Question regarding return of mobile internet dongle

Tusky

Just returned a mobile internet dongle to Meteor after 12 days. I bought it for work and only need to use it in one place (in Dublin city center) as I already have internet at home and on my mobile.

So when I tried to use it it didnt work. Just wouldnt connect to the internet. A colleague was using a vodafone one in the same room which worked fine.

So today I brought it back and after a lengthy argument with two staff members and finally the manager, I got my refund.

I argued that I was well within my rights to return it after 12 days, despite their store polocy, considering it didn't work - they denied this was the case. Out of curiosity I just want to know if I was in the right.

Their argument:

7 day return policy (they say they told me about this at purchase but I don't remember it)

My argument:

*I had been working non stop since buying the thing and this was first chance to return

*It is totally useless to me as it doesn't work, and I now have to buy a vodafone dongle

*7 days may well be store policy, but it is irrelevant and I am within my rights to return it after 12 considering it doesn't work

*It is advertised as 'internet anywhere' but doesn't work in Dublin city centre?

Any thoughts ?

Max Power 2010

Was it Prepay or Billpay?

As far as I know these come with a cooling off period (Billpay anyway), maybe with pre you have 7 days, not sure.

Within 28 days of purchase you are entitled under consumer law to one of the 3 R's, but it doesn't cover Change of Mind.

If it is Prepay you had 7 days to figure out if it works for you or not, after that your on your own as there is no fault or contract signed.

Did you call Tech Support? Normally with dongles if one operator has been previosly installed it causes conflicts in Windows as Dongles are all made by the same manufacturer, so some install/unistall work needs to be done.

Anyone near you on meteor that has 3g coverage?

Did the Dongle software install?

If so, did you do an operator search?

If its a work laptop, admin rights?

Sorry for the questions, but I didnt get the impression you put effort into getting it to work, meteor have full 3G coverage in Dublin these days, especially City Centre.

cookie1977

No you were within your rights as it should work but if it cant offer a service then it's not your fault although you might have had to give them some time to get it working rather then just an immediate refund, so you did do well there. Individual Companies themselves offer certain cooling off periods but the law is that for distance selling(on your door step or internet) you have 7 days cooling off period, which is not the case here. Anyway at least you got it sorted quickly. Make sure you cancel your direct debit if you have one

Nody

Tusky wrote: »

*I had been working non stop since buying the thing and this was first chance to return

Not relevant; you need to advice the vendor when it stops works (i.e. call their support line) and not wait until you feel you can drop by.

*It is totally useless to me as it doesn't work, and I now have to buy a vodafone dongle

It's use or disuse to you is not relevant if the product works in a reasonable and intended way (i.e. if you wanted to download 100GB a day on it but it can't handle the speed it is still working as intended). This would tie in with the above though as it may have been a known white spot and/or configuration issue to resolve the usage.

*7 days may well be store policy, but it is irrelevant and I am within my rights to return it after 12 considering it doesn't work

Correct but still the 3R issue, they can offer a repair or replacement as well and be with in the law.

*It is advertised as 'internet anywhere' but doesn't work in Dublin city centre?

And UPC advertised unlimited download which was not true (i.e. ToS with unspecified enforceable limit); advertisement does not equal exact performance of product.

Tusky

Nody wrote: »

Not relevant; you need to advice the vendor when it stops works (i.e. call their support line) and not wait until you feel you can drop by.

I tested it at home and it was ok. In work it never worked once.

It's use or disuse to you is not relevant if the product works in a reasonable and intended way (i.e. if you wanted to download 100GB a day on it but it can't handle the speed it is still working as intended). This would tie in with the above though as it may have been a known white spot and/or configuration issue to resolve the usage.

Well it was bought to be used as a mobile internet device in Dublin city. It didnt work to this purpose so I don't believe it works in a 'reasonable intended way'.

Correct but still the 3R issue, they can offer a repair or replacement as well and be with in the law.

I was not offered a repair or replacement or anything else. I was just flatout refused a refund. I may have accepted that but I dont believe that would have made a difference anyway as I subsequently found out that others had had problems with meteor dongles in work.

Max Power 2010 wrote: »

Was it Prepay or Billpay?

As far as I know these come with a cooling off period (Billpay anyway), maybe with pre you have 7 days, not sure.

Within 28 days of purchase you are entitled under consumer law to one of the 3 R's, but it doesn't cover Change of Mind.

If it is Prepay you had 7 days to figure out if it works for you or not, after that your on your own as there is no fault or contract signed.

Did you call Tech Support? Normally with dongles if one operator has been previosly installed it causes conflicts in Windows as Dongles are all made by the same manufacturer, so some install/unistall work needs to be done.

Anyone near you on meteor that has 3g coverage?

Did the Dongle software install?

If so, did you do an operator search?

If its a work laptop, admin rights?

Sorry for the questions, but I didnt get the impression you put effort into getting it to work, meteor have full 3G coverage in Dublin these days, especially City Centre.

It was prepay. There were no other dongles installed on my laptop and I'm freelance so there was no admin rights necessary. The software installed fine.

I spoke to two other people who said that they had previously bought meteor dongles which didnt work in this building. They subsequently bought vodafone ones which worked fine.

slimjimmc

Max Power 2010 wrote: »

Within 28 days of purchase you are entitled under consumer law to one of the 3 R's, but it doesn't cover Change of Mind.

Consumer law in Ireland places no time limit on your entitlement to the 3Rs, the 28 day rule does not exist in law.

Max Power 2010

slimjimmc wrote: »

Consumer law in Ireland places no time limit on your entitlement to the 3Rs, the 28 day rule does not exist in law.

I wasn't sure to be honest.

OP did you try Customer Care at any stage? To give them a chance to check it out?

I'm not in any way trying to say you hadn't tried to get it to work but I used to support mobile broadband and a lot of people never inserted the sim, or the Dongle was not supported by Windows 7 etc which is common.

dudara

FYI - I live in Dublin 6, near the Trinity Halls, and it's a well-known Meteor blackspot. I had the mobile dongle while my partner had the Vodafone dongle. Sitting two feet apart on the sofa, but I would have no signal (or perhaps green) while he would have full blue.

I rang Meteor support about it, they didn't even try to fight it and told me to go ahead and cancel the contract.

Tusky

Max Power 2010 wrote: »

I wasn't sure to be honest.

OP did you try Customer Care at any stage? To give them a chance to check it out?

I'm not in any way trying to say you hadn't tried to get it to work but I used to support mobile broadband and a lot of people never inserted the sim, or the Dongle was not supported by Windows 7 etc which is common.

Was gonna try customer care but seeing as others had problems with meteor in that area I didnt bother.

Of course I inserted the sim! I tested it at home and it worked fine.

whippet

Tusky wrote: »

I spoke to two other people who said that they had previously bought meteor dongles which didnt work in this building. They subsequently bought vodafone ones which worked fine.

This is where you may have a problem.

What ever the structure of the building you have is causing you not to be able to access the signal.

My office has a problem towards the back of the building where O2 signal is nonexistent but Vodafone isn't a problem. It is due to the re-enforced nature of the concrete wall.

Meteor can not be responsible for the degradation of service due to building structures.

If you are standing outside the building would you have gotten service?

Tusky

whippet wrote: »

Meteor can not be responsible for the degradation of service due to building structures.

If if rival services work fine? i.e vodafone

Sam Vimes

Tusky wrote: »

whippet wrote: »

Meteor can not be responsible for the degradation of service due to building structures.

If if rival services work fine? i.e vodafone

Even then. No network can or does guarantee coverage in every square inch of the country and they all have their black spots