sale of goods act help

smithey1981

smithey1981

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hi i brought my wife a dress and hoody from the same shop where the hoody is labelled as large and dress is a 14. now she is a medium to large in hoodys and 12-14 in a dress more of a 12 though.
however none of the items fit as they are too small. even her 10-12 friend tried them and too small. the problem is the shop have a no refund policy. but surely they have to refund if the sizes are mis --represented. is there any part of the act that cover this ???
 
smithey1981 said:
hi i brought my wife a dress and hoody from the same shop where the hoody is labelled as large and dress is a 14. now she is a medium to large in hoodys and 12-14 in a dress more of a 12 though.
however none of the items fit as they are too small. even her 10-12 friend tried them and too small. the problem is the shop have a no refund policy. but surely they have to refund if the sizes are mis --represented. is there any part of the act that cover this ???
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Usually raising your voice and asking to speak to the duty-manager works quite well :thumbs:
 
It depends but yes normally they would have to refund, the only situation I can think that would not be a refund is bespoke goods but your good lady would have been measured for that :) the issue is that cloths sizes vary
 
Does the shop have changing facilities? If not, you may have a case. If they do have a changing room and she didn't try the stuff, you've more or less had it.

The shop can't have a blanket 'no refunds' policy. They must offer refunds for most faulty goods, for instance.
 
If it is labelled as a certain size and it isn't then the goods aren't as described.

If you mentioned they were for someone else at the time of purchase you are in a stronger position to change them for a larger size that would fit.

I'd go in and say they are significantly smaller than the size label suggests so could they be exchanged? Take the mrs in with you. It'll be less bother if she can make sure they fit.
 
It's unusual for clothes to be marked as a larger than actual size - the opposite is more common. After all, what lady wants to admit to a 14-16 when some labels have convinced them they're a 12-14?
 
Never buy clothes for a woman, you are instantly on a loser, wrong size-wrong colour-wrong material-can't find the accessory for it-cost too much-too cheap-wrong shop-doesn't go with current hair colour etc etc. if the clothes were labelled wrong then its misrepresentation and you have a claim. If this is so you can always go to the trading standards office and lodge a complaint
 
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I Had a problem similar to this recently..

I bought a pair of jeans marked as having a 31" inside leg both on the sales label and on the tag inside the jeans, I always check to make sure they match

I got home and put them on to find that they were far to long to be a 31" inside leg and sure enough upon measuring the inside leg I found then to infact to be 33" inside leg.

I took them back to the shop and explained the situation and was refunded in full no problem

I did a few years working for trading standards many moons ago and not much has changed as far as a persons statutory rights go
 
Keith W said:
I Had a problem similar to this recently..

I bought a pair of jeans marked as having a 31" inside leg both on the sales label and on the tag inside the jeans, I always check to make sure they match

I got home and put them on to find that they were far to long to be a 31" inside leg and sure enough upon measuring the inside leg I found then to infact to be 33" inside leg.

I took them back to the shop and explained the situation and was refunded in full no problem

I did a few years working for trading standards many moons ago and not much has changed as far as a persons statutory rights go
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As Citizens Advice says - actual measurements must be accurate, if not then the item is "Not as described". Terms like Large or Size 14 have no legal definition and if they do not fit the seller does not have to give a refund.
 
Suvv said:
As Citizens Advice says - actual measurements must be accurate, if not then the item is "Not as described". Terms like Large or Size 14 have no legal definition and if they do not fit the seller does not have to give a refund.
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:thumbs: Kev's right on this one.
A while back I worked in Internal Audit for a national clothing retailer and one of my jobs (apart from catching the thieves and fraudsters) was to work closely with the legal dept to ensure that all stores had up to date guidelines and policies on refunds etc.

Worth noting though that although they have a no refund policy, if you take the items back and explain the situation they will probably still give you an exchange or a credit note for your wife to go back and pick something else . . . and they may even go against policy and issue a refund if you explain the situation.
 
Suvv said:
As Citizens Advice says - actual measurements must be accurate, if not then the item is "Not as described". Terms like Large or Size 14 have no legal definition and if they do not fit the seller does not have to give a refund.
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A bit of clarification on that as it is not so black and white.

If a label says for instance large and then on the reverse of that label, or packing, it defines large by saying for instance large = 41- 43 inches then you would be covered same goes for size 14 if on the packaging/label it says size 14 = 28-31 inch waist.

It is all about whether large or 14 is qualified size wise on the label or packaging somewhere, if it is and the item then turns out to be to small or to big then you would be covered
 
Keith W said:
A bit of clarification on that as it is not so black and white.

If a label says for instance large and then on the reverse of that label, or packing, it defines large by saying for instance large = 41- 43 inches then you would be covered same goes for size 14 if on the packaging/label it says size 14 = 28-31 inch waist.

It is all about whether large or 14 is qualified size wise on the label or packaging somewhere, if it is and the item then turns out to be to small or to big then you would be covered
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Yes, as I said actual measurements must be accurate :shrug:
 
"size 12" or "size 14" means nothing, especially when I've heard women say "I like going to <soandso> shop because I can get into a 12 there, but in <other> shop I need a 14."

What's all that about then? I'm a 34" waist in every shop.

Puzzled of Bristol.
 
There was a call to standardise sizing a number of years ago but it never happened. I think the EU metric sizes are more standardised.

M & S are roughly an inch bigger all round than they used to be.

British Standard size chart is here: http://www.retrochick.co.uk/2010/03/22/how-vanity-sizing-is-killing-you/

I'd barely squeeze into an old 10 but these days 10s are baggy if they aren't skinny fit. I haven't changed size but clothes definitely have.
 
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Some retailers have adopted vanity sizing, where the clothes are actually a size larger than the label states, but that's not the problem here.

Goods have to be as described and fit for purpose, but the CAB interpretation of the SOGA suggests that you can't rely on that for complaints about size, because there's no legal requirement to comply with a standard. I'd approach the store and speak to the owner, or manager, and explain that your wife wasn't able to try them on because you bought them as a present. "No Refunds" isn't the same as a "No Returns" policy, and you might be able to argue some sort of case based on that, because you assumed your wife could exchange the goods if they didn't fit and you wouldn't have purchased them otherwise.

There's one other possibility, but it's a long shot. How is the "No Refunds" policy communicated? Is it clearly worded and prominently displayed in such a way that no reasonable person can claim that they weren't aware of it before they completed the purchase? If not, you might have a case.
 
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onomatopoeia said:
"size 12" or "size 14" means nothing, especially when I've heard women say "I like going to <soandso> shop because I can get into a 12 there, but in <other> shop I need a 14."

What's all that about then? I'm a 34" waist in every shop.

Puzzled of Bristol.
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I get the same with jeans. Some brands I'm 32 waist others I'm 34. One high street retailer I picked up two identical pairs and both fitted differently, so it's also about the factory's qc.

Always try stuff on these days. Too much of a ball ache to go back and change stuff.
 
I generally find that the designer makes a difference to the size accuracy, for some reason, Diesel, Crosshatch and Hugo Boss seem to fit perfectly, but say if I was to go to Primark, M&S, Debenhams etc, it would be a different story!
 
cheers for the advice ppl, it is such a grey area with sizing. it was a independant shop but after ten mins or so arguing and raised voices they gave me a refund in full.
 
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