, but the Manager said that he was only obligated to turn the machine on, and if there were any further problems, take it up with Microsoft.

My partner said there was no point in arguing as this guy was going to be arguementitive to the point where he would want to just take him outside and punch the crap out of him. I don't know a lot about consumer law, but I do know that the Microsoft comment is bull****, the point of sale is where you take the problem to, not the manufacturer. Could someone please advise me further on this matter? Thanks

Just editing to say, my partner is an academic, and can write brilliant letters, he is drafting on to the head office to try and get this matter resolved, but I just want to be sure of the points of law before it is sent, and what I can do if HO refuses to exchange the xbox.

[Guest]

Re: Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

The law on this is very clear and essentially he can demand a repair or replacement product from the store. Under the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002, any fault that arises during the first 6 months will be presumed to have existed at the time of delivery and it is therefore up to the seller to prove otherwise.

Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale). Goods are of satisfactory quality if they reach the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking into account the price and any description. Aspects of quality include fitness for purpose, freedom from minor defects, appearance and finish, durability and safety.

Consumers also have a right to request a repair or replacement of the goods, (although the seller can refuse if the cost of doing so would be disproportionate to the cost of any other remedy available to the buyer, or a repair or replacement is impossible). In those circumstances the buyer can ask the seller to reduce the purchase price by an appropriate amount or "rescind" (end) the contract and sue.

Therefore, he needs to return the product to the store and inform the manager that the product is faulty and he is rejecting the product under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 (although there is other relevant and related legislation such as Sale of Goods Act 1979, Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002.)

The store cannot deny him his statutory rights. If they try, then report them to your local Trading Standards in addition to their head office.

Finally, if your partner were to go to Microsoft, he could actually lose his Sale of Goods Act rights. If he did so on the advice of the retailer, he could obviously argue that he was acting in accordance with their advice - but he should get this confirmed in writing in case of any future disputes.

[Ragdog]

Re: Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

Thanks for that, he is going to be requesting a new machine, (we are not going to accept a refurbished one considering the faulty one is little over 3 months old). I can't see how they can argue against that. We will reword the letter to quote some of the above. Interesting point about losing statutory rights if he contacted microsoft, he will be pointing that out in the letter as well as asking the company to confirm if the manager is correct about not being obliged to carry out proper diagnostics - if this is the case, the company is openly flouting the law. I doubt they will admit to that.

I suspect that isn't the case anyway, they are quite a large chain and normally would promote decent customer service. I think the manager is just on a power trip. We will give HO the chance to resolve the matter, failing that I will take the matter up with small claims. I will keep you updated.

[Ragdog]

Re: Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

Hi, not being cheeky, but I forgot to mention, one of the links about the sale of goods act isn't available. Just thought I'd say in case it had been overlooked.

[Tools]

Not cheeky at all thanks for spotting that Ragdog much appreciated. Have fixed the link in the sticky Some handy guides (Sale of Goods Act)
and will also post the link in this post Sale of Goods Act Quick Facts - BERR

If you or anyone else come across any more broken links please report them in Broken Links

Thank you again Ragdog

[Mochamoo]

Re: Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

Have you sent you letter off yet? What did you partner write in the end?

[Ragdog]

Re: Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

Not yet, he has been busy wrapping up with some teaching work at this time of year but will get it off next week. It is a **** hot letter so far, just have to add the finishing touches to it about the relevant acts etc. I will keep you posted if I get any responses.

[Ragdog]

Re: Faulty Xbox - store refuses to investigate

Just to let you all know that we got a response from Game HO. We received an extremely apologetic letter and a promise of a new xbox with replacement games. A couple of hours later, the courier arrived with the goods containing the xbox premium, a more expensive version than we had before.

We tried the old games on the new box, and they work perfectly, turned out it was the xbox that was faulty after all.

I have to say that although it was a very nice letter, it was cleverly written as it did not admit guilt - the letter apologised for the service 'that we described'. I suppose when it comes down to it, it is our word against his, but considering that we wrote a very comprehensive letter quoting the points of law etc, and they probably thought we were too much hassle to argue with.

We did not get answers to some things, like whether it was game policy to breach the Sale of Goods Act, or was the manager following his own agenda, and why were we refused a copy of the customer complaint policy etc so I don't know whether this is the actions of one individual or not but the complaint has apparently been passed on to his line manager to deal with. Hopefully the little prick will get hauled over the coals. He will probably deny everything of course, but from what I hear there have been a few complaints about him. If enough go in, they will maybe catch on.

At least we got sorted though. Thanks for the help.