Maybe1day

Just under 10 weeks ago I bought a pair of shoes from Carrefour, Los Patios in Malaga. A few days ago I noticed that the soles had cracked on both shoes.
I took them back on Saturday and asked for my money back etc or whatever.
I was told that they were not prepared to do anything because it was over a month since I bought them. The shoes are obviously defective, they have been worn very few times and look new.
Is this normal, does anyone know what the consumers rights are in regard to this?

chopera

You can ask for an "hoja de reclamación" anywhere - by law any retail outlet/restaurant/etc has to provide one. However I doubt whether you are within your rights to return a pair of shoes after over a month - they have to draw a line somewhere to stop people from exploiting return policies. It sounds like the problem is with the shoe manufacturer rather than the shop.

Having said that, I did once return a pair of trousers to El Corte Inglés after over month, but then again you pay a premium with them for that level of service. We bought a cheap pushchair from a Carrefour in Madrid last summer, it broke within a week, but they immediately refunded us. In a way we were lucky it broke so soon so we could get a refund (we then went and bought a McClaren for 3 times the money but with a 2 year guarantee).

Fred James

If they are faulty, under EU warranty law, you have six months to return them. The fault will be assumed to have been there at the time of sale and they must exchange, refund or repair the item. After the first 6 months you have another 18 months warranty, but it is up to you to prove that the fault was present at the time of purchase.

The Carrefour 30 day rule is not really related to warranty, it is a form of exchange with no questions asked - many shops do this and then fob you off it is outside the 30 days.

As has been suggested, the complains book usually it gets a proper response.

Longlegpete

As with most retail outlets you get people that abuse the system so shops don't always act as they should.
With most cases like this, if the shop says no then you have the task of pursuing your case and in a lot of cases you have to ask yourself is it worth it?. Maybe just better to vote with your feet.

When i first got a place in Spain i was prepared for lots of agro with shops as i had read about the poor customer service, the reality for me has been nothing like that, In fact once i had to return a smashed light fitting that i had in the box but hadn't put up due to being in the UK some 2 months later, lady exchange it no problems

amideislas

"Customer Service" I have to admit, has improved radically in the past decade. It used to be virtually nonexistent, which no doubt explains much of the stereotype.

Still, I am unclear why retailers fear this "hoja de reclamación" so much (although it's great that they do). Seems to me they could simply rip it up the moment you leave the building.

Fred James

The complaint form is in triplicate. After you have completed it, you keep two of the copies. One is for you to keep and the other you send to the local consumer office. The shop keeps one copy.

There is no way the shop can ignore it, unless you fail to send off the form.

More info here

¿Cómo puedo presentar una hoja de reclamaciones? - Organización de Consumidores - CEACCU

amideislas

Thanks, Fred. I've never used that facility, so I wouldn't have known. Good to know though.

missile

Carrefour is not my favourite shop. "Stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap"
Much like as in the UK, you need to shop at a better retailer if you want better after sales service.

VFR

+1

amideislas

Yeah, maybe. But somehow find it hard to justify paying double for the same TV at another place to spare me from the unlikelihood of having to bring it back a year later, and suffering all the same "bureaucracy" fighting their attempts to invalidate any warranty.

Just as a side note, about a year ago, I bought a cheap tablet on sale at Carrefour (€69). It didn't work right out of the box. They immediately replaced it - no questions asked. OK, no problem, here you go... Have a nice day. It's worked ever since...

Maybe1day

This is not after sales service, this is a defective product, ie the fault of the manufacturer. The face of the manufacturer to us is the shopkeeper of whatever size they may be.
Later in the week I will go through the official complaints procedure, once before I did it. They refused to give me the form until I said I would call the police, but I didn't know I had to do something with one of the copies and I never heard anymore about it. Anyway it is a matter of principle now.

missile

No argument from me. You are entitled to a refund and good luck getting it.
The point I was trying to make is that it is so much easier when dealing with a quality retailer.

Fred James

Carrefour have a poor reputation for this sort of thing. They think their 30 day, no arguments, offer is all they need to do, and to be fair, most problems get solved within this timeframe and they are actually giving away more than the law requires.

When it passes 30 days, their staff just tells you to go away as they don't seem to know that they have some obligations under Spanish and EU warranty law.

Worten is another example of this sort of attitude - I have seen so many examples of this that I would never consider buying from them.

I buy most items online and the returns policies seem much better. I recently bought a small (less than €10) item from Amazon, it was not what I wanted and I went through the returns procedure. The amount was credited within one minute and they said to not bother to return it!

Maybe1day

Interesting we bought a deep fryer from Worten, after 4 months it packed up, I asked what to do, return the Electrical part or the lot, they said the lot.
4 weeks later I got a call to come and get it. They had replaced the electrical part.
As for Amazon Spain, we bought a Doogee phone within less than a month the battery started to swell, we were told to contact Doogee. Doogee said that the batteries would arrive shortly, after 4 weeks or so we got a mail saying they had not arrived and they would inform us when they arrived. we heard nothing and they did not reply to my mail either. we bought a battery elsewhere for 10 Euros original and it has been fine. The phone has a problem with an over sensitive screen otherwise it is very good. But I would not buy a Doogee product or anything of value from Amazon.es. I bought a watch from Amazon UK 4 years ago when I was in Austria and the service speed etc was excellent as was the product.

Maybe1day

This was around a month later, good job it wasn't in the phone.