Forums Forums Wirral Information Law And Your Rights staples in birkenhead problems

me and my wife got a plastic chair from staples in january 28th this year and it has started splitting and neither of us are heavy so its nothing to do with that.

This is the correspondence via email today...
(from bottom to top)

Dear customer,

Thank you for your email, whilst we sympathise with your situation, we currently have no proof that this chair was bought from Staples, only that it resembles one we sell as do many other retailers, the reason we ask for the receipt or a suitable proof of purchase is so that we can verify the age of the item, where it was manufactured, when it was bought and its vendor details.

The chair you have is not an office chair, and is not designed to be used as such, it appears to be more of a waiting room chair, but as I mentioned previously until i can see a proof of purchase I cannot tell you exactly the specifications, chairs need not carry instructions for use, as the user is generally intended to be able to judge what is best for their needs, however some chairs are simply not designed for certain usage, which i can confirm with a receipt or proof of purchase, then i would be able to get hold of a manufacturers details and spec sheet.

We cuurently cannot offer any kind of resolution until we can be 100% sure the item was purchased from Staples.

Kind Regards

Lee Buckle
Customer Services
Staples UK Retail Ltd


----[Original Message]----
Dear Lee

Thank you for your reply reference the chair.
I will contact Trade & Standards as there was nothing attached to the chair
or any notice on display in your store saying it shouldn't be used a a
computer chair even though it was next to all your desks when we purchased
it or did it say don't use for long periods of time, and to be honest with
you it doesn't get used for long periods of time anyway, we use it at a desk
were we only have a lap top so the lap top is mobile most of the time around
the house were the chair doesn't need to be used.

The plastic has split were the metal pole goes into the plastic and even
trying to push the piece back together it just bounces back away from were
it is split so i think there was to much tension on the plastic when it was
first made so that wouldn't help either.



-----Original Message-----
From: Staples Customer Services
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 1:47 PM
To: ***
Subject: RE: Re: Staples - Birkenhead [Ref: AAAAGRD5]

Dear customer,

Thank you for your email, the chair you have purchased is a Tower Stackable
chair, this chair is not designed to be used for prolonged periods of time
nor was it designed to be used as a computer chair, with that purpose in
mind we cannot offer a refund or replacement on this item as it has been
used outside of the manufacturers specifications.

If you can provide a proof of purchase i can verify the details, however
having shown the picture to the sales manager who works in Birkenhead he was
positive it was the the above mentioned chair.

Kind Regards

Lee Buckle
Customer Services
Staples UK Retail Ltd

Staples UK Retail Limited PO Box 1038, Doncaster, DN1 9JF. Registered in
England No. 2430955. Registered Office: Westfields London Road High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire HP11 1HA. VAT No. GB697-8707-56.

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----[Original Message]----


Original Message Follows: ------------------------

Dear Staples

Myself and my wife purchased a computer chair in February 2011 in your
Staples store in Birkenhead and to our amazement the plastic has started to
split on the back rest near the metal part of the chair.

It is only myself and my wife who uses the chair in our home and the
heaviest weight using it is 11st so no way it should have split.
We have looked for the receipt and cannot find it, is there anything you can
do about this please?

Please find a picture attached of the chairs problem.

......................................

dont know were to go from this, i have just sent them another email and to my amazement i am getting a reply saying

Your message

To: Customer Services Staples High Wycombe
Subject: Re: Staples - Birkenhead [Ref: AAAAGRD5]

Sent: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 18:38:17 +0100

was deleted without being read on Mon, 1 Aug 2011 18:39:16 +0100

so there deleting messages now without reading them.

eventual;ly you might have to sue them in a small claims court...proof of delivery letter first giving them ten days in which to give positive response..you really should have some sort of proof of purchase though, there seems to be some discrepancy in when you actually bought it, two dates, Jan 28th and then in an email February 2011..check out sale of goods act

How did yoou pay? If you used plastic you can use your bank statement as proof of purchase.

yeah by debit card. the thing is they are deleting my emails now without reading them. is there an ombudsman for this type of thing

Turn up at the shop with a print off of your bank statement, and chair if possible speak to any staff available and they will soon want to pass you to the manager, the onus lies with the retailer that sold you the goods to prove that they have been used improperly.

The Sale of Goods Act has a few amendments made to it due to European laws, one is that if the goods fail within six months it is up to the RETAILER to prove that the goods weren't faulty at purchase, after that it is up to you to prove that they were.

Now as you bought these on 28th January you are technically a few days outside of this, but any store would find it hard to argue that this made all the difference.

If you can find your bank statement you can show a purchase from Staples on that day, their own till receipts can show that a chair was sold on that day, even a small shop has to keep receipts for 6 YEARS so Staples should have no trouble finding this.

The item is a chair, you sit on it, are they saying that you're only allowed to sit on it a bit, I can just see that being in the useage conditions, they're basically making that one up. If you're sat on it and not using it to stand on then it should last a "reasonable" time, if the average man thinks that 6 months before it fails isn't reasonable, then it's faulty.

thanks dr.
it is a plastic hard wearing chair i couldn't believe it when they said it wasn't made for a computer chair. surely if it was used as a waiting room chair it would get hell of a lot more use then just a desk chair lol. i have emailed trading standards with all the messages they have sent and mine to see what they say.

Off topic slightly, but i am getting a TV repaired at Argos that is 19 months old, and i used a duplicate bank statement as proof of purchase so you shouldnt let not having a receipt worry you.

i hope you didn't use your tv continuous as that isnt allowed lol

It's from Argos, they're okay, if you get it from Staples they'll cover your TV for continous use just as long as you only use it watch ITV and BBC, it's not meant to be used for Channel 5

No...i only sat on it a couple of times a day haha

You must have missed the label on it saying ornamental only, not to be used as an actual chair!!!!!!!!! get a grip staples!! Just keep on and on at them, the item was not fit for the purpose it was intended for (i.e sitting on) regardless of where it was placed in your house. Remind staples they are a OFFICE store, so why would an office store sell chairs not intended to be used in an office, and if it didn't state that on the chair when you bought it, they have no argument realy!! good luck x

Why aren't you providing them proof of purchase like they ask for in every single reply? They quite clearly state that they need proof of purchase in order to spend time looking into the matter.

Pathetic the fact they are arguing what the chair is intended for. A chair is a chair reguardless of its intendended use. Hope you come up on top for this, id even send a copy of their replies to a paper to show how stupids they are being!

If you can't find the receipt then have a go at your credit card billing if you got it on the card. Just a suggestion.