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HMV headphone Policy
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Posted April 11, 2012 at 9:45AM
HMV would not let me return/exchange a set of headphones for hygiene reasons.. My reason for returning them was they were uncomforatable on my ears, and the noise cancelling was not as good because of the bad fit. Let me already acknowledge that unless faulty I have no consumer rights to just return because I do not like them,this I accept I was just hoping for a bit of goodwill.
What I do not like is I was not told of this at the Point of Sale and there are no warning signs.
My discussion with the Manager at Customer services was very unsatisfactory.
She kept on replying the warning is on the back of the receipt (it is not) but could not explain to me how I could read the back of the receipt before I purchased or indeed visit the website (another of her suggestions).
I pointed out to her that it would be nice if there was a notice about returns policy by the Headphones, her reply was "I can only apologise Sir". I asked her why I was not told at the POS and her reply was "I can only apologise Sir", my reply to that is she is now sounding like my children, who say sorry then go and do it again. She could not answer when I asked her when was the last time she looked at the back of a receipt.
It is interesting to note that Argos, for one, warn you about returns exception at the till and all over the catologue and on line. HMV say nothing about it on their on line sales site.
The final crunch came when I asked her if she thought it strange that HMV have headphones to try on(not mine)despite knowing of the health risk. Her reply was That's your Choice.
Surely her replies should have been more positive? Such as I will pass on your comments Sir or more importantly, 'We regularly clean the headphones'
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- headphones
- hmv
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Posted April 17, 2012 at 9:25PM
HMV have replied to my query about not being told at the point of sale about the headphone exclusion - they say there are signs (wrong)
About the headphone display - these are periodically cleaned I am happy to say.
and, despite telling them several times I do not want a refund/exchange kept going on about me not being entitled to one.
ah well .........................
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Posted April 18, 2012 at 8:30AM
"HMV would not let me return/exchange a set of headphones for hygiene reasons.. "
"I do not want a refund/exchange "
I'm a bit confused.
So why did you try to return them?
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Posted April 18, 2012 at 10:03AM
I tried to return them because they were not comfortable and the noise cancelling is poor because of the poor fit. As in paragraph one of my first post, if you care to read it again.
My issues are not that I cannot return, they are/were and will remain to be:-
At the point of sale I was not made aware of this exception to their return policy, which would have made me think again about purchasing (HMV have admitted that other goods with opened package would be returnable)
Customer services insisted, both by phone and email, this exclusion is on the back of the receipt. It is not.
Customer services demonstrated a poor atitude when asked if their display phones are healthy. They now say, after lengthy correspondence, that they are cleaned regularly though it is still at customers risk to try them on (that's fine by me now). If they had said this in the first place rather than a 'tough mate that's your choice' atitude then probably this thread would not have been started.
I made it perfectly clear to Customer Services that I accept their no refundpolicy and my iddue is the level of service, during and after purchase yet they still insisted on refferring to their refund policy. Which would seem to indicate that they do not read emails properly.
To be fair they were very prompt with their replies.
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Posted April 18, 2012 at 11:00AM
They have responded to you in a timely fashion, but have not provided the answers that you are seeking. In the end it all appears to do with an original problem regarding comfort and noise cancelling, on an item that you purchased, but was unable to try in a store. The £100.00 you mentioned, does seem to be a lot for a pair of headphones, and no doubt, I would have kicked up a bit of a fuss, if they were 'not fit for purpose'.
Its a case now, I would imagine, of accepting or perhaps referral to someone like your local Trading Standards, Consumer Direct or similar, especially if the company's terms and conditions are not made clear, and easy to find?.
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Posted April 18, 2012 at 2:47PM
You cannot be bound by conditions of which you were unaware. If the only place where the headphone exclusion is to be found is on the back of the receipt, then it will not apply and would probably be held to be unfair at the very least.
If I were you, I would print out their published T & Cs then to to CAB or a solicitor, or issue a claim in the county court (my favourite) Assuming you paid bt credit card, I would also claim against them
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Posted April 18, 2012 at 3:14PM
I go away soon and will probably put this one down to experience.
It was a lot to pay, which is why I would probably have had second thoughts if only I had known.
I have just popped into HMV (in disguise!)their T & C are up but nothing about exclusions. Their web site does state headphones exclusion.
Now,if only I had the £279 to get the BOSE I tried in John Lewis, proper noise cancelling and sooo comfortable, far better than the Seinheisser 250-II I got from HMV
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