Last week my daughter's 6 month old portable DVD player suddenly refused to load any discs.. or even recognise that there was a disc there.
No problem.. I know that the receipt is safely stored in my filing cabinet attached to the instruction manual...
Hmm.. where has the receipt gone? This is just a blank piece of paper.. even though it is receipt sized & shaped!
Yes I became a victim of the vanishing receipt.. but not in a way I had considered! I've had several receipts fade and eventually become blank if left in the car and even in the black hole I call a purse... but never when carefully stored in a light proof filing cabinet!
Anyway.. on presentation of said blank receipt & DVD player to the store of purchase my fears were realised... no readable receipt... no warranty! Funny as the store stated that they would not accept copies or scanned images.. only the original receipt will get your item fixed or your money back... even though the store admitted that the blank receipt issue is known.
After making a few enquiries to Consumer Affairs I realised that this is a rather new issue but one that is on the rise. Stores do not have to refund without a receipt anymore and manufacturers do not have to fix the item unless you can prove it's within it's warranty period with that precious receipt.
I'd hate to purchase something with an extended warranty and then try to make a claim 2 years down the track! Big ticket items tend to have longer warranties as well as costing more in the first place.. that thought alone concerns me.
So what did we do? After much thought, many questions and a lot of research we bought the cheapest portable DVD player on the market. It has no bells & whistles, no added card slots or capabilities and no fancy swivel screens or inbuilt batteries... Instead it is a basic reliable unit that does the job we want.
This will increase the odds of it lasting out the year, making the receipt issue redundant... but I've also decided that in the future all larger purchases will be made secondhand or at stores where the receipts are still handwritten.. then maybe I'll still be able to use the warranty if the need arises.
Nothing is built to last these days.. not even the receipt!
7 comments:
That sucks. I've noticed that some receipts will also fade if they are kept in a plastic folder. One place I use actually has a warning on the receipt to not store in plastic if you need the receipt later for tax purposes.
Some shops do offer alternatives to the need for a receipt. At a local I outdoor store, I am a member of their inshop club. When I buy anything from them, they record it against my record & say that I can use that to return an item without the need to keep the receipt.
Another store I shop at will accept evidence of the credit card transaction in place of a receipt.
Grr, that is annoying. I've noticed it too with some receipts that sit in my trolley for a while before filing- I can't read them by the time I get to them.
Permanent ink should be a requisite of a business document. After all, 'receipts' are now called Tax Invoices; they are legal documents.
This is the same reason I don't enter competitions in major shopping centres where you have to hand in your receipt to enter. I can't imagine why so many people do! Its your proof of purchase and if you paid with a credit card its insurance against a wrong charge being made on your account.
The inshop club sounds like a great idea Toria.. with the number of inshop programmes running you'd think that it would be easy to implement across the board but it hasnt happened here yet.
& yes Joanne I agree that Permanent Ink is a must!! The issue I discovered over the last week is that none of the stores plan for anything to be returned though.. they seem to think we'll just replace an item even if it's still in warranty.. or that thing will last longer than the 12 months!
(although it's lifespan is usually 1 year & 1 day from my experience.. grrr!)
This sure is a problem now days. I write on them in pen over the print. Don't know whether the stores would accept that but I write the date and store and price on the docket. Another way would be to scan or photocopy the receipt asap.
I can relate to this too, it should be a crime!!!
This type of thing infuriates me. If its a known problem I think companies have an obligation to work out how to fix it, or offer customers an alternative means of claiming a warranty. I haven't had it happen to me but sounds like something to be wary of. Thanks for highlighting this.
Yes i agree nothing lasts like it used to any more. Now i always keep the orginal receip and photocopy it as well just incase. They don't make things to last now just another sign of the throw away society that we now live in.
Cheers
Donna
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