Faulty tours: creating a faulty goods policy

One of the main reasons why your business may see goods returned is because– or the buyer at least claims – they are faulty.

But what should your strategy be towards handling issues around faulty goods and how can you discern when the goods are faulty and when they have been damaged by the customer – or should you, for the sake of good reviews, simply swallow it?

Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, consumers are, quite rightly, entitled to buy goods that work. But how do you define that and what exactly are the consumer rights and, more pertinently here, your rights as a retailer? And how can you turn that into a policy.

Read On:
Avoiding failed deliveries
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How do I process returns

Here we outline what constitutes faulty goods, what rights consumers have around faulty goods and what you need to know about the law to handle such goods.

What are ‘faulty goods’?

The definition of what makes goods faulty falls really into two camps: goods that are actually not working and those that are not fit for purpose. Goods that are not working, are damaged or dangerous should be fairly obvious. Working out who damaged them, however, is more tricky (see below).

Goods that are not fit for purpose – the other definition of faulty goods – are goods that don’t fulfill the specific need the consumer has for them, either because they are faulty or because they have been mis-sold.

This is a trickier one. In a store, the consumer can more or less demonstrate whether they spoke to anyone and asked about the specific purpose of the goods. Online, this isn’t the case.

What causes faulty goods?

Understanding what causes faulty goods is essential in trying to mitigate it happening and so reducing the number of returns of goods that are faulty. Typically there are a number of causes of faulty or damaged goods that you can address:

• Too many touch points – the goods have be through too many suppliers, handlers and shippers between their origin and the customer, as each handling can denigrate the product or leave it open to breakages. Look at how to simplify your supply chain.

• Too long a supply chain – having a long supply chain or low cost shipping and handling can leave goods hanging about in transit before eventually reaching your distribution hub or the consumer.

• Lack of feedback loops – the main cause of the two previous issues that can cause faulty goods is that there is no coherent feedback mechanism for you to understand your supply chain or indeed to assess why goods are coming back faulty.

What should you do about faulty goods?

There are several ways in which you can deal with faulty goods:

• Give them their money back
• Repair the goods
• Replace the goods

Each has its challenges – not least how to get the faulty goods back to you (see our pieces on returns logistics). The easiest path to take is clearly to replace the goods or give the money back, but you still face the logistical problems of returns.