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Change at Amazon?

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morddwyd

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Posted August 30, 2011 at 7:39AM

Just been on to Amazon about a piece of kit that failed after less than three months.

They immediately referred me to the manufacturer.

Plenty of retailers try this on, of course, but I'm surprised that one with Amazon's reputation and experience should try this.

I've disabused them of the idea, naturally, but hope this doesn't signal any sort of change at Amazon Customer Service.

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Pine Man

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Posted August 30, 2011 at 10:37AM

There are many purchases that you make on Amazon that are actually direct from the manufacturer, in which case that would be the correct procedure BUT, I agree with you that, if the purchase is direct from Amazon themselves then they cannot abrogate their responsibilities under UK consumer law.

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bjh

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Posted August 30, 2011 at 10:43AM

It's actually often faster to deal with the manufacturer, so Amazon might have been trying to be helpful. Monitors, for example, often have a "swap over" deal on faults, as mine did. Could have returned it to Amazon, who'd have shipped a replacement, but instead had a replacement in less than 36 hours, and the old one taken away at same time. Of course, that may have not been what happened to you.

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sunnystaines

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Posted August 31, 2011 at 7:40AM

I would say if you ordered via amazon web and you paid them. your contract is with them.

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morddwyd

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Posted August 31, 2011 at 9:48AM

Normal service has been resumed - replacement item is on its way (plus an apology, which wasn't necessary), less than three hours after I rejected their suggestion that I contact the manufacturer.

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100andthirty

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Posted August 31, 2011 at 7:53PM

For me Amazon continues to be the gold standard for retailing. I recently had cause to complain about an MP3 download where the end of a track was cut off. Folowng an email exchange, they phones me and afer a further couple of long, free phone calls where they tried to get a fix for me, they recognised that their source file was defective, refunded the entier album, and promptly withdrew the item from sale. All that effort for a £4.99 sale! Good after sales service indeed.

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bremner

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Posted September 1, 2011 at 5:24PM

I've disabused them of the idea, naturally

Why is this natural?

You may well as others have said caused yourself an unnecessary delay in resolving the issue.

I have made several online purchases, one very recently, and have quite happily dealt directly with the manufacturer after initially ringing the supplier. This resulted in each case in excellent prompt action.

There is certainly no 'natural' right or wrong in this, each case should be judged and a sensible decison made as to the quickest and most effective course of action.

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morddwyd

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Posted September 1, 2011 at 8:18PM

"There is certainly no 'natural' right or wrong in this"

Yes there is.

It is the retailer's responsibility, pure and simple.

That's the law.

Black and white.

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wee eddie

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Posted September 1, 2011 at 9:52PM

morddwyd ~ You are, of course, right.

However, so is bremner.

You must, firstly, contact the Company from whom you purchased the goods, however they are quite within their rights to then ask you to contact the Manufacturer. I believe that many Companies have agreements to reduce the toing and froing involved in sorting out such problems.

I seem to remember being given some kind of Reference Number to quote to the Manufacturer when contacting them.

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Forum Editor

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Posted September 1, 2011 at 11:57PM

**"It is the retailer's responsibility, pure and simple. That's the law. Black and white."**

Unfortunately (or fortunately in many cases) it's not a black and white world. Whilst it's perfectly correct to say that a purchase from a retailer means the retailer is liable for faults under consumer law, it's often the case that a problem is resolved faster by referring the matter directly to a manufacturer. This has traditionally been the case with monitors.

Common sense tells you that most retailers do not have the technical resources to repair complex electronic devices - they refer back to the manufacturer, or to an approved specialist repairer.

Any approach to a manufacturer should only be made at the retailer's suggestion, and after you have confirmed to the retailer (in writing) that you understand that by going direct you are not prejudicing your contract rights under consumer law.

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morddwyd

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Posted September 2, 2011 at 9:08AM

"Any approach to a manufacturer should only be made at the retailer's suggestion"

The trouble is that some retailers' "suggestions" can be quite peremptory, as has been reported many times on this forum.

No-one can object to a retailer suggesting that a quicker result might be obtained by contacting the manufacturer, however, that is a lot different to saying "Nothing to do with us, get on to the manufacturer".

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