Snowboard Club UK (SCUK) :: View topic - should I expect better after sale support?

Snowboard Club UK (SCUK)

Equipment and Media - should I expect better after sale support?

jimrut - Mar 11, 2010 - 05:29 PM
Post subject: should I expect better after sale support?

I have changed the retailers names as I am ever hopeful someone may decided I have been unfairly treated and decide to help me.

Have a read and see what you think.

Dear 32

I am contacting you regarding a problem I have with a pair of your snowboarding boots. I bought the pair of 09 size UK8 Boa Lock boots at the beginning of September in the out of season sale from a large UK retailer called @@#%. The boots came, I gave them a quick try on, they felt ok considering I had wearing flip flops for most of that month and put them away for the trip I had booked this February.

The problem started when I tried to match them up with my bindings two days before I went on holiday. The bindings are size medium Burton Missions, which I thought would fit fine with the size 8 32 boots. I could not get the heel in the cup properly and the toe strap would barely fit over the toe of the boot. In a panic I went and bought a new pair of Ride bindings size xl from a local retailer (planet board zone) at a cost of £85.

While on holiday we decided to have a good look at the boots because myself and a friend could not understand why they would not fit the Mission bindings. This is what I found.

The receipt from the shop clearly states they are size UK8
The orange 32 label in the boots shows size UK8

This is were it gets interesting

The boot liner shows size 9
The boot label showing UK size 8 has started to come away revealing another label underneath showing Uk size 9.5

I have taken photos of all the evidence and sent it to @@#%.
They contacted and told me that they can’t do anything because the boots have been worn and will only offer a 50% refund as a good will gesture. They told me to contact Sole Technology who are the UK 32 retailer, who would be able to help me further.
I have contacted sole Technology who have told me that it isn’t their problem and that they are unwilling to help.

I have now contacted you directly because I do not know who else to to?
I don’t understand why @@#% and sole Technologies are not taking this problem more seriously? I have a receipt for a pair is size 8 boots, a box for UK size 8 boots, size UK 9.5 boots with a size UK 8 label over a UK 9.5 label, with a size 9 liner.

I would be extremely interested to know if 32 thinks this is a serious problem?
Yours sincerely
James Rutter

I have now been waiting a week for a reply.

Is just me or does anyone else feel I have been unfairly treated?

RickBower - Mar 11, 2010 - 05:53 PM
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I dont think thats very good at all mate.

Quite simply, if you dont have any luck contact trading standards and ask them to help.

Once you have done this you will get a responce from the store as your purchase contract is with the person you paid your money to. They will (or should) sh*t themselves when trading standards get in touch and if they have a brain will sort this out before it goes too far!

If they have mis sold you something (basically lied) then I am sure trading standards would be interested to look into what happened.

If they havent lied and its just a strange mistake somewhere in the line then your contract is still with the store and they need to sort this out for you.

FunkyMunky - Mar 11, 2010 - 05:59 PM
Post subject: RE: should I expect better after sale support?

Feel for u with that one mate. Could be a genuine "mistake" on the assembly line or it could be someone at @@#% playing dirty. Whilst I think you've got every right to be annoyed (and I'd kick off about it too) they may well say that seeing as how its been 5 months since you bought them you've effectively accepted the delivery as being correct and now its your problem.

I'd check out the law on distance selling (i.e. mail order / internet) and see how you stand from that end

Good luck!

boarder4life - Mar 11, 2010 - 06:11 PM
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Hey dude

My girlfriend had the exact same problem with some boa dc's. They were a size 7 but they would not fit size medium bindings up to the size of 8. There would be bad toe drag and she had to sell them on ebay in the end. They were definatly a size 7 because my toes were squashed.
Luckly we bought her bindings from subvert and they did her a deal on a new set of boots because of this.

To be honest i think its the boa design which does it with them being wider and a little bigger. Kinda sh1t really, why should you have to change your set up because of a pair of boots doesnt make sense.

