“So I returned a toilet brush at the weekend,” said my friend as we were watching TV. “Because it broke after one use. I told them it wasn’t fit for purpose.”
I don’t know who was more shocked – me, that she had returned a used (albeit clean) toilet brush and successfully argued her point, or her, that I admitted I would never have done that.
To put this conversation in context, a month before I had given her a quickfire lesson in the Consumer Rights Act and how to return a faulty item, after a pair of shoes had cut her feet to smithereens after one wear. I was immensely proud of her when she successfully argued her case and got her money back.
Fast-forward one month and it appears I’ve created a bit of a consumer rights monster. I was always the one most likely to be arguing my case and asking for money back, but it appears the student has become the master.
She was of course right to argue the toilet brush wasn’t of satisfactory quality, and was within the 30-day limit to ask for a full refund. (For more on your return rights see the rather aptly named in this case SAD FART rules in our Consumer Rights guide.)
But it got me thinking – what would you have done? And what’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever returned?
