A very good reason to avoid Currys

Early yesterday morning my laptop ceased to function.  Deciding that it owed me nothing after 5 years, and it was time to get a new one, I went to the only shop I could reach on foot, Currys.  I found the model I wanted, price £330.  The assistant – we’ll call him Rob – tried to sell me all the extras, but I declined.  I went out carrying the new laptop sealed in its box.  When I got home a friend joined me and we tried to set it up.  But there was something wrong with the screen and the machine didn’t work.  We realised that there had been damage to the screen, a blow at the top which had spread downwards in a great black streak.  What neither of us realised at the time was that what we were seeing was damage that had to have been caused some time ago, since the visible effects take some time to spread to that extent.

We packed the thing up again and returned to the store in my friend’s car.  We were met with a blank refusal to do anything at all.  No, they would not refund or exchange.  We must have caused the damage.  I demanded to speak to the manager. Rob said that he was the manager (but a sentence later said that he had checked with his manager).  I demanded that he put their response in writing.  He refused.  No solution was offered.  We were just expected to walk out of the store £330 the poorer with a useless machine.

I contacted Trading Standards who gave me the number for the Citizens Advice consumer line.  The lady there was in no doubt.  Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) the burden of proof is on the vendor in these circumstances.  They have to prove that the buyer caused the damage.  If they can’t, they have to refund or exchange.  I should write a letter to the store to that effect.

While my friend tried to revive the old laptop (he failed) I phoned Curry’s customer service line.  The response was straightforward.  They should refund or exchange.  The operative rang the store while I held on.  When he got back to me his story had changed.  The store’s policy was that it was at the discretion of the manager.  She was sure that we’d done the damage because our fingerprints were on the point of the screen from which the damage emanated.  Yes, we’d touched it, but so had Rob!  I argued the law.  I protested vehemently.  It was clear that I wasn’t going to go away. So the operative rang the store again so that I could speak to the assistant manager myself.  She initially maintained her position.  I said that she was calling me a liar.  I said that the fact that I was a pensioner was neither here nor there (she hadn’t mentioned it, I just wanted to plant the fact that it wouldn’t look good in any publicity).  Eventually she told me to bring it back and they would exchange it.

We returned to the store for the third visit of the day.  Rob was detailed to set up a new machine to make sure that it was working.

I am still stunned by what happened.  The law is clear, but Currys seem to think that a store can simply label a customer a liar and ignore it.