[ILUG] re:Cheapest Linux-friendly components by mail-order

[Dave Neary]

John Moylan wrote:
> 
> EC consumer rules theoretically extends to the US. You have one month to return goods purchased via
> the net, or up to 3 months if the site in question does not have your consumer rights published.
> 
> JM
> 
> >>c) Buy in the US - no consumer protection if some UPS droid plays footie
> with my parcel.

Speaking of consumer rights, when I was hunting around for some kit
recently, and I wasn't sure whether it worked with my OS of choice, I
ended up in Dixons. I said "OK, I'll take this (£400.00 digital camera)
and if I can't get it working under Linux I'll just bring it back for a
refund in a couple of days". To which the girl behind the counter said
"We only give a 7-day money-back guarantee, and that's only if the
package hasn't been opened". I asked her why and she said "If you've
opened it we can't resell it", and I said "If I don't open it I can't
tell whether it's what you said it was".

I pushed her on this and said that I believed that you had a "reasonable
amount of time" to investigate something, and return it for full refund
if you're not happy with it (for whatever reason), barring malicious
damage (at least that's my understanding), and she said "Well, we did a
course on consumer rights a few months ago, and I definitely didn't see
that in there". So I told her they'd just lost a sale, and she didn't
seem too bothered (obviously not on commission). 

The question is, who's closer to the truth in consumer rights, me or
her? I was rightly pissed off with Dixons, in any case, because she was
only enforcing policy - the question is whether the policy is legal
(only accepting returns if they're unopened, and only within 7 days).

Cheers,
Dave.


-- 
David Neary,               E-Mail dave.neary at palamon.ie
Palamon Technologies Ltd.  Phone +353-1-634-5059