Here’s some general advice in case you end up with a faulty product.
Have you ever had trouble with faulty products? Tell us your experience below.
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Today my grandmother purchased one of these trollies from Red Dot. After doing her shopping and getting it home she set it on the stand to open her door. The whole stand mechanism broke, tipped the trolley over and pushed her down the stairs with it. We’re lucky she only got a scrape or two.
She didn’t take a receipt for it but we’re working on getting a debit card statement. In the mean time, is there anywhere I can report this issue? This is a serious flaw which could have had horrible consequences. I’ve already contacted Red Dot and am waiting for a response.
Edit: It’s also resulted in her glasses being scratched beyond repair, but it may be difficult to recoup those costs without an itemised receipt
Edit: Here is the response from Red Dot:
Hi [name], thank you for getting into contact with us in regards to this matter. We apologise for the incident with the Shopping Jeep and we are glad your grandmother wasn’t injured. Since this is a faulty product you will not need proof of purchase and we are happy for you to return it to your nearest Red Dot store for a refund or exchange. We have not had any other incidents with the Shopping Jeeps breaking like yours so it might have been just the 1 unit that was faulty. We will certainly pass it on to the buying department as well as the supplier to look into this and investigate further.
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Yes…
To break/fail on the same day it was bought (assuming it was used as recommended) does indicate some sort of manufacturing fault/quality issue.
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Bought an LG microwave from Harvey Norman in Brisbane earlier this year. From the outset there was a problem with the sensor panel on the front - every couple of weeks it wouldn’t function and you had to pull the plug out of the power source, reset the timer and then it would work. I reported the problem to Harvey Norman and their local appliance repair shop replaced the panel under warranty. The problem simply repeated itself with the “repaired” microwave. I took the microwave back to the store and asked for a refund. This was a major defect and I invoked Consumer Law. The store manager, without even looking at the microwave, nor the two videos I had taken of the microwave not functioning, stated that I would not get a refund until Harvey Norman had sent it back to LG for a “manufacturer’s assessment”. There followed a fairly vexed discussion with the manager where I pointed out that the warranty required the retailer, not the manufacturer, to refund or replace the faulty unit. He insisted that consumer law allowed the retailer to get it assessed with the manufacturer before refunding the customer, but could not point to any such clause in the law. In the end I made such a fuss that he very ungraciously processed a refund for me. But was he right? Can a retailer get a manufacturer’s assessment before refunding a customer for a faulty product (even when the product is right there in front of him and with videos demonstrating it not functioning)? The whole experience simply smacked of Harvey Norman trying to avoid its legal responsibilities to customers. I won’t shop at Harvey Norman again, that’s for sure.
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Same grubs. Different day.
Welcome to the Community @tombrisbane
FWIW HN is a franchise operation. Unless you are a franchisee you are not doing business with ‘Harvey Norman’ you are doing business with ‘Harvey Norman Franchise Location’ - eg HN Brisbane or wherever.
Some franchisees have provided good outcomes and service, and others not so much.
This ACCC page enumerate your rights. A number of HN franchises have been given significant fines for various misrepresentations, as has the parent.
Search the internet for ‘Harvey Norman fined’ for numerous hits. You might want to make a ‘Letter of Complaint’ and give it to the manager to see if s/he changes approach. (search the Community for additional advice on how to do that).
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