Bought TV online but it cam broken.

[modman]

Bought TV online but it came broken.

MO.

Well really it was my sisters TV but I'm taking care off this whole problem for her. You see she bought a TV from ecost.com that has major mechanical problems. So naturally she called them up and asked about getting a new one. The problem is they wouldn't let her send the old one in without her buying a new one first. Since she don't have the funds for 2 withstanding charges of that size she just can't do that. So after this point I took over since she was getting stressed about the entire thing.

So I call them up and I've gotten them to agree to a return (we wanted just a straight swap but whatever), and even that was hard. Now in three days business days we should get an email with a return id.

So the Q is: Can I make them pay for all the shipping charges? She paid $40 to ship it to us, plus whatever it will cost to ship it back. I really don't want to see my sister have to pay that since she isn't getting a TV.

P.S. I'm pretty angry at the support personal so if anyone sees this as illegal I'd really like to know. My sister doesn't make a ton of money so this purchase was a big deal to her. I would really like to discontinue this practice they have going.

Thanks so much
Matt

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: Can I make them pay for all the shipping charges?

A: I don't know those people so I couldn't say. But I would certainly try!

 

[CraigFL]

Why don't you check their website for their Terms & Conditions, follow their rules, get your problem taken care of then try to recover your shipping costs?

 

[Zigner]

The terms on the site are pretty darn clear:

The Customer is responsible for shipping charges on all returned items.

 

[modman]

Zinger, I saw that as well but shouldn't they have some responsibility to deliver a working product? It's not like she just up and decided to return it. In fact we would much rather just have a working TV then the money, since now she will have to spend hours shopping again.

I sent them an email asking about shipping and it seems even worse then before. It seems they want us to pay shipping both ways plus a 15% restocking fee. Does she have any legal options to fight this? At this rate it might be best just to keep the broken TV.

 

[Zigner]

When she bought the tv, she agreed to the shipping terms.
If the object is defective, then you shouldn't be charged the restocking fee.

Read the terms - I'm not sure what you want us to tell you beyond what is already there...

 

[modman]

I really don't know what I was hoping for. I was just hoping there was more laws protecting consumers from something like this.

Well thanks anyways, it looks like she's out a hundred dollars or so. Next time I'll have her ask around on legal forums before buying online.

 

[seniorjudge]

There are all kinds of laws protecting consumers.

But you can always give up your rights under those laws.