Hope the trading standards option helps you

ChasKi - Mar 11, 2010 - 06:37 PM
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That's gash mate.

Hopefully 32 will hook you up.. even if it's not directly their problem!

R1ch - Mar 12, 2010 - 11:01 AM
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I'm kind of surprised they don't fit your bindings though...

I've used 32's in a size 10 (bigger than you) in Burton P1 & Cartel medium size bindings just fine.

ace_mcgraw - Mar 12, 2010 - 11:10 AM
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I'm no legal expert, in fact I have no clue. But if you look at it from the other way round, they sent you a product, you tried it on, said it was fine. Took it away on holiday 5/6 monhts later, wore the boots for that week, etc etc. I think that they offered you 50% refund is extremely generous. I must admit the first thing I'd do is put my boots on, check their fit, then clip into my board just to check everything was cool.

I think if you'd have pointed this out within the normal time for returns and without having worn them then you may have got a full refund.

Anyways, good luck, but don't be too surprised if they say "Well you accepted them..."

SnowAndrew - Mar 12, 2010 - 11:14 AM
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I guess the first question is are the boots a good fit for your feet. Because if they do then you can't really complain about the size of the boots as that must be the size you needed.

yellowlala - Mar 12, 2010 - 11:17 AM
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Just that you've left it wayyy too long to bring the problem up. And how come you didn't try the boots in the bindings before you even put your feets in them? Not all brands are going to match up if they're not the same manufacturer.

Hope that 32 view your case with some sympathy but, just because of the length of time from purchase I can see they don't really have to.

When I'm trying boots on in store I always bring my set up with me to test them on the binders...if i'd bought online would have tried them at home right away. Hindsight is a wondrous thing I guess.

Good luck.

jimrut - Mar 12, 2010 - 05:13 PM
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thank you for your opinions. Guess the lesson to be learnt is don't take it for granted that what is printed on the box and boot is actually what you are buying and always check your boots match up with your bindings.
I'm still a bit pi$$ed off that the boots have size 8 labels stuck over the 9.5

Anyone want to buy a pair of 32 Boa lock size 9.5?

figureitout - Mar 12, 2010 - 05:31 PM
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I'm confused - do the boots fit your feet or not?

If they fit, then the problem is that you didn't check them with your bindings. As others have said, you need to do this and it's unfortunate that you didn't.

If they don't fit, then I would say you have more of an argument as you bought an 8 and were sent a 9.5 (albeit 5 months ago). And wouldn't that mean that they haven't been worn hardly at all? I know I couldn't ride in boots a size and a half too big.

Whether you'll get any response will be interesting to see - I have known Burton to fall over themselves to help people replace dodgy kit, or even kit they have broken, but I have also known Bonfire to be useless and unhelpful with substandard clothing. Please let us know if you hear!

jimrut - Mar 12, 2010 - 07:12 PM
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after a couple of days of riding i found they don't really fit that well. It was the end of the summer and I hadn't worn shoes for months so the boots did feel comfortable, as comfortable as snowboard boots do.

My grumble is more to do with the fact that I paid for size uk 8 boots, i have a receipt for size uk 8 boots, and a box for size uk 8 boots, but the boots are size uk 9.5 with a size uk 8 label stuck over the size 9.5 label with a size 9 liner. that cant be good, can it?

yellowlala - Mar 12, 2010 - 07:26 PM
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jimrut wrote:

You need to ask about that but, try not to presume. The original label (the one underneath) may have been incorrect and the label replacing it correct. Could easily have been mislabelled at the factory.

Let 32 investigate and respond. No point speculating, the 32 guys are generally really on the ball and I'd be really surprised if you don't get a sensible response.

Don't forget to update on your progress. And good luck.

jimrut - Mar 12, 2010 - 07:43 PM
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I always try to be optimistic but I dont think 32 are interested. I sent the email to 32 HQ a week but received a message from the uk distributer explaining that they had already spoke to me and are not interested in helping any further. The boots are definitely not a uk 8 because we are a large snowboarding family with two pairs of size 9's (Burton and DC) and the 32 are longer than both pairs. will send the email a few more times and keep you updated. wish i could post the photos to show you the labels but can't work out how to do it.

