30 Day money back sale of goods act.

[Wood235 36]

Have recently spoken to some friends who share a yard, 3 of them, sell as trade, since the new law came in have had 5 people demand money back, stating their rights...etc  etc....

Now you may be thinking that the quality of the cars sold were very poor but from what I have been told, they weren't bad cars.

Reasons being; Engine management light came on on one, customer refused repair, even refused to return car, said it was the suppliers responsibility to collect the car and they had looked into it.

Another car developed a e/window fault, didn't want it mended, demanded money back......

Does this mean if you buy a pair of faulty shoes in high street, possibly 20+ miles away, the shoe supplier is liable and would have to come out to collect the shoes?

Now this sounds like this is going to be a real problem for us.

Not sure where this is all going to go? With cars, they will then have an extra owner on the reg doc, thus making the car less valuable for resale, also there's the hassle of people wondering why the last owner only had the car a short time.

As has been already mentioned, this new ruling really hasn't been thought through and affects different business' in different ways.

If anyone in our trade has experienced this yet, can you please share with us your experience, also any info in the legal side of things that could help us and give us a fairer position, please come forward.

The government will still expect us to pay our income tax and VAT but are making things so much harder to earn a living!!

Gary

[Jack Regan 116]

The punter has to prove the fault was present at point of sale .

[Rory RSC 596]

Know more rights than the customer. Engine management light came on... was not there when the customer bought the car.  

[sparky 274]

Imperative the the vehicle is not only prepped to the hills and back but that the customer signs a PDI to say it is too. 

 

[It's me 615]

as said

pdi

full new mot

fix any gremlins before the header board goes in or point them out to customer during sale

back up by getting customer to countersign both pdi and sales invoice where everything is in writing including no eml light was on during the sale and after test drive,you must do test drives

 

its all here in the podcasts which really are must have listen to if you want to try and stay out of trouble

http://cardealerpodcast.libsyn.com/

 

thanks again to umesh for providing the original link because you wouldnt find them otherwise and thanks lawgistics

[Cornish Guy 45]

Unfortunately the links are no longer active to download the podcasts. You can though listen to them

 

Edited November 5, 2015 by Cornish Guy

[Trident 24]

Hi all, 

I don't know yet if what we have done is allowed or not as my trading standards chap is supposed to get back to me to discuss but our interpretation in the meantime... we now do a pdi, get the customer to view and agree and sign to confirm condition before driving away, we also have in bold red writing on the invoice, so at point of taking a deposit and also repeated on the warranty form, that, in the event a customer wishes to return a vehicle for refund under the soga, they must supply independant written proof the fault was present at time of purchase and we also get them to read and sign the statement that says that they will be liable for a £495 restocking fee due to additional keeper and 50p per mile used.  I have to say, that while we were nervous to do it to start with, the response from customers seems very positive and they then know 'our policy'.  It demonstrates to them that we work with an understanding of the soga and they have said more positive things about our 'professionalism' than the bloke down the road who seems a bit dodgy!!! their words not mine.. We also stipulate that the vehicle must be returned to us at the customers expense. POI no one has refused to buy because of it... 

[Max Branning 149]

Whether they sign a receipt or not i just cant see this standing up to be honest as surely it infringes the customers legal right to reject the car. You are basically charging them to return faulty goods. Imagine going into currys and buying a telly that goes wrong after 3 weeks and taking it back only to be charged a £200 restocking fee - how would this go down...

I would be curious to see what your trading standards chap comes back with.

 

[Trident 24]

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Documents/Advice%20factsheets/Consumer%20Affairs/c-goods.pdf

This is a link to Citizens advice on the act and I still think it fits in line with it, it goes without saying that, for us, it is merely a deterrant from the sort of customer that started this thread, it would be an extreme case or person that would mean we would invoke the charges, but it gives us the 'gesture of goodwill' option to give.  It seems to me from the link ive attached, that if we do our job properly, we have as much if not more protection than previously.... both the customers in the opening thread, were not entitled to their money back as it was not impossible to replace or repair and it would be reasonably cheap for the seller compared with alternative remedies, see quote below taken from citizens advice:

If :-  it is impossible to replace or repair the goods; or  replacement or repair would be unreasonably costly for the seller when compared with alternative remedies; or  the seller fails to replace or repair the goods within a reasonable time of having agreed to do so, or causes you significant inconvenience; or  the goods have worked for some time before they go wrong, or only one of their functions has gone wrong then:-  you can ask for a partial or full refund. The amount of money you get back may be reduced to take account of any use that you have had out of the goods.

 

[Wheelerdealer1 91]

Sounds like you got it covered Trident, but if it went to small claims I think you might be in trouble 

[Cornish Guy 45]

Trident

That is an old document referring to the previous act.

Now very out of date!

[LawJaw 50]

as said

pdi

full new mot

fix any gremlins before the header board goes in or point them out to customer during sale

back up by getting customer to countersign both pdi and sales invoice where everything is in writing including no eml light was on during the sale and after test drive,you must do test drives

 

its all here in the podcasts which really are must have listen to if you want to try and stay out of trouble

http://cardealerpodcast.libsyn.com/

 

thanks again to umesh for providing the original link because you wouldnt find them otherwise and thanks lawgistics

Hi S and B... thank you for your appreciation.

We thought you may be interested in our recent update on the subject...

http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/7/7/4/774fb91baf312ef4/Legal_Help_Desk.mp3?c_id=10465982&expiration=1450096930&hwt=195b2955862420b4e5ae2b10485d31a0