Post by stavros on Jan 3, 2011 18:56:58 GMT 1
New Hewlett Packard printer, from my OH as my Xmas present, bought on 10th December, but not unpacked & installed until Xmas day.
Problems, poor image quality, forever using the "clean print heads" cycle, and the second, extra thorough, cleaning cycle, and when it went down again this morning, I took it back to the shop.
Note the name: Top Office in Dinan
The assistants I dealt with tried to suggest that I'd been using it for a month and run out of ink, that in any event it was 'out of time' for an identical replacement machine, they had no facilities to run tests on the premises, I'd have to leave it and come back in one week, etc. etc.
This was just unacceptable - less than 50 pages printed, and a third of those were for head cleaning & diagnostics!
One of the lads tried to convince me that their agreement with HP meant that if they took the machine back 'out of time' they would be stuck with it, and that their agreement with their supplier was thus binding on me...
I love insolent young men trying to give me lessons in law.
I came back home, made a couple of calls, sent an e-mail to Hewlett Packard France, client service dept, then had lunch, took my granddaughter back to school, then waited...
Hewlett Packard 'phoned at about three, saying that they were sorry that something had obviously got past Quality Control, their policy is to replace without question within 30 days of purchase - also, during the Xmas period they are prepared to be flexible, especially when they see product registrations made on Xmas day! They gave me a complaint file number, and suggested that I return to Top Office, where there would be an immediate replacement waiting for me.
I did, there was.
But what a surly lot of faces. And the lad who wanted to show the poor English fool that he knew nothing about consumer rights found something to do out in the stock-room.
Moral of the story? In spite of existing legislation on consumer rights, many French shops like to play "call my bluff", it's even part of staff training for some groups.
Don't be fobbed off, don't accept 'we'll take it in for repair'; if it's new and doesn't do the job they said it would do, or has a defect not evident at time of sale (vice caché), and it's less than a month since you bought it, insist politely but firmly that they replace or refund.
They still try to bluff you? Take the article back from them, with all receipts, paperwork, etc, telling them that you will be taking the legal route to obtain satisfaction.
(When I did that this morning, little clever clogs laughed. He who laughs last...)
So it's full marks to Hewlett Packard for their rapid intervention - they've kept a client (and Top Office have lost one...)
Problems, poor image quality, forever using the "clean print heads" cycle, and the second, extra thorough, cleaning cycle, and when it went down again this morning, I took it back to the shop.
Note the name: Top Office in Dinan
The assistants I dealt with tried to suggest that I'd been using it for a month and run out of ink, that in any event it was 'out of time' for an identical replacement machine, they had no facilities to run tests on the premises, I'd have to leave it and come back in one week, etc. etc.
This was just unacceptable - less than 50 pages printed, and a third of those were for head cleaning & diagnostics!
One of the lads tried to convince me that their agreement with HP meant that if they took the machine back 'out of time' they would be stuck with it, and that their agreement with their supplier was thus binding on me...
I love insolent young men trying to give me lessons in law.
I came back home, made a couple of calls, sent an e-mail to Hewlett Packard France, client service dept, then had lunch, took my granddaughter back to school, then waited...
Hewlett Packard 'phoned at about three, saying that they were sorry that something had obviously got past Quality Control, their policy is to replace without question within 30 days of purchase - also, during the Xmas period they are prepared to be flexible, especially when they see product registrations made on Xmas day! They gave me a complaint file number, and suggested that I return to Top Office, where there would be an immediate replacement waiting for me.
I did, there was.
But what a surly lot of faces. And the lad who wanted to show the poor English fool that he knew nothing about consumer rights found something to do out in the stock-room.
Moral of the story? In spite of existing legislation on consumer rights, many French shops like to play "call my bluff", it's even part of staff training for some groups.
Don't be fobbed off, don't accept 'we'll take it in for repair'; if it's new and doesn't do the job they said it would do, or has a defect not evident at time of sale (vice caché), and it's less than a month since you bought it, insist politely but firmly that they replace or refund.
They still try to bluff you? Take the article back from them, with all receipts, paperwork, etc, telling them that you will be taking the legal route to obtain satisfaction.
(When I did that this morning, little clever clogs laughed. He who laughs last...)
So it's full marks to Hewlett Packard for their rapid intervention - they've kept a client (and Top Office have lost one...)
