Asda 2-man tent in 4-man tent packaging

[BankFodder]

Put in writing immediately. Include photographs. Address it to Argos head office and also to the branch from which you purchased it.

Make sure that you include the dimensions of the tent that you bought against the one that should have been supplied.

Tell them that you are making a complaint. Don't give any deadlines but let us know what happens after seven days.

In the meantime, contact your bank and try and make a chargeback. They won't be happy – and let us know what they say. If it is not possible to do the chargeback then after you have sent the letter of complaint, we will probably advise you to begin a tactical claim and we will help you.

What is the value of the tent which you thought you had purchased? Is it still available at the same price or has it gone up.

And as a general piece of advice – never ever buy new equipment and take it into the field without giving it a little test first – but you probably realise that now.

[BankFodder]

You should understand that we aren't interested in any company's policies. They are all self-serving and have nothing to do with their legal obligations under the consumer rights act.

Have you sent the letter of complaint as I advised?

[BankFodder]

Actually all the evidence is that you have exhausted their complaints process and that they will not comply.
I suggest you put in a complaint to your bank.

Meanwhile, don't expect your letter of complaint to have any particular effect. It is simply a first step.

Start drafting a letter of claim giving 14 days before a legal action. Post it here so that we can see.

Register with the MoneyClaim online County Court online system. Get to understand it a bit and get ready to start drafting your claim. Once again you should post a draft of your claim here before clicking it.

Don't imagine that this won't go to the County Court. You obviously dealing with people who take this personally rather than act in a businesslike manner.

Once they get the court papers then they will start to take notice of you.

[BankFodder]

Any donation will be gratefully accepted – but keep some back for yourself.

We'll be very happy with a 10/30 split and in fact that would be very generous given the small amount of money that you are claiming.

You need to make the whole thing worthwhile.

[BankFodder]

Would you prefer cash?

[BankFodder]

Stand by for a suggested response to the letter later on today that is okay with you

[BankFodder]

Quote

Dear Teegan

 

reference number XXX

Thank you for your email and your offer to reimburse me.

I would like to be reimbursed with cash. I'm not interested in having a voucher.

On the basis of what you have said, I shall be visitingto the Asda store at Hulme with the two-man tent which you sold me instead of the four-man tent which I purchased.
I don't have a receipt any more but I shall be arriving with a bank statement showing the sum paid for the purchase. I suggest that you call the store and warn them that I am coming and I don't expect any trouble.
For the avoidance of doubt, if there is any problem, then the timescale in my letter of claim is still running.

I notice that you are involving your technical staff in this matter. I'm afraid to say that this shows very clearly that you really don't understand the problem.

In all likelihood, the reason that the four-man tent box contained a two-man tent is that somebody entered the store and switched them over and pilfered the four-man tent.
However the real issue here is the way that your staff handled this.

Your manager at the Hulme store and without any evidence accused me of having carried out the theft and then of attempting to return for reimbursement for the cheaper product.
Your manager treated me in a brusque and offhand manner and simply walked off when I was trying to explain.
If your manager really believed this, then it was his clear duty to call the police.

Your manager then tried to refer me to the manufacturer rather than accept responsibility as the retailer as he should have done as a matter of good customer-facing practice as well as being a matter of Asda's contractual obligations

Of course I shouldn't have to tell you this and I certainly shouldn't have had to explain it to the manager who should be completely familiar with his responsibilities on behalf of Asda.
It seems that your staff development programme has fallen short – or else the manager didn't attend or didn't pay attention.

This clearly isn't a matter for your technical team. It is a matter for your HR Department which should have at the very least a quiet word with your manager to explain to him his responsibilities in relation to customer complaints and how the matter should have been handled with subtlety and with the reputation of Asda in mind.

I only discovered that you had not supplied me with the four-man tent which you led me to believe I was purchasing when I went on a short holiday and tried to use it.
This caused a substantial disruption of my holiday and a waste of my own resources.

Since then, I have had to go through almost 6 weeks of corresponding with you and arguing the issue to the point where I had to threaten in a letter of claim to bring a small claim in the County Court.
You can be absolute certain that I would one this – although most likely you would have settled rather than have the issue decided at trial.

I am accepting your offer of reimbursement in cash – although this is an obligation on your part and not some gesture of goodwill.

If you want to go some way to making amends, you could also include the £40 eVoucher by way of an apology and compensation for my spoiled holiday and the time I have spent trying to force you to recognise good customer practice and also your contractual obligations. Let's not forget that your manager and the rest of your staff get paid for doing this. I have had to do it for free.

As I have suggested above, you should probably have a word with your HR team rather than your technical team and get them to interview your manager in order to make sure that he understands good customer practice and Asda values.

As I have said above, I shall be returning the tent to your Hulme Asda store on about XXX date.

Please let them know that I am coming.

Yours sincerely

 

 

[BankFodder]

Well done. Please don't worry about the donation. It's not much and you have worked hard for it.

Definitely a good lesson learned. Never travel out on untested equipment – ever.

[BankFodder]

By the way, what is the name of the manager?