On Fri, 2010-01-29 at 15:21 +0000, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Friday 29 January 2010 14:12:10 Iain Buchanan wrote:
>
> > what contract?
>
> I don't know how it is where you are,
Australia :)
> but in the UK, as I understand it,
> every sale is deemed to embody an implied contract* between buyer and
> seller. Either party is always free to specify whatever conditions he likes
> prior to the sale, and the other can accept them or not.
That sounds like a good law! Here you could take a product back if the
salesperson had wrongly promised it provided some feature, but the
further the feature strays from the average users requirements the less
likely you are to get such a promise. For example I returned an amp
because it was advertised as 7.1 but was really 5.1 with a stereo "B"
channel, so it looked like it had 7 outputs. However if I asked if the
dlna feature was system independent, I probably wouldn't get a promise.
IMHO some stores are happy for me to open boxes, look at manuals, even
return gear if it doesn't work like I expect, but some aren't. I
understand we "the people" don't have the same buying power in Australia
(compared to the UK), and the media doesn't have the same influence over
customer service here as they do in the UK.
> > "Sorry buddy, that's just how they make 'em. Take it up with the
> > manufacturer" is what I'd expect to hear.
>
> Perhaps. Depends how badly they want the business, I suppose.
>
> > Either that or "You want to do what? What's Linux?"
>
> Who mentioned intended use, or Linux? Just stipulate that the goods must not
> require any particular software to operate. Simple - assuming that your
> legal system works similarly enough to ours, of course.
>
> It was just a suggestion, anyway. Take it or leave it. :-)
A good suggestion :) I was just surprised that your wording sounded like
it's common practise to ask for slightly different terms before the
sale, and have them accepted.
What happens when businesses just tell their salespeople not to agree to
extra terms? Surely there's still enough demand in the general
simple-requirement public to keep up sales?
> * Apart from the ones with specific contracts, naturally.
cya,
--
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>
Hitchcock's Staple Principle:
The stapler runs out of staples only while you are trying to
staple something.
