Holiday Shopping and Defective Presents
I bought my son an expensive Christmas toy, but it didn’t work when I tried it out before giving it to him. The store said that I must have done something wrong with it and refused to exchange it or refund my money. So now I’m stuck with it – is there anything I can do?
You are smart to consider your potential recourse before simply allowing the store to get away with selling defective items. Handling this issue properly could help your situation and may prevent future problems between this store and other Central Texans.
The starting point for any consumer dispute is to fully discuss your problem with the store’s customer-service representative or manager. If you can’t resolve the problem at this level, you may want to contact the store’s headquarters or the owner.
Assuming the problem is not resolved, you have several options. You can pursue your individual case by filing a lawsuit. Small-claims court (limited to a recovery of no more than $5,000) is usually the best option for consumers, because its relaxed rules of evidence and procedure allow you to appear without an attorney. However, the personal time, energy, effort, and money needed to pursue a small-claims court matter may not make sense for every defective purchase.
You can consider filing a complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection & Public Health Division (www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer). Filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office will not help your specific case (Texas law prohibits the A.G.’s Office from filing a lawsuit with the purpose of recovering money for a single person), but it could lead to an investigation or lawsuit against the company if it is violating laws protecting consumers. You can also file a separate complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Central and South Central Texas (www.centraltx.bbb.org).
By doing so, you will put other savvy consumers on notice that the store has a history of complaints
and problems.
You may also be able to obtain relief if you purchased the item with a credit card (search austinchronicle.com for previous “Common Law” columns on that topic). The most important thing as a consumer is to stay vigilant – protect yourself and other consumers by pursing violations of consumer laws and poor business practices.
This article appears in December 3 • 2010.