I filed a claim for a faulty TV to JB High Five through PayPal on 15/5/23.
JB required me to pay the return postage, contrary to the law, $20 to deliver the faulty TV to them. Having returned the item to them at my expense my refund was also denied because I failed to send them the tracking information within a specified time. The 16” TV price is $220. They plan to keep the money.
I am a 90 year old aged pensioner and although I have the tracking information the time limit for sending it had expired.
As is commonly mentioned in the community if it is clearly a failure i don’t see how going past expiry makes any difference. If the product does not meet a, standard are entitled to repair or replacement. A few of the other members are well equated. I hope it gwts sorted out for you. I know it has been mentioned about writing a, formal letter of complaint. I just don’t have access to the information you need.
What is the fault? Is it a ‘major failure’ that cannot be repaired or a ‘minor failure’ that could be repairable? Is it a 16" TV or is that a typo? The smallest TVs on JBHiFi web site this morning appear to be 24". How old is your TV? The make, model and age are relevant for us to place it on the product spectrum regarding reasonable expectations.
As written in numerous topics on the Community, there are many words in the ACL that are undefined requiring negotiation and persuasive research justifying a consumer’s claim. For example a low cost TV from a second tier brand will not have the same ‘rights’ under the ACL as a more expensive premium model from a first tier brand, each reflecting reasonable expectations for their price points and advertising claims. This document is worth reading for your reference.
Choice published reasonable lifetimes of various products including TVs.
My suspicion is if it is more than 3 years old you may need to accept their response. If it is beyond the manufacturer warranty, which is implied, and less than 3 years old you will need to document your rights in writing as if arguing in front of a magistrate who has no information about anything so you need to provide it, citing the problem, why you contend it is covered under the ACL, and explicitly what you want and by when. If the TV is more than 3 years old it may not be repairable as a practical matter and while you have not documented the failure a determination might conclude it provided a reasonable lifetime for its market position and price.
Was your claim for a refund for the TV or as implied for the shipping reimbursement? The relevant text in the ACL is
If the business finds that the product does not have a problem, it can make the consumer pay the collection and inspection costs. To do this, the business must give the consumer a reasonable estimate of these costs before collecting the product.
Note there is no time limit or other conditions included. A possible complication is a 16" TV is a smallish portable device that would normally need to be delivered locally, but if you are remote/distant or not mobile that may be a mitigating factor for how the TV was returned. FWIW it is common for a business to provide prepaid mailing labels for routine returns so all of the background is relevant to ‘what happened’.
The ‘blue’ section of their policy is relevant. The text they publish seems designed to confuse while probably staying within the law.
If you feel your TV should be covered contact JBHiFi citing your rights under Australian Consumer Law as it is written, quoting the relevant clauses and reiterating that there are no explicit time limits set out. JBHiFi states their time limits but makes it unclear their time limits are their view not necessarily a legal position that will stand against the ACL.
If you are mobile and near a shop review your rights and the document I linked above, and then go in and speak with the manager or if not mobile ring them.
I hope this has been helpful. Please let us know how you go.
It isn’t contrary to the law to ask a customer to pay postage for a returned item. However…
If a consumer collected the TV from a store, it is reasonably expected that a consumer can return it to the retailer when a fault occurs. If the goods are large and/or heavy, then a retailer should pay for any shipping costs as it is unreasonable to expect a consumer to move large/heavy items. A 16" TV would not be considered large or heavy.
If the fault was found to be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty or consumer guarantee after inspection, JB would be responsible for reimbursing the postage costs. This assumes postage was the way to practicably return the TV to JB (such as it was bought online and it was not convenient to return it to the nearest store) and JB agreed to its return by this method.
If the fault sits outside the manufacturer’s warranty or consumer guarantee, then postage costs will be your responsibility.
I covered postage/freight cost responsibilities here:
However you state:
This isn’t grounds under the Australian Consumer Law to refuse refunding postage.
A business can refuse to refund postage if the fault wasn’t covered by the warranty/consumer guarantee or the return was due to a change in mind.
If the fault was covered by the warranty/consumer guarantee, postage was the only practicable way to return the TV and JB agreed to its return by post (especially if say the TV was collected in store), I would be formally requesting in writing for postage to be refunded for the reasons outlined above.
Hi. I recently bought a laptop from jb hifi but i demanded to clearly know what the warranty says in regards to the laptop.They told me the receipt is the warranty, but the receipt does not show 2years warranty. Also, they gave me a brochure indicating Electrical and accessories have 2years warranty for more than 500 dollars spent. It was mentioned for all products below on the description.I was confused and demanded clearity over and over again, but they insisted they would call security to escort me out. This is very disappointing. At one point they demanded that it is their product, not jb hifi’s and wanted to refund within 3-5 business days.i refused as i already paid for the product and need it. I walked out.There is some evidence for me to claim warranty, but the customer service guys at the counter do not know about the procedure, or what they are doing, instead get angry at the customers for wasting their time.It is important to first know about what you work with and how to work , secondly to save time.
Receipts are what is called ‘proof of purchase’. When making a warranty claim, proof of purchase is needed to demonstrate when and where goods were purchased.
JB HiFi produce a guide about rights under the Australian Consumer Law, or what is called the ‘consumer guarantees’. While they might have their own views, it can’t change a consumers rights under the law. The ACCC explains these rights here:
The length of time the consumer guarantee applies is based on what a reasonable person would consider a reasonable time for a product to be fault free. The period is very much dependent on the type of product and its price. Choice presents some product life expectations here, noting these are product life expectations not fault free expectations.
A $500 laptop 2 years may be seen as reasonable, while a $5000 laptop 2 years could be seen as being unreasonable.
It is worth noting the consumer guarantee is different to a manufacturer’s warranty.
I contacted Seniors Rights Advocacy and asked them to help me recover the $200. They said they do not normally deal with such issues but they would have a go. JB refunded the money!
