Sale of Goods Act: Refused cash refund for returned dress

J

jryan

Registered User
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Hi all,

My wife purchased a dress last week. When she took it home she found that the dress did not fit her properly and was cutting into her sides. She returned the dress to the shop earlier today but was point blank refused a cash refund. She had a receipt and all tags were still on the dress. A credit note was offered instead.

I had a quick look at the sale of goods act and you are entitled to a refund if the clothing item is not fit for its purpose. When it come to clothing and sizes etc, there are some clothes that will never fit or fufill there purpose as they cannot be worn comfortably. Has anyone ever sucessfully argued that a clothing item was not fit for its purpose as it was unsuitable for them once given the time to try it on properly and received a cash refund?

Thanks
 
Not fit for purpose presumably means if you buy a kettle and it doesn't boil water.

Clothes shops cannot give cash refunds if someone changes their mind.

The dress is fit for purpose, it's just not fit for your wife.

Brendan
 
No, she did not try on the dress. The shop was busy at the time and she did not get an opportunity.

I agree the fit for its purpose covers the general functionality of the item purchased. However, this can be interpretted a little differently depending on what way you look at it. The overall purpose was that the dress would fit correctly and could be worn comfortably. This was not the case.
 
I don't think you'll get anywhere with this one.

I think the fact that they offered you a credit note is the best you can hope for. The item does as it's supposed to do but unfortunately not for your wife.
 
europhile said:
I can just imagine the response you'd get if you tried this argument in Penneys.
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The beauty of Dunnes, Penneys, M&S, Arnotts and others is that they will give cash refunds once the receipt is produced, all tags are still attached and the item has not been worn.

As mentioned by a previous poster its best to clarify before buying if the item can be returned for a cash refund if it is not suitable.

I've found in the past a lot of the smaller shops won't entertain cash refunds but will offer a credit note.
 
Before buying an article of clothing without trying it on, I would certainly ask what the exchange policy was.
 
jryan said:
I had a quick look at the sale of goods act and you are entitled to a refund if the clothing item is not fit for its purpose.
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Can you confirm which particular section of the Act you got this from? I understood that the consumer rights were generally repair/replace/refund, in that order.

I find most retails get pretty upset when I try on dresses, mind you.
 
JamesGG said:
If there was a small hole in the dress it wouldnt be of merchantable quality :)
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If there was a small hole in the dress it wouldn't be of acceptable quality
for return. That's a great way to ensure that you won't even get the credit note.
 
jryan said:
No, she did not try on the dress. The shop was busy at the time and she did not get an opportunity.

I agree the fit for its purpose covers the general functionality of the item purchased. However, this can be interpretted a little differently depending on what way you look at it. The overall purpose was that the dress would fit correctly and could be worn comfortably. This was not the case.
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But the shop could argue that the dress would fit someone correctly and could be worn comfortably by someone else. I really don't think you have a leg to stand on in this case. By the by - has your wife tried on a bigger size of the dress? It might be a better fit, and then she could use the credit note to buy that instead.
 
Seems to depend on the shop. I've seen both occur. Personally, I would think she should have tried it on first (apparently this is not common practice for women for some unknown reason) and/or checked the refund policy...otherwise you are open to this sort of thing.
 
FLANDERS` said:
Personally, I would think she should have tried it on first (apparently this is not common practice for women for some unknown reason)
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You obviously haven't been in a ladies' changing room recently then (actually, if you're male, I certainly HOPE you haven't been!) There's always a mile-long queue, which is probably why some women take a chance on buying the item without trying it on. I personally always try things on, because sizes vary so much from shop to shop.
 
Celtwytch said:
You obviously haven't been in a ladies' changing room recently then (actually, if you're male, I certainly HOPE you haven't been!) There's always a mile-long queue, which is probably why some women take a chance on buying the item without trying it on. I personally always try things on, because sizes vary so much from shop to shop.
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I absolutely hate womens changing rooms. Either they are the awful communal ones where everyone gets to see your flabby bits that you usually hide in clothes, or you get stuck getting into/out of something that is sized as a 12 but upon trying to get the waistband up over your hips you realise they must have meant AGE 12 cos it sure aint size 12.

The non communal ones are just as bad, kids poking their heads under the curtain and gawping up at you in your skivvies, a lot of them are way overheated so you end up sweating like mad, there is often not enough room to get undressed and redressed without your bum swinging out through the curtain for all to see.

Add to this one I ventured into last saturday that stank to high heaven of urine and BO. Yes, not pleasant places womens changing rooms.
 
You don;t have a hope - shops have no obligation to accept a return just because it doesn't fit.

Obviously to suggest a larger size would be insentitive.....gym memebership would be far more subtle !!
 
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