Refund only option in warranty - price increase

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ldoodle

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Hi,

What is the law in this scenario:

Bought item on Black Friday as a Christmas gift
Opened only very recently - fault identified and reported to seller immediately (Amazon)
No replacement option, refund only so have to rebuy
Price is now £110 more

They are saying replacement cannot be done their end because item is out of stock. Yet for me it shows as in stock - exactly the same item as it has the "You recently purchased this item on..." banner at the top. Doing a chat with them now and the ASIN number matches so not sure what stock system they reference compared to consumers.

I think they're lying to make the £110 increase.

Thanks
 
Quote the relevant trading standards regulation at them and say if you do not receive a FULL refund within 7-14 days you will be taking legal action.
Do all communication by email/text message so you have 'written' evidence. Do NOT discuss things over a telephone conversation as there is no visible proof of what was said by either party. (Unless they are recording it and not telling you. Then they could edit it to their advantage so not legally allowed).
 
Thanks for replies.

Just to confirm...

I have been live chatting Amazon directly, not the seller
Amazon have offered 100% full refund, which is the Black Friday price
They cannot do a direct replacement, but don't/refuse to divulge why (4 different chat agents have said this)
This means I have to do a new order at the non-Black Friday price (£110 more)

It's the last point I was seeking advice on, which just doesn't sit right with me). In between posting the OP and seeing the replies today, I contacted Trading Standards who confirmed there's nothing wrong with what Amazon are doing (re: price increase), so that's that
 
Could be worse, I could only find a particular item in stock at Currys (£400+), I've always avoided Currys seeing as their reputation is terrible but (as I couldn't find it in stock anywhere else) I took a chance, ordered it just fine (2 December), turned up before the predicted delivery date, all good. One day later a fault occurred, tried to return it instore for a refund but no can do as I paid via Paypal (computer says no) three online attempts to open a return/refund failed including via a chat with a human, eventually managed to speak to a person who said return the item to a shop and they'll couier it off to the wharehouse via DPD, nope, shops haven't accepted these kinds of returns since 2019, evntually got DPD to accept it at one of their hubs and it eventually arrived at the warehouse on 27th December. Thank goodness, I've seen the refund has been processed into Paypal so just waiting for it to come from Paypal to my account now. What a palava and people wonder why Amazon is so popular.
 
ldoodle said:
Amazon have offered 100% full refund
Click to expand...
That's all Amazon will ever offer. They don't do exchanges for anything - it's always return for refund and purchase again if you want a replacement.
If you initiate the return, they usually refund before they actually have the item back, so you can use that to buy another one. Obviously that's no help if the price has gone up since the original purchase.
 
Yeah I've had nothing but great experience with Amazon returns, even things past their warranty date.

So this isn't a dig at them individually, more the general fact; we as consumers should never have to pay more to replace an in-warranty item, especially one that's newly unboxed!

Moral of the story: buy 2 of the same thing on Black Friday!
 
In an ideal world S19 of the Consumer Rights Ac;t would allow you to insist on a replacement meaning that you are entitled by statute to have that replacement unless it would be disproportionate in comparison to a repair (S23). If a vendor refuses to provide one then the you would have the right to issue proceedings and seek the costs of buying it.

If you originally bought for £130 and it now costs £201 then you are entitled to the £201 less the £130 already returned.

But in reality the original contract would be considered void since they failed to provide the goods as advertised. So since the contract is void, the only obligation that they now have is to refund the money, so that you are no worse off than you would be if the contract had never been made... cest la vie.
 
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This is why you ALWAYS use a credit card...you just put it into dispute and its sorted very quickly
Visa also do chargebacks on debit cards
Don't mess, hit them hard and above all, be prepared to spend a few £ and hit them with small claims court...it's not difficult
 
But if using the small claims court costs more than the price difference, is it really worth the hassle?
 
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