Barretts exchanges - doesn't seem right

ash23

My father bought my daughter a pair of skechers in Barretts Newry for £32 pounds. He paid on his credit card and gave them to her as a gift.
Unfortunately due to a growth spurt she has gone up a shoe size and he was unaware.
I brought the shoes back to Barretts in Galway. They had the exact same runners in the correct size and were fine with changing them. However, because they were bought in Newry and were £32 and the ones in Galway store (same shoes) were €55, I had to pay the difference of €23 to exchange them!!
By that logic they have the exact same shoes to sell at €55 as they gave to me, but get an extra €23 out of a customer aswell.
I did initially tell them to leave it but she kindly pointed out that the 28 day period for exchange had expired and i wouldn't be able to change them. She offered a refund but as my dad paid on his credit card and I don't have a credit card, she couldn't. So I had to suck it up and pay the difference.

Now, I've bought stuff online in sterling and changed it in stores before in ROI and never ever had to pay the difference between the two once it was the same item.
Feel totally ripped off, like both of us paid for the same pair of shoes. I'm raging.
I would never pay €55 for a pair of shoes but they were a gift and she loved them. My dad was disgusted also.
I wrote a stinker of a complaint letter but just wonder is this practice right? i've never encountered it before.

Cabaal

To be honest as much as it sucks that more money had to be paid they were doing you a favor.

- A change of mind isn't a valid reason for a return (wrong size is counted as this as it isn't their fault)
- The purchase wasn't even in the ROI
- The purchase was with another party (your father) so no contract existed with you
- The purchase was outside of the 28 day return window they allowed (they don't need to offer this by law).

Certainly I'd write a letter to complaint about the difference you were asked to pay as you have nothing to loose by doing this, but it is very much worth keeping in mind the above. Don't go over the top, keep the complaint logical and even tempered and you should get further then loosing your head imho.

They would have been well within their rights to advise you no exchange was possible and you'd have to pay the full 55e.

Corruptedmorals

It certainly isn't good customer service and will encourage you to shop elsewhere. You could very well get a voucher or something out of it if you complain to head office- it's worth doing. As pointed out though, you can argue nothing about rights. They had the right to tell you to go away. It still counts as a change of mind which is not covered under any consumer rights laws. On top of that you have the fact that it was purchased in a different country with a different currency. Most retailers would allow you an exchange but would be iffy about a full refund. They really should have allowed you do that- that is really bad store practice.

ash23

Oh I know consumer law and exchanges etc and that legally I'm not entitled to an exchange. However before my father bought them he checked whether they could be exchanged in ROI and was advised no problem. He would have bought them elsewhere if that wasn't possible.
When I say I wrote a stinker of an email, I don't mean that I ranted or anything. I work in customer service so I know what to avoid to make sure I don't come across as irrational! My issue is with being asked to pay the difference.

I just wasn't sure if this was the norm in relation to exchange between NI and ROI.
Thanks for the responses. It does seem poor customer service. Sure I'll wait and see what their response is.

OrangeDaisy

Did they not even offer to convert the sterling into euro? It seems a bit mean that they only gave you 32 euro towards the shoes when obviously 32 sterling was more? I used to work in a shop that had branches in northern Ireland and we used to convert the sterling amount into euro first if we were doing an exchange or refund

ash23

OrangeDaisy wrote: »

Did they not even offer to convert the sterling into euro? It seems a bit mean that they only gave you 32 euro towards the shoes when obviously 32 sterling was more? I used to work in a shop that had branches in northern Ireland and we used to convert the sterling amount into euro first if we were doing an exchange or refund

That never even occured to me. I feel even more ripped off now!

So the shop in Newry got £32 for the shoes or roughly €37 and then Galway got an additional €23 from me so we paid €60 between us for shoes that retail at €37 in Newry and €55 in ROI.
Sickened.
:mad:

efb

What were the sizes in question?

ash23

Childs size two to a childs size 3. Both the same price in store as they had both a 2 and 3 on display at the same price.

OrangeDaisy

ash23 wrote: »

Childs size two to a childs size 3. Both the same price in store as they had both a 2 and 3 on display at the same price.

That really isn't fair. I'd go back in and ask to speak to the manager and explain what happened

ash23

OrangeDaisy wrote: »

That really isn't fair. I'd go back in and ask to speak to the manager and explain what happened

Not that simple because I'm over an hour from Galway city. I drove down specifically to exchange them

I'm actually going to write a letter and post by snail mail to head office and to the Galway branch. I did email on their website but I emailed them two weeks ago to ask about exchange procedure for this item before I drove down and they never replied so I might be as well off to write an actual letter.

Cabaal

Def write a letter instead of emailing and also send it registered mail

ash23

Yay! got an email from Customer Service in Barratts apologising and saying in no way should I have been charged extra for an exchange. They are broaching the issue with staff to make sure they know procedure and are sending me a cheque for the amount I was overcharged. They also gave me a 20% discount on my next online order and free delivery.
I emailed back complimenting them on their prompt and efficient customer service and thanked them for the resolution of the problem.
Well done Barratts, customer service on a Sunday. it's a rare thing!

Cabaal

Very reasonable response from them, glad it ended well