Rant ASDA Xbox ripoff madness - consumer rights?

Hey guys, nice title eh?

-Yesterday evening I bought an xbox 360 Arcade from ASDA.

-Now the box has a couple of tears but was the last one in stock and a stonking deal, so I bought it anyway.

-Came home from work today and opened it up - a silver drive tray, strange I thought but heyhoe.

-Plugged it in - RROD, hmmm.

-Turned it round - sure enough it's an old pro with a manufacture date of 2006! And the wirless controller is missing!


Clearly some sly ASDA staff member swapped out their old faulty xbox for this new console. I should have checked the contents seeing that the box was ripped, but oddly enough I assumed a new console from a large retailer was a new console from a large retailer.

I intend to return the xbox tomorrow, but can see me running into problems with them asking why it's all open, why some bits are missing, explaining that they obv have some dodgey staff, and why I didn't check it before leaving the store - my question; will this affect my rights in anyway? It better bloody not else I'll be majorly pissed

 

shouldnt do, youve 14 days no questions asked to return it

 

Dude, this country has some of the best consumer rights in the world. Pack that Xbox up, bring it back to Asda and ask for a refund.

A supermarket doesn't expect you to check the contents of every box you buy beforehand. And they're not going to ask you why you didn't check it this time either.

Asda isn't stupid. They know that the type of people they employ (school leavers etc) means that stuff like this will happen from time to time. I'm sure that isn't the first time they've had a dodgy employee switch the contents of electrical boxes.

 

"excuse me sir, it appears one of your staff may have inadvertidly **** in my new toaster"

 

Just don't open the conversation with a complaint about dodgy staff. Or even mention it unless you have to. You have no proof, and the guys behind the counter won't care anyway. Just send an email (or even a snailmail) to the department boss.

 

I used to work for Asda about 8 years ago and at that time they operated a no question refund policy, even on computer games, used underwear and worn clothing. Not sure if they still do but im pretty sure they will refund you.

 

^^^ I work there and they still do

 

excuse me, this underwear I bought has a brown stain in... they came like that, honest.

 

Well, I called to the norwich store and explained the situation.

"sorry sir, we can refund it but not replace it, there's no more stock, the deal ends tomorrow, but hey we can ring Yarmouth and check their stock for you....oh they have 5...take it there and they'll switch it for you! Give me your number and I'll call ahead and let them know the situation, they can contact you if there's any problems"

Fair enough I thought, if there's no stock there's no stock, and at least they sorted something without promting.

So took it back to the Yarmouth store instead only to be told that as I bought it in Norwich it can only be exchanged in Norwich! I explained that they had taken my number etc etc...
"sorry no can do, but I'll tell you what, buy another now, we'll throw in free delivery and you take that one back to Norwich for a refund"

Free delivery, I'm here now!!

"Can't give it to you now sir they're in storage"


So now:
I've paid for 2 consoles,
train tickets,
walked in the rain for 20 minutes to get to the store lugging an xbox around,
and have to still go back to the Norwich store to get a refund
have no xbox and the promise of free delivery

 

Weren't you selling an Xbox on here? Or doesn't that have HDMI or something?

 

Your own fault really.

I would have taken up the Norwich's store offer of a refund. Then travel to the Yarmouth store, with my cash, and bought another one.

That would save all the lugging around and potential communication breakdowns between the two Asdas.

In my personal experience, I've found that 90% of the time, if a large store says "we'll sort it out for you" - they don't. You end up getting lost in the system and forgotten about.

 

Yup my old non falcon non hdmi console.

 

the charming type I see

 

thought you might enjoy my complaint letter to ASDA

Dear sir or madam,

I am writing to you out of utter desperation at my recent experience with two of your stores, please allow me to further elaborate.

I was made aware of a fantastic deal you were currently offering on an Xbox console. An Xbox arcade (usually £99.00) and Fifa 10: World Cup South Africa (Usually £24.99) together as a multibuy saver for £92.00 - a deal for which I was understandably enthusiastic.

I proceeded to your Norwich store on the evening of the 12/07/10, and was met by a lovely lady from the entertainment section, while she was not aware of the deal she was only too happy to get both items for me, scan them through the till and give it a try. Needless to say she was suitably surprised and impressed in equal measure with the result offer price.

Sadly the unit had some tears on the box, however I accepted this as I was informed it was the last one in stock and I did not want to miss out on a superb offer, for which you should be congratulated.

After a long days work I returned home on the 13/07/10 and decided to relax and enjoy my new console; sadly this is where things started to take a turn for the worse.