ChasKi - Mar 12, 2010 - 10:32 PM
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jimrut:

To post photos, first upload them to: http://imageshack.us

Then, copy and paste the 'direct link' address to your post,

then wrap it like this: [img]http://imageshack.us/yourimage.jpg[/*img]

Remove the * to make it work, I put it there to show you how it works.

adverse - Mar 13, 2010 - 01:14 PM
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Whether they fit you or not, and thus are the correct size for you or not, you do have an argument to say that you were deceived over the stated size of them. If you're led to believe they are a particular size this impacts your decision to purchase them because you have to consider the sizes your bindings can accomodate. Believing they are a specific size, and therefore will fit your bindings, can be argued is part of the purchasing decision, not just whether they fit (as 'fit' is entirely subjective).

I guess the first thing you need to do is have some proof of exactly what size they are - get the actual measurements of the sizes from 32 and see how your boots compare. If they are indeed a larger size than stated, and the actual size has been hidden, you may have a case under the Sale of Goods Act and Trading Standards may well be able to help you with your case. Or perhaps try Citizen's Advice for help.

However, the fact you have taken so long to figure this out, and have worn the boots beyond just trying them out, weakens your case considerably. I can't remember the Sale of Goods Act specifically but it does place time limits on acceptance, and the rules are slightly different for mail order items. 6 months is ringing a bell for some reason......like 6 months is a reasonable amount of time after initial purchase for you to decide there is a problem, or for the perceived problem to potentially be of some other origin than a manufacturing defect etc. Though if the deception is as blatant and you think it might be, then you just never know, it may bring in other cases of law beyond Sale of Goods.

fra3er - Mar 13, 2010 - 03:30 PM
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get trading standards involved asap. It wont matter how long u have had them for, if they can decieve you who else are they deceiving. 32 wouldnt stick a sticker over a sticker, that will be the shops doing to sell them. It costs them more to stick a sticker over than just sell them as wrongly marked. Hope you get it sorted.

philw - Mar 14, 2010 - 08:36 PM
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My advice of course is worth what you paid for it and my liability similarly limited.

I'm not sure what "trading standards" is, but you'd probably be more concerned with the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) or the Consumer Protection Act. The problem I would say is that it sounds like you may have accepted the goods, which basically screws your case.

Locking the door after the horse has bolted...
It's really, really a bad idea to buy stuff you've not ridden, and buying boots when you can't go straight out and ride them is, well, not advisable in my view. Standing in your gear at home or riding it on a small uk slope is probably not enough - you should buy the gear at a resort, then ride it immediately. If it's not right, then they can fix it or swap it immediately.
The consumer rush people get from paying over the odds for gear in the UK has its consequences.

That said, I think the supplier is behaving very poorly if they sold you something which by definition was not suitable for purpose (it was clearly the wrong size, therefore not fit). Whilst your acceptance (failure to complain for a long time) of the goods doesn't help, they sold them in the summer so there's no way you could sensibly check them out - that's a risk which I'd argue you both share, selling/buying in summer in a snowless country.

So I'd first try to talk to someone senior in the shop and see if you can get them to negotiate. At worst they don't need to make a profit from your problems. They charge punters a lot for boots but in the business they're worth nothing so they can sort it if they want to.

If that doesn't work, then if you can be bothered (I always can), then find your local CAB and take some free legal advice. If you do have a case, they'll tell you. Then warn the shop, file the papers, and they'll settle out of court - it never fails (if you have a case).

jimrut - Mar 14, 2010 - 09:39 PM
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jimrut - Mar 14, 2010 - 09:40 PM
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ChasKi - Mar 15, 2010 - 12:23 AM
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would prolly have helped if you only ripped the UK size off one of them Razz