Getting a Refund with receipt

Noffles

My wife purchased some school books this morning but while she bought them our son also picked the same books up at the school through a second hand scheme.

When she tried to return them they have stated that we can't return them...

Now we have a receipt, it was within an hour of purchasing and we have a very good reason to return.

Where do we stand here?

Paulw

Since there is nothing wrong with the books, they are within their rights not to refund you.

RangeR

Noffles wrote: »

My wife purchased some school books this morning but while she bought them our son also picked the same books up at the school through a second hand scheme.

When she tried to return them they have stated that we can't return them...

Now we have a receipt, it was within an hour of purchasing and we have a very good reason to return.

Where do we stand here?

Shop are absolutely not obliged to accept return. It's not their fault that your son purchased a set of books. Legally, the shop must accept a return if the goods are faulty and/or not fit for purpose.

They MAY accept a return purely out of good will. However, Realistically, when is the next time you are going to purchase school books from them?

Sorry, legally, you have no leg to stand on.

EDIT : Best she can do is minimise losses but trying to sell them on to someone else.

Noffles

True I've read this while searching through previous threads.... but it can't always be as black and white as that surely?

What does cross my mind though is that in these struggling times what shop is going to give a refund if they don't have to?

This is over a €100 worth of books!!

Welease

Noffles wrote: »

True I've read this while searching through previous threads.... but it can't always be as black and white as that surely?

Yes, it is that black and white... Unless the goods are faulty or not fit for purpose then you do not have a legal right to return them.

Noffles wrote: »

What does cross my mind though is that in these struggling times what shop is going to give a refund if they don't have to?

This is over a €100 worth of books!!

Exactly, and why should they? It's not their fault there was lack of communication in your household.. Yes, it sucks and it was an expensive mistake, but they are hardly the ones at fault.
As has been previously mentioned, maybe you could sell second hand to ones of his class mates to at least recoup some of the value.

Noffles

Is this the same in the UK... or in other countries?

Paulw

Noffles wrote: »

Is this the same in the UK... or in other countries?

Will it make any difference? You bought the books in Ireland (I assume).

As far as I'm aware though, yes, it's the same across Europe.

Noffles

Paulw wrote: »

Will it make any difference? You bought the books in Ireland (I assume).

As far as I'm aware though, yes, it's the same across Europe.

Yep, purchased in Ireland... but it would make a personal difference rather than a physical one.

axer

Noffles wrote: »

Is this the same in the UK... or in other countries?

Yes, it is pretty much the same in all countries. You made a sales contract thus the rules fall under contract law. They honoured their side by giving you the books, you honoured yours by paying for them. The contract has ended (unless a law was broken which includes the books not been of merchantable quality etc but since there seems to be no issue there then the contract has ended).

g'em

Noffles wrote: »

True I've read this while searching through previous threads.... but it can't always be as black and white as that surely?

Sometimes it is. Although I'm genuinely surprised at shops when they don't indulge in these kinds of goodwill gesture - it makes sense, even in these difficult times. If they're schoolbooks and they're in perfect, re-sellable quality, then they will almost certainly get re-sold.

It's more important now than ever before that retails services maintain good customer quality and services to ensure that the people who are spending their cash do so in their store. Bad service means less repeat business. And in teh case of schoolbooks, they get sold to the same family every year for many years - I know that we certainly got all our books from the same store each year for 12+ years b/c the owner made a huge effort to familiarise himself with the local schools' business and it made the whole chore so much easier.

Did you speak to a manager? If not perhaps try and contact them, and calmly explain your situation. Alternatively if you're willing to knock a few quid off the books you should be able to offload them "secondhand" fairly easily.

craichoe

Noffles wrote: »

My wife purchased some school books this morning but while she bought them our son also picked the same books up at the school through a second hand scheme.

When she tried to return them they have stated that we can't return them...

Now we have a receipt, it was within an hour of purchasing and we have a very good reason to return.

Where do we stand here?

Put it this way,

You sell on those books to someone, an hour later they come back to you and say they found them cheaper somewhere else and they want their money back.

What would you do ?

Noffles

It would appear that the shop my wife purchased from has made an exception the the rule and have offered to refund the money for the books.

It's good to see in the responses that we had both sides of the issue, customer and retailer...

dudara

I wouldn't blame the shop for not wanting to refund your wife. The school year has started now and most people have purchased their books. The rush is over for another year. In other words, it is likely that the shop will be left holding the books for a year before they can sell them again (assuming that the books stay current and curricula don't change).

A goodwill gesture can go a long way, but the shop is under no obligations to refund.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

While they don' t have to, I have found in 20 years of buying school books that the shops here always willingly refunded if the books were wrong or we had found them second hand.
Glad you got sorted out.

rubadub

dudara wrote: »

(assuming that the books stay current and curricula don't change)

Thats a good point, I hear they are changing all the time now, pure madness for many subjects.

Lucky to get your money back, I would have expected a credit note at best.

Faith

I work in a shop that sells books and like dudara said, the rush is over now. We're taking most of our stock off the shelves. Secondary school books are changing about every 3 years these days, so it's highly likely that the shop wouldn't be able to sell them on again.

However, it's good to hear that they decided to give you the refund anyway.

noodler

The way editions keep being updated with practically no real chnages bar a worthless chapter here or a change in order content is fairly farcical by the way.

Boggles

How can a history book change every 3 years. :eek:

axer

Boggles wrote: »

How can a history book change every 3 years. :eek:

New revelations like how there were never High Kings of Ireland in Tara.