refunds

[Paul70]

I've noticed over the past few years that when returning goods to a number of stores for refunds, the shop assistant will ask for personal information such as my postcode and/or full home address prior to giving me my money back. Let's assume I'm returning the goods unworn/undamaged and with my receipt etc. I believe that I am entitled to a full refund without providing any further information to the store. Does anyone have any idea what the legal position is?

Thanks in advance

[kempie]

To be honest, if you are returning goods unworn/undamaged this implies that the only reason for the return is that you do not WANT them, not that they are below merchantable quality, and as such you are not entitled to any refund whatsoever.

However shops may offer a refund as customer goodwill and to ensure it is not abused may want to keep check to see if the same customers habitually return unwanted items.

If you do have a genuine complaint with an item, there are indeed laws to ensure the problem is rectified.

[Sasha13]

You are under no obligation to give any personal details to a store... However, unless an item is faulty or unfit for the purpose for which it was sold, a company is under no obligation to give you a refund either. Stores collect this information for two reasons. 1 so that they can keep an eye on people who are regular refunders (and therefore may have less than honest intentions) and 2 to decrease the chances of staff stealing money through processing a false refund. Why would you worry about giving out this information? Contrary to popular belief the details are not then sold on to marketing companies etc. If you are that much against it, just give false details!