Right, I've now spoken to Sharp who were very good and have arranged a replacement (swap at the door) on Thursday. Now, if John Lewis/Waitrose published this information rather than implying that they organise ALL returns, this would have been a very straightforward case. I said to the customer services man from Waitrose that had I known there was a possibility of having to organise it myself, I would have called first before traipsing down there, saving everyone a load of aggro. The only continued fly in the ointment is that I noticed (while on the phone to Sharp) that Waitrose sent back the microwave without the turntable! Thankfully, Sharp aren't worried about that.

Well customer services are going to speak to store but it seems only to find out why they can't deal with Sharp direct. I have informed them that Trading Standards are going to 'report' them for the fact that this is not mentioned in Ts & Cs.

Yes, going to phone them now.

Store manager has just called back. They're still insisting I have to deal direct with Sharp. The only concession is that he's going to arrange to have the broken one dropped off. Not impressed.

Blimey that was quick! I'm really surprised too, their reputation is one of the main reasons I bought from them so I am expecting it to be a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line. I am still waiting for call back from Duty Manager (he said to give him an hour to investigate), so hopefully I'll get a satisfactory resolution soon - Edit - I'll give the manager the chance to call back before I escalate

I've spoken to the Duty Manager. He sounded quite surprised when I told him I'd been told to collect it and deal with Sharp myself. He is going to investigate and call me back. I said I'd rather have a refund but understand that outside of 30 days they have to have one chance to repair/replace, but it's only 6 weeks old. He did ask how much it cost so I'm hoping that as it wasn't a mega expensive one (only £65) they will just refund.

Thanks for your responses. I have also phoned Trading Standards who also advised me of the 6 month thing, so I'm going to call the manager now to see what he will do about it. The lady at Trading Standards said it will also be reported that it's not in their Ts & Cs that certain repairs have to be dealt with direct (something about a potential restriction of rights - can't remember the exact term she used). I only bought the blooming thing from there as I thought their customer services were better than a lot of companies!

They're saying that it's outside the 30 days so they can't give me a refund. I've phoned JL technical support (from the number on the guarantee they gave me) and they don't know why the store can't deal with it either.

Hi, I bought a microwave (Sharp) from Waitrose on 26th Feb this year. It has a fault whereby when you close the door sometimes the light doesn't go off and if you then press the top of the microwave it switches itself on (so potentially dangerous). I took it back to Waitrose on Friday. They informed me that as it was outside of the 30 days, they'd have to send it for repair. I wasn't overly happy as I would rather get a refund and get a different make, but I left it with them and they gave me a loan machine. Told me it would take 2-6 weeks. They have just phoned me to say that they're very sorry but they can't deal with Sharp, so I have to go and pick it up, take the loan machine back (10+ mile round trip) and sort it myself. Surely my contract is with Waitrose, not Sharp? What are my rights? I had less hassle from Tesco with a microwave that was almost a year old, they gave me a refund without any quibbles. To be honest, I expected better of Waitrose/John Lewis Group.

I've emailed back the standard 'sod off, it's statute barred' letter (they proved that the email gets through as he responded to my last one). If I don't get an acknowledgement back (as I did last time) I'll follow it up with a post copy. Spoke to my husband and he said he wouldn't bother giving them anything else, just repeat the fact that you're not going to respond. We'll see.

I've had a letter from MacKenzie Hall this morning thanking me for my recent communication (funny, I thought I was emailing Meritforce! ) The letter says: "Could I please ask you to call myself on ...... in order to discuss the matter further. We have placed your account on hold whilst these enquiries are underway and ask for your patience until we can gather the correct information to resolve the matter as quickly as possible" Well, a) sod off, I aint calling you and b) are those two paragraphs not contradicting each other? First asking me to call to discuss and then saying they're gathering information. There is no information to gather, it's not an enforcable debt (if a debt at all). This letter says that the debt is from Barclaycard so I know that is bollox as my Barclaycard account was a) closed with a nil balance and b) not in my maiden name. I'm thinking I'll just send them another email telling them if they contact me again I will do them for harrassment. Should I mention about Barclaycard account being closed and in different name?

Nope, it's Chris Fox, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't exist either.

I'll speak to him later about it (at work until 10pm), see what he thinks. I resent the email to info@meritforce and asked them to forward it on to the right person and have had an acknowledgement of that but nothing direct from them as yet. I noticed, although they're kinda pretending like Meritforce and Mackenzie Hall are 2 different companies, the name of the person to contact at MH is the same name as the person who's signed the MF letter (MF - that seems appropriate initials). And they can't even bloody well spell Doorstop - apparently he is the Dorrstop Collections Manager! Planks. Anyway, thanks for the advice, really been a help. I have to say I felt quite sick when I saw the letter.

And I've just looked through some old paperwork for an old Barclaycard statement (I'm a hoarder!) and it's not even in my maiden name, so if its supposedly a debt with them, why is it in my maiden name? ETA: This letter says the debt is with Cabot Financial Ltd, who seems to be another bunch of scumbags.

Marvellous - the email address on the Meritforce letter bounced!