Is this acceptable?

[blueball]

Ignoring everything else, the lack of communication from Scan on so many occasions now is becoming the norm as far as I can see. I have already stated on the forum elsewhere that because of all I have read on these forums showing how customer care seems to be going down the pan that I am not prepared to take the chance that I might be the lucky customer that doesn't get the run around.

I now shop elsewhere - price isn't everything.

[AD-15]

Same here, I've found the quality of service decline rapidlly compared to only a few years ago. The response times for example can either be very good, or awful. Half the time I don't receive a response, and have to post in the Scan forums. I'm always told the issue would be investigated, but it never seems to be the case that Scan have fixed the issue.

[TooNice]

Going further back (~10 years), I received an RMA service that was less than satisfactory and put me off buying from them for a good number of years. I only went back years later following the almost unanimous backing of Hexus members, the presence of Scan Care & free shipping.

To be fair, it's been a few years since I bought PC parts since I've mainly been using laptops in the last few years and the bits I've been needing were cheaper from Amazon/PC World, but they were alright for all non-RMA related queries (only time I had one, they referred me to the manufacturer).

The irony is that your story is not too dissimilar to mine, and I costed me around £35 in the end. The main difference is that my RMA was approved, but they wouldn't send me a replacement and forcing me to take a refund. Since there were no free shipping at the time, I had effectively paid for the purchase and return, some rather unpleasant phone calls (and yes, I stayed courteous), and waited over a month for a reply (stressful given that it was no small purchase, which is why I decided that I would take a loss of £35).. and close to another month before the money appeared in my account. There was no Scan Care at the time, and when I posted on Hexus, not a whole lot of people knew about them which was not very reassuring. Sad part is that I probably could've avoided the mess by going the DSR route, but I didn't know about it at the time (it was pretty new at the time).

[AD-15]

Any ideas then on what I should be doing as my next steps, in getting my money back?

Is there any legal route to doing this? Should I respond with another email? Should I call and ask to speak to the returns manager?

Almost 4 weeks of downtime due to this problem now, was hoping to get things sorted this week.

[Saracen]

Going further back (~10 years), ...... Sad part is that I probably could've avoided the mess by going the DSR route, but I didn't know about it at the time (it was pretty new at the time).

At ~10 years, the DSRs may not have applied anyway. They didn't come into effect until 31st October 2000, so it would have been about then.

[Saracen]

So in this situation, where the refund was refused due to the condition of the packaging, I was actually entitled to a refund?

Well, as I said ....

It doesn't have to be. That most definitely is not an acceptable reason for refusing a DSR refund.

The comments apply if you cancelled the contract in accordance with the Distance Selling Regs, but not if you didn't. As I understood the state of your situation, you didn't. And if you didn't, it'll be too late now.

[AD-15]

So is it the case that I can only cancel in accordance with the DSR if I do so within 7 days?

WRT this specific situation, do you think I should get into contact with the returns manager by phone? Or do you think, considering the quality of service I've received, I should continue to either press for a refund or ask for the card back free of charge, by email?

[wesleyaldred]

AD-15

Thank You for your posts, we will not be waiving the fee's in this instance for you, nor would we be offering a refund on the not faulty card. Also, you did not make any rejection inline with DSR's so you cannot seek that as an option now, whilst Saracen's points are correct re. Packaging inline with DSR's they are of no relevance to yourself in this instance.


Wesley

[TheAnimus]

AD-15

Thank You for your posts, we will not be waiving the fee's in this instance for you, nor would we be offering a refund on the not faulty card. Also, you did not make any rejection inline with DSR's so you cannot seek that as an option now, whilst Saracen's points are correct re. Packaging inline with DSR's they are of no relevance to yourself in this instance.


Wesley

Can I just congratulate you on a completely appalling bit of PR.

I mean at least try and make it sounds like there is a reason for it, the guy has written rather well that its a slight issue.

You should surely be saying that its functioning within manufacturer guidelines or tolerances?

Not just something so completely uncaring, failing to address the fact a response time from you guys was always longer than expected etc.

Heck even reminding that in order to be competitive on prices means that you are just delivering someones product and that he had the right in DSR to return it and get a more expensive branding.....

That communication would easily put me off scan.

[wesleyaldred]

Thanks for the post, however, this has been discussed at great length with the customer during the many calls and emails.

There is no point in spending more time stating everything again that has already been discussed.

Wesley

[redddraggon]

Did Scan get their Customer Service awards out of a Cereal packet?

[TheAnimus]

Hmm maybe they should replace the scan care stuff with:

[Chris P]

Did Scan get their Customer Service awards out of a Cereal packet?

Kelloggs dude,

An equally ridiculous reply as the comment itself.

