We stand up for your legal rights
Can Amazon refuse to provide a replacement hard drive?
LEAD CASE
Q In January, I ordered a brand new Seagate ST1000VM002 Pipeline HD 1 TB internal hard drive for £19.99 from Amazon Marketplace seller Melkor. But I was sent one that had been used and was made in 2013.
I asked Amazon for a new replacement, but it only offered me a refund because it says it can’t replace items sold by third parties. Is that legal?
Danny Ward
AYes, it’s legal. This is because Amazon is acting only as the fulfilment agent for another seller on its Marketplace. Its contract with Melkor requires it to deliver goods, handle returns, and follow its policy on repairs, complaints and refunds.
This doesn’t mean Melkor has no legal responsibilities, but if it can’t supply what Danny ordered – nor repair or replace it – then the only option left is a full refund. Danny is annoyed that having to accept the refund means he’d probably have to pay postage and packaging to buy the hard drive from elsewhere. That’s true and frustrating, but it doesn’t alter his legal situation with Melkor.
When we chatted to Danny, he said he’d really no option but to accept the refund. However, we’re going to ask Melkor why it can’t simply replace the drive. We can see on Amazon that it has others to sell (www.snipca.com/49225, pictured) as well as drives from Hitachi, Samsung and Toshiba.
We’ll also remind it that any refund it gives Danny must include full delivery costs.
CASE ONGOING
Why is Norton taking money for cancelled subscription?
Q I’ve been receiving subscription-renewal emails from Norton despite cancelling my subscription almost a year ago. Logging into my old account, I see that the automatic renewal is still active. I can’t change this or make contact with Norton. Can you help?
Stuart Cutting
AWe’ve asked Norton to make sure Stuart’s automatic renewal is deactivated. However, to guarantee Norton doesn’t take any more payments he needs to issue a ‘stop payment’ order with his bank, telling it not to make any more payments to Norton, or to any payment company (such as Digital River) working on its behalf. The bank must obey this order and refund any payments that slip through.
Hopefully the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (www. snipca.com/49215) will put an end to subscriptions that never seem to end. Once it becomes law – hopefully by the autumn – companies that fail to cancel unwanted su
