CGA and gifts

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mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#248847 12-Apr-2019 17:49

I was given something as a birthday gift a few years ago which has failed, but should be covered by the CGA. However the person who gave it to me has since died, so I have no way for getting the receipt or their bank info to find the transaction. I am not wanting a refund but a repair, but the store is requiring the receipt, as is the manufacturer, even though it could have only been purchased in NZ. Does that generally mean I am out of luck?
Not sure how normal it is to give a receipt with a gift, as normally people don't want to know how much the gift cost.

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

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#2215894 12-Apr-2019 18:01

Can the store not get a copy of the original invoice using the serial number, if it has one?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Tzoi

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2215935 12-Apr-2019 18:12

I imagine it is because the store can't determine if you bought it from them or not (though depending on the item I guess that might not matter), and also whether the CGA warranty might have run out (as they have no evidence of when it might have been bought, though again depending on the item that might not matter).

Serial number is the only other way I can think of off the top of my head though

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#2215939 12-Apr-2019 18:36

CYaBro:

Can the store not get a copy of the original invoice using the serial number, if it has one?

Thanks. I don't think there is any serial number on the product and I don't have the original packaging either.But is is possible there maybe one, but the manufacturer currently has it in for assessment, so I can't check. It is also possible if it has one it has worn off. If it does have one, I would expect they would be able to see the serial on it.

tardtasticx

3075 posts

Uber Geek

#2215942 12-Apr-2019 18:42

What could the manufacturer need a receipt for, they either made it or they didn't.
Possibly they might need to know an idea of when the product was purchased but if they're not entirely stupid they would have ways of tracking a rough idea, like model number x was only made between a and b dates, or batch number y was made c etc

If you can't get the store to find proof of purchase you'll probably have much better luck with manufacturer.

pchs

185 posts

Master Geek

#2215948 12-Apr-2019 18:58

I had a similar issue..

Bought an item which was worth several thousand dollars, "Manufactures Warranty" was 2 years however after 5 years the unit's main circuit board failed and they wanted around 60% of the original cost to replace.

Put in a CGA claim after the normal "its out of our warranty rubbish" they would not budge without a receipt which I could not find and I could not find the original statement which I think i bought on a card I no longer have. The retailer and manufacturer said they could not look up the item from the serial number as they did not keep that record.

Anyway - took it to the disputes tribunal, the arbitrator slammed them being a large corporate and not having electronic records to look up serial numbers, also slammed them for not understanding the CGA. was a very big overseas brand, and now its published on the Disputes Tribunal page which makes them look really bad!

I suggest you let them know that if they don't help out you will look at to take them to the tribunal, and get them to do their homework previous Tribunal cases..

I think alot of retailers seem to think that the CGA is unfair towards the retailer/manufacturer, but at the end of the day its NZ Law, so if they want to sell here they must adhere to their responsibilities!

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#2215958 12-Apr-2019 19:17

tardtasticx:

If you can't get the store to find proof of purchase you'll probably have much better luck with manufacturer.

Thanks, I decided to go direct to the manufacturer, because I didn't have the receipt from the retailer, so the manufacturer currently have the goods for inspection. So it is the manufacturer who are the ones who after assessment, are wanting me to send a receipt from the retailer. It does appear they know the age of it though without me telling them the age. Without a receipt, they have said I would need to pay for it to be repaired. So now they are sending it back unrepaired. The repair cost is about the same as just buying a new one, so looks like I am stuck unless I can get the receipt. I was looking at the CGA and can't find specific mention to needing a receipt, but seems like common practice. I could understand it if I was requesting a refund, so they knew the amount to refund to me, but I was just wanting it repaired, as a significant part failed prematurely and it wasn't durable from normal use. They have said the fault isn't a manufacturing defect, but haven't provided any evidence to prove this, and are ignoring my points about it not being durable enough. So it is not a product or company I would want to spend more money on. So guessing it is a bit of a dead loss unless the retailer steps in, which I doubt they will. Maybe a bit of a lesson to get receipts from the person giving you a pricey gift, although who does that?

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#2215970 12-Apr-2019 19:27

pchs:

I think alot of retailers seem to think that the CGA is unfair towards the retailer/manufacturer, but at the end of the day its NZ Law, so if they want to sell here they must adhere to their responsibilities!

Thanks. I think this manufacturer is a small one. When I tried to assert my points about the product not being durable enough under the CGA, they basically tried to shut it down by basically saying... thanks for your comments, we don't consider this a manufacturing fault, you don't have a receipt, and have sent the product back to you. No reply to any of the questions or points I had made. They basically don't want to know. If I had a receipt, I think I would still have problems getting them to fix it under the CGA, as it seems they just aren't interested. So it is probably a write off.

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pchs

185 posts

Master Geek

#2215981 12-Apr-2019 19:34

mattwnz:

pchs:

I think alot of retailers seem to think that the CGA is unfair towards the retailer/manufacturer, but at the end of the day its NZ Law, so if they want to sell here they must adhere to their responsibilities!

Thanks. I think this manufacturer is a small one. When I tried to assert my points about the product not being durable enough under the CGA, they basically tried to shut it down by basically saying... thanks for your comments, we don't consider this a manufacturing fault, you don't have a receipt, and have sent the product back to you. No reply to any of the questions or points I had made. They basically don't want to know. If I had a receipt, I think I would still have problems getting them to fix it under the CGA, as it seems they just aren't interested. So it is probably a write off.

How about you go back to them and ask them for the contact person and address to serve your pending Disputes Tribunal hearing notice too, and state that the claim will be breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act, that might get some action on them. Company's want to avoid this like the plague as it sucks up a lot of their time and resources.

CYaBro

4582 posts

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#2215996 12-Apr-2019 20:05

pchs:

mattwnz:

pchs:

I think alot of retailers seem to think that the CGA is unfair towards the retailer/manufacturer, but at the end of the day its NZ Law, so if they want to sell here they must adhere to their responsibilities!

Thanks. I think this manufacturer is a small one. When I tried to assert my points about the product not being durable enough under the CGA, they basically tried to shut it down by basically saying... thanks for your comments, we don't consider this a manufacturing fault, you don't have a receipt, and have sent the product back to you. No reply to any of the questions or points I had made. They basically don't want to know. If I had a receipt, I think I would still have problems getting them to fix it under the CGA, as it seems they just aren't interested. So it is probably a write off.

How about you go back to them and ask them for the contact person and address to serve your pending Disputes Tribunal hearing notice too, and state that the claim will be breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act, that might get some action on them. Company's want to avoid this like the plague as it sucks up a lot of their time and resources.

You can't say that for sure as we have no idea what this product is or what it's value is.

And I can see the point about needing a receipt because what if it was stolen?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.