[Chris P]

Hmm maybe they should replace the scan care stuff with:

Without knowing what actually has been discussed with the customer via the open query you are not in a position to make these ridiculous comments.

Regards

[Saracen]

So is it the case that I can only cancel in accordance with the DSR if I do so within 7 days? ....

More or less, yes.

It's 7 working days, starting the day after you take delivery. So if you take delivery on a Tuesday, the count starts (and includes as day 1) the Wednesday. The definition of "working days" excludes weekends and public holidays. It make no difference if the company concerned works those days or not, the SI excludes them.

Also, for the sake of completeness, the "7 working days" is the basic provision. There are circumstances under which it can be extended, up to an absolute maximum of 3 months and 7 working days. Those circumstances are when the supplier has not complied with mandatory requirements to notify customers of their DSR rights, in which case the period of 7 working days starts when they do notify you, or 3 months, giving the 3 months plus 7 days maximum.

I haven't studied Scan's processes, notifications or T&Cs in detail, but what I did see of them included, from what I remember, such mandatory notifications, and frankly, I'd be astonished if, more than 10 years after the DSR came into effect, any major retailer still made such a fundamental omission and I'd be flabbergasted if Scan did.

So, while in the general case it is possibleit can be more than 7 working days, it's very unlikely to be so with any retailer that is half-competent.

So .... the first question you have to ask if you want your DSR rights is whether the goods (or services) are covered by the DSR. Most are, but there are exceptions. If they are, and you wish to cancel, then you must do so in a "durable form" (i.e., typically, fax. email, registered letter, etc), but not by phone. Only if the supplier's T&Cs specifically allow phone cancellation will a phone notification be effective, and most don't allow it. And even if they do, you have the obvious issue of a lack of evidence of cancellation, so I wouldn't do it that way anyway.

Oh, and by the way, the action that must be undertaken within the 7 working days is that you send the notification, not that it arrives. So, you need to have posted the letter, sent the fax or dispatched the email, not that the supplier has received such.

It is certainly [B]not/B], as some (but not Scan) suppliers try to maintain, that you must have returned the goods by that point.


As for what happens if you don't notify within the (usually) 7 working day period, well, either you do and have DSR protection, or you don't and don't have it. There's no grace period beyond that statutory notification period. Once it expires, you lose ALL DSR rights.

Two last points.

One, the above relates mainly to goods. Services have similar rules but the notification period can be cut short if a service commences, with your consent. An obvious example would be mobile phone contracts, but it would also apply if you contract (by distance method), for example, to have your car repaired or serviced on a given date. It won't help you to try to cancel under the DSR after they've done the repair/service, just because it's within the DSR 7 days, provided the work had commenced with your agreement. Services are a bit more complex than the basic "goods" rules.

Second, from a precautionary perspective, if cancelling under the DSR, personally I would notif6y them by email, and then, as belt and braces, sent a letter confirming the contents of the email, either recorded, or at the very least, with a certificate of posting, which stipulates the address it's sent to and the date it was sent. That should certainly provide adequate proof that you cancelled, should the need to demonstrate that arise.

Providing you follow the requirements of the DSR in terms of it being a contract that is covered (not either an excepted contract or goods that are an exception to the right to cancel), and you do so within the time period and in an acceptable form (i.e. durable form) then the refund is mandatory. It is not subject to the condition of either goods or packaging, or even to receipt of returned goods. You may open yourself up to subsequent breach of contract claims in small claims court, but only after the supplier issues the refund, which must be as soon as practical, and within 30 days in any event. It's that "in any event" bit that totally kills any notion of rejecting a DSR refund because of condition of packaging.

The ONLY restriction on that refund is a deduction for the direct cost of the supplier collecting the from you if you have a duty to return them (check T&Cs, but Scan do require it) and you do not do so at your own cost, and neither of those conditions are relevant if you are also entitled to cancel under other contract terms, like rejecting goods as faulty under the DSR.

[TheAnimus]

Without knowing what actually has been discussed with the customer via the open query you are not in a position to make these ridiculous comments.

Regards

There is a reason someone set my tagline to "Seething Cauldron of Hatred".

TheAnimus doesn't do after sales, and if he did, he'd probably do them from somewhere very remote with no mobile phone signal, where he doesn't speak the language and they'd probably leave a better taste in your mouth than calsberg.

I was only saying to the first guy that they might want to try and remind people that what the buyer has considered a fault, the people who make the card don't. Instead of explaining how that puts you between a rock and hardplace, or that there are costs involved with every timewaster you instead write something that isn't very good at all.

And then I posted a almost funny picture. You guys didn't find it funny, and your latest response hurt my feelings