I opened the box, the console inside had a silver drive tray; for those of you not technologically minded, an Xbox arcade should have a white tray that matches the rest of the console. 'Odd' I thought, but no matter. So I proceeded to plug in the console, at this point I pressed the power button and was met with, what is termed amongst Xbox users as, RROD. This refers to the Red Ring Of Death, a little melodramatic granted, but essentially this indicated that my new console was DOA, pardon my use of acronyms, that's Dead On Arrival. As if these two problems weren't reason enough for concern, upon closer inspection of the packaging I found no wireless controller, in fact, no controller at all. Clearly something was amiss.

My immediate reaction was to call the Norwich branch and explain the situation. I was told that I could bring the unit back for a refund, but that I did indeed have the last unit and no stock remained for exchange. I explained that I'd rather rather have an exchange as a refund would mean missing out on this great deal, which coincidentally is due to end this Thursday (at the time of writing it is Wednesday 14/07/10).

The seemingly helpful young lady at the other end of the phoneline took my details and said that somebody would call me back after checking stock in other local stores. Sure enough, after only 5 minutes, the same polite individual informed me that the Great Yarmouth branch had 5 in stock. Not only that but she would explain the situation, ask for one to be put aside for me and give them my number in case of any problems. Seemingly ASDA have redeemed themselves from an unfortunate situation, but hold your kudos until further notice please.

Once again, after work today (14/07/10), I set out to return the Xbox. Now at this point I should inform you that I do not drive, however I do work in Yarmouth and the store is an acceptable 30 minute walk from my office.

Upon entering the store, a little rain soaked and worse for wear after forgetting just how heavy an Xbox in a huge bag can become after 30 minutes, I headed for the entertainment unit. Sure enough a gentleman there was expecting me and put two and two together no sooner than had I produced the Xbox from the bag; this unfortunately is where ASDA get it all wrong.

He tells me that he cannot exchange the unit as only the store I purchased it at was able to make such an exchange (This being Norwich - whom, let's remember, suggested I come to Yarmouth in the first place). I explained the situation, asked politely to speak to his manager and reaffirmed to the poor chap that I relaised the situation was nothing to do with him and not to worry about it.

I spoke then to the customer services manager, a frightful woman whom essentially accused me of some form of fraud - I have no wish to make an issue of this however so let's move on.

I requested to speak to the store manager and she very kindly and almost immediately took the time to listen to my situation. I explained the situation for a third time, at which point a further manager got involved and I explained the situation for a fourth time; which as you can imagine from the size of this letter took some doing!

The fourth manager was apparently in a position to offer me an apology and claimed that the previous store should never have given the information they did and that the unit HAD to be returned to the Norwich store. He suggested I purchase a second unit from their own store for the same offer price and return the Norwich unit the next day; upon pointing out that this really wasn't helpful and that I'd made the trip especially at my own expense and that it had taken over an hour to get to this point he offered to throw in free delivery. I can't fault the man for trying, but if I had to goto the Norwich store to return the item anyway, then free delivery really was a rather pointless gesture.

I then left the store, feeling a tad bewildered, I had missed my bus home (for which I have a pass) and now had to instead walk further in the rain, carrying a heavy and non-functional console to the nearest train station and pay £5.60 for a train back to Norwich.

To summarize; I have currently paid for two consoles, and only have in my possession a single non-function console and the promise of a new console with 'free delivery'. I've lost a good few hours of my personal time, as staff whom knew of the situation and had my contact details waited for me to make the journey to the store before telling me I shouldn't have bothered. I've spent money on train tickets, only to receive free delivery, which as discussed already, really isn't achieving anything. And to gap it all off still have to go back to the Norwich store to get a refund for the original console.

Finally, I can't help but think my time spent with three managers, one staff member in store, one staff member on the phone and admittedly holding up a rather large customer services que was probably more costly to ASDA in terms of staff wages and tarnished customer service, than simply replacing the £90.00 console.

 

moral of the story:
Both Yarmouth and Norwich are rubbish. Stay in London.

 

cool story bro

 

That letter seems quite condescending when it comes to acronyms and the way you explain stuff for the not "technically minded".....! I'd just say it was dead on arrival with three error lights. Don't forget to point out the manufacture date was wrong too.

 

That's a shame, it was going more for humerous anecdote - as opposed to the meaningless rant format of usual complaints.

 

If you're trying to do the poor CS rep, who has to read that exercise in self-indulgence, a favour - break it all down chronologically into a few bullet points.

He/she will thank you for it.

 

Of course it's self-indulgant, that's really the point isn't it! Some people are far too serious, it's not really a complaint, it's a first person narrative, a peice of story telling, I'm sure they won;t know what to make of it