Buying A New Tool? Avoid Mackays of Cambridge

[Trojanhorse11]

Having recently purchased a sander from them, it arrived faulty. After the 1st fault, another occurred when. part broke on it's first use.
Here's the LIST of things that I have found about Mackay's since this item arrived:

1) They didn't want to have the item returned - they wanted me to fix it myself. I said I wanted it returned, which they agreed to (but I could tell by their tone of voice they were not really happy about it).

2) They didn't want to refund me. They simply wanted to repair / replace the item. Again, I had to insist I wanted a refund, as I no longer had any faith/trust in this item.

3) During my conversation with them on the phone, regarding the return, I found some of the staff slightly sarcastic and unhelpful towards me regarding some of their comments.

4) After they agreed to have the item back, it took a few days for them to even send me the email detailing how to do it, despite their literature saying all returns must be completed within 48 hours of receipt or no responsibility can be taken after that.

5) They received the item on a Wednesday at 10:47am. Yet it took them until Friday afternoon to send me an email asking for more details about the broken part (I suspect, knowing it would be Monday before they would even look at my reply - thus delaying it even more).

6) No contact or reply from them on the Monday - now being more than 2 weeks since I ordered the item. So I sent a message.

7) No reply to my message, despite the time now being 2 weeks since I received the item and no sign of a refund.

I can't help but feel they are purposely delaying doing anything regarding this issue, certainly no intention of refunding me any time quickly.

No refund, no item, no replies to messages.

Worst customer service I've had in many many years - maybe ever.

 

[ScaredyCat]

If you're a consumer and you purchased online then you have lots of rights to return, regardless of what Mackays think.

If you purchased via credit card you can always talk to your card company and even do a charge back.

I suspect most of their customers are walk in. I've only ever heard good things about them in Cambridge though - though snarky does seem a bit of trade mark of theirs.

I suspect most of what you're seeing is related more to it not being their normal process rather than malice.

 

[gog64]

I’ve had similar experience from a different vendor. That was a real eye opener. Under £100? Credit card company can’t help. All these “rights”? All rely on the vendor cooperating. Enforcing your rights? You have to jump through many hoops and it’s just not worth it. In my case I bought something electrical and it immediately tripped the RCD in my workshop, so as clear a case of faulty as you can imagine. I was pretty annoyed at the “tough, what are you going to do about it” attitude from the vendor and spoke at length to CA. Their advice in a nutshell was to just chalk it up to experience and be more careful who I buy sub £100 items from. I’m sure other people would buckle up for a long battle, but life is short and I’d much rather be doing something else!

TLDR only buy sub £100 items online from a vendor you can really trust. Or better, just buy it locally.

 

[craigs]

I pretty much buy everything online (mainly from Axminster), unless i fancy adding a bit of window shopping in the mix and I actually go there (20 miles), that being said I have used buyer protection I get from AMEX on more than one occasion upto £200 without a question being asked. Id say if your credit card company isn't doing a good job, then change them, personally I can't praise AMEX enough for their service.

 

[Rich C]

In fairness they don't legally have to refund you - if they want to repair or replace then they have satisfied their obligation under the law (assuming the repair or replacement is of the same quality as a new item should be).

Also if they're now doing nothing, you can always get your card issuer to do a chargeback, even under £100 (you lose the legal right to hold the CC company liable but any will do it anyway).
Alternatively, there's always the small claims court. A letter before action might get them moving.

 

[Pedropete]

In fairness they don't legally have to refund you

If within 30 days of sale, then yes, they do have to refund or replace and it's your choice which.

If more than 30 days and less than six months then then seller gets one opportunity to repair or replace (their choice, usually cost driven), after which if the issue is not resolved you again have the right to reject the goods and receive a full refund.

Which? and the CAB have the most straight forward guides to your rights under the Act: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act