Spanish - Sale of goods act ?

[Martin Page]

Is there an equvalent to the sale of good act here in Spain. ?

Just lately I have had cause to return ( or try to return ) some faulty goods under Warranty from 2 different shops.
Both shops have previously accepted returns within 14 days with no quibble -
... but an angle grinder that died after just 3 months of 3 year waranty was sumararilly dismissed and they just pointed to the address of the service centre in Madrid and told me to contact them.

Do the shops have any legal responsibility within the first 12 months as they have in the UK ?

[julian]

their legal responsibility will be to repair it, which they seem to be doing by putting you in touch with the oficial repairer, as it will be under guarantee they should repair it for free.make sure you take the receipt.
if the oficial repairer will not repair it for free then ask for the complaints book

[Mowser]

...and keep the original box. The guarantee for my DVD said it had to be returned in its original packaging. There was a repair specialist 5 miles away, but it was refused as I didn't have the original box. KEEP EVERYTHING.

[Julie]

In out local shops/supermarkets, after the initial 14 days you have to send stuff back to the manufacturer, the supermarket don't exchange it, unlike the UK.

[Alpujarra]

....and the manufacturer can't/ won't repair it so all you have in effect is a 14 day guarantee.

[Alpujarra]

One of my pet hates about this country. Customer service is non existent once they have your money.

[Julie]

I have returned a TV, had to take it to Almeria, but they were ok, they gave me a brand new Tv, no problem, also bought a freezer from copo and when I had problems, they actually picked it up and took it to the manufacturers, that was after I complained about having to take it to the manufacture, so although it wasn't as simple as UK, it did turn out ok for us.

[julian]

all goods sold here have at least a 2 year guarantee by law

[Alpujarra]

In theory, yes.

[julian]

and in practice as well , as long as you follow the right steps

[Jool]

This is another case for asking for the complaints book. In there you have to describe, in spanish, the problem, what has happened since and what you want to happen to resolve the situation, in a succinct way. All businesses HATE the official complaints book.

They will take offence if you ask for it outright without giving them a chance to rectify the problem but often just a mention of it changes their attitude enormously......

[Alpujarra]

But why should you have to ask for it just to get what you entitled to in the first place?
They can take offence as much as they like. They are trying it on with johnny foreigner.

It is about time this bunch of retard goat sha**ers brought themselves up to date!

[annie_d]

I can't work you out at all alpujarra

[Alpujarra]

You need to have lived in Spain for a while. Then, all would become clear

[Jool]

I think that´s an easy assumption to make, Alpujarra but I don´t think its necessarily true. I know spanish people who have just the same problems and treatment as non spanish. I am close to the border with a different region (ie not Andalucia) and over there the attitude to consumers is completely different and efficiency significantly greater.....so I do attribute most of this to the andalucian way......

I´m not saying its right that we have to fight but it does give you some power and convey that you will not accept shoddy treatment. Also it does seem to be standard procedure over here that the manufacturer or supplier has to rectify problems, not the shop after a short period of time.

[Alpujarra]

There was a time when I too used to put it down to their quirky ways and customs, but I am becoming a bit sick of the lack of customer service here now .

The latest incident was when I returned a faulty mixer tap to a local builders merchants. I have spent about €30,000 at this place and wouldn’t simply change a 1 month old, €40 tap, saying it has to be sent off to the manufacturers! That was 12 weeks ago.

A friend of mine bought a fridge which went wrong after a short time. Despite repeated calls to customer service, no one ever turned up to fix it, they just strung him along until the guarantee ran out.

The ink Leyroy Merlin receipts disappears after about 7 days….strange that.

The electrical shop Boulanger only gives 7 days to exchange faulty items.
I could go on....and on.

In my view these dodgy practices are simply acts of theft.

We won’t talk about Lidl

[silver]

They are trying it on with johnny foreigner.

I don't think that is so...they would treat the locals the same...but locals very rarely complain..if they do, they know how to..as julian says... follow the right steps.. a bad attitude to consumers...is normally due to ignorance of the salesman...asking to talk to the boss usually overcomes this.
It must be really hard to live in a country where you think that people don´t treat you well... because you are a johnny foreigner.

[julian]

I generally find that if you talk to people in a respectful manner you will get the right result, I´m not surprised you have problems if you treat the locals as if they are retarded goat sha..ers, in your country of birth do you think everyone treats the immigrants the same way as they do the locals ??

[olive]

It is some years now since I was in the UK but my recollections were of never having a good experience when something went wrong. More I used to challenge people to recall ANY time they had a good experience when things went wrong. Virtually all failed to come up with a single example. You only need to recall people changing Internet supplier to see what I mean. Britain had a stab in the 90's at improving service but the cycle moved on to profit first.

Here I view it differently even though the end result is the same. Customer service is done with a smile but is just as hollow. I genuinely believe that people don't care even though a lot more businesses are family owned and run. You will get sorted eventually. It is the manana culture.

I agree with you Alpujarra about Leroy Merlins disappearing ink. I bought a replacement SDS drill for my first one that expired. Just been and had a look at the ink and sure enough despite the receipt being inside the empty box it has gone blank.

I haven't yet had to resort to the Complains book but won't hesitate!

olive

[julian]

leroy will give you a proper invoice, (with long-lasting ink) for any purchase if you ask for it at information