doctor scrumpy

K-Mart are troublesome. I purchased a 3 cd pack of British 60s hits. Turned out that 2 of the cds were the same recordings & were of country & western music. I took it back and was told I had opened them and therefore it was now my problem no theirs. Now how would I know that the product was faulty unless I opened it ? In the end I rang the customer service number and they not only refunded me my money, they sent me a $ 10 gift voucher too.

AdobePinon

I think the difference is that here in the US they don't argue with you when you take something back. In Britain it's all about knowing the law and adding the necessary expletives to emphasize your right to a refund.

TRPardoe

If you are a serial returner in one store, for instance Office Depot or Best Buy, and are tracked as "buying" a digital camera around Xmas every year and then returning it after Xmas you shouldn't be surprised if they catch on.

If you genuinely buy something that turns out to be the wrong thing/not what you expected/faulty. Of course you should take it back. UK reticence about that sort of thing is plain silly.

When we lived in Manhattan my wife would routinely get 6 pairs of shoes at Lord & Taylor, take them home to try on with different clothes and then take back the 4 or 5 pairs she didn't want. No problem.

Franklin

What you experienced is called a “latent defect�. If the buyer could not reasonably know of the latent defect the seller is obliged to make good the defect, if the defect was visible without opening the package your supplier might have a point, but if the latent defect was only detectable upon opening the package (as in your case, it is a fact intensive/case-by-case analysis) then you are entitled to an appropriate legal remedy, e.g., replacement of the goods, and replacement of the defective parts thereof.

The Uniform Commercial Code, whole chunks of which I committed to memory to pass the Bar, covers it. If I recall correctly, the issue of latent defect issue is partly considered in the annotated version of the UCC (the one with footnotes).

I had a similar experience and sent the goods back with a memo pointing out the latent defect and the supplier’s obligations under the UCC (as it happens the sale was in Illinois and Illinois had at that time incorporated the UCC lock stock and barrel into state statute). Most states have done the same, Louisiana of course being the exception (at that time, Louisiana of today might have enacted or incorporated the UCC into its state law).