DH5OFF
Coupon Code : DH5OFF
The shipping cost is almost covered if the promo code is used. Valid until 31/07/2018
$5 off over Already Discounted Items if the Product Total Is More than $30 @ Deal Hut
00
Related Stores
closed Comments
The email address tracks back to a site that says they're "based on Palmerston North. We do not maintain a physical store and all the operations are totally operated online." No contact info though, and the NZ Companies Register doesn't have either name listed.
@choc squiggle: Thank you very much for reviewing the website of Deal Hut. It’s a small sole trader business. The terms and conditions page was a generic one which was intended for protecting small businesses. But we never failed to give a higher satisfaction for our customers. Whatever the things mentioned in terms & conditions, we did our best to treat our customers going far beyond our obligations. We have been selling products on Trade Me as well. Anyway, you were 100% correct and terms and conditions were not customer friendly. It’s been updated based on your suggestions. I would really appreciate if you can spare some time to review it again. I set the deal to “Expired” since no one will buy anything from Deal Hut based on your comment. :-D . I really admire people like you. You are helping the community by directing them towards the best. Such a comment would help thousands of internet users to go for the right thing. Good luck with that!!
@Soulcore: I appreciate your comments, and I appreciate that you're out there having a go trying to build a business and I commend you for that. I don't mean to imply that people will have problems buying from you or that you're dishonest in any way.
But I still wouldn't buy from your website, and I would still recommend my family and friends not to as well. That's just me.
1: I don't see that much has changed on your website. You've removed the blurb about disclaiming and negating implied warranties. And you've changed your 24hr limit to 3 days. But the thing is, you are still misleading consumers about their rights of return. That is an offence under the Fair Trading Act.
http://www.comcom.govt.nz/fair-trading/fair-trading-act-fact…
2: There's still no offline contact information. This is probably not a legal requirement but for me it's a deal breaker.
Here's my thoughts.
You're saying any returns must be within 3 days and that the goods must be in saleable condition.
Lets take one of your handbags for example. I buy one, use it for 3 weeks, and then the zip breaks. Anyone would reasonably expect a handbag to last for longer than 3 weeks and therefore the handbag can be deemed not durable enough. As a consumer I have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and you as the retailer must put this right. But some consumers may be mislead into thinking they can no longer return the handbag for repair or replacement because it's past your arbitrary three day time limit, or because the handbag is now broken and no longer in a 'saleable condition'.
Another example would be if I bought a gift for someone's birthday in two months time, and then after opening it two months later it becomes apparent the goods are faulty or not fit for their stated purpose. Again the consumer has every right to return the goods but from reading your website, some would be mislead into thinking they can't because it's been more than 3 days.
Note that if the birthday recipient just didn't like it, or wanted a different colour, that's a different story - that's entirely up to you whether you want to exchange or refund the gift. Many retailers will accept returns for change of mind, but they're under no obligation to do so and I'm perfectly okay with that - it's not the retailers fault if someone simply changes their mind. But this is different to returns of faulty, not fit-for-purpose, unsafe or non-durable goods, which are covered by the CGA and cannot be contracted out of by the retailer. You need to make this distinction clear.
Look I'm not a lawyer, but I believe your terms are misleading of CGA rights and therefore a breach of the Fair Trading Act.
I suggest you take a look at the fact sheets link below from the Commerce Commission. As far as I'm aware they're responsible for enforcing the Fair Trading Act, while they suggest consumers use the Disputes Tribunal for resolving issues regarding the Consumer Guarantees Act. The latter is why I personally insist on having alternate contact details before doing business with any online retailer (I can't go to the Disputes Tribunal with only a gmail address).
http://www.comcom.govt.nz/fair-trading/fair-trading-act-fact…
Perhaps you could also join Consumer.org.nz for one month and read some of their articles around the Fair Trading Act and the Consumer Guarantees Acts.
Once again I don't mean to imply anyone is going to have any issues shopping with you - I said I didn't have any personal experience with your shop and it wasn't meant as a negative review. I actually liked your 'About Us' page - it acknowledges people can buy things cheaper overseas, but that they get it quicker buying from you as a NZ based merchant. You should add that people are protected by NZ consumer laws when buying from you, as another positive reason to shop with you.
At the end of the day it's up to you what terms you put on your website, but in this day and age of imported products which are sometimes of low quality (even so called premium branded goods have quality problems sometimes), then if I feel there's going to be any hint of pushback or resistance from a retailer when something goes wrong, or if I think they're going to hide behind a gmail address to make it difficult to follow up any issues with the Disputes Tribunal, then that's a potential hassle I just don't need and I'll just go shop elsewhere.
It's just my suggestion that you overhaul the returns information entirely, make a distinction between what you will and won't accept as returns for change of mind (completely up to you), explain how that differs from consumers rights in case of faulty goods, give some real physical contact information and tidy up your email contacts (there are three different email addresses at three different domain names I've found so far). After this add that NZ consumer protections is a positive reason to shop with you on your 'About' page.
As a small sole trader business I don't suppose it's worth paying a lawyer many hundreds or thousands of dollars to write this up for you but read the fact sheets, look at some larger websites and what their wordings are (many just simply state that they will abide by their obligations under NZ consumer law - it can be as simple as that). Good luck.
@choc squiggle: Thank you so much for your time. I think I acquired something more than running the deal. I don’t have a good knowledge of those terms and conditions. Taking your advice, I’ll do a research and update the website accordingly. Only an email address is used in the contact information since there isn’t someone always available to answer calls. Replies had been sent to all emails overnight. I know that’s not enough. I should find a way to add more contact information to the website. Anyway, Thanks again for your valuable comments.
I don't have any personal experience with this retailer but personally I wouldn't choose to shop here.
Whenever I'm about to shop online with a business I haven't used before, I take a few moments to check how they feel about their legal obligations under both the Fair Trading and the Consumer Guarantees Acts. This company appears to take a hard line against shipping losses and returns, which isn't right.
They state they don't accept returns or exchanges unless the product is damaged - in which case they want you to contact them within 24hrs of receiving the order. In fact the CGA act states the goods must be fit for purpose and also durable, not just damaged. So if you receive an item and it's not damaged, but it fails to do the job it was advertised to do, or it falls apart within a 'reasonable' timeframe (deliberately vague), you have rights under the CGA. Putting a 24hr limit on returns is trying to 'contract out' of the act which is not allowed by law.
Apparently they are not liable for any losses or damage during shipment - well as far as I'm concerned if they choose the delivery method and service provider then it's up to them to ensure the item gets to me in one piece. It's not my fault if they should happen to use a shoddy courier service.
There's also zero information that I could find on their website about where they're based or how to contact them other than an email address. That is the biggest definite deal-killer right there for me personally.
FINALLY,
There's this real gem, I actually only saw this just now while doing a last check of their site before posting this and my jaw nearly hit the ground. Item #3 of their T&C's :
=====
"Disclaimer
The materials on Deal Hut’s website are provided on an ‘as is’ basis. Deal Hut makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties including, without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights.
Further, Deal Hut does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the materials on its website or otherwise relating to such materials or on any sites linked to this site."
=====
Prior to seeing this I was simply going to say I don't want to bag smaller retailers having a go at earning a living, but expect them to hold up their legal obligations under consumer law. But now I've seen that last snippet where they try to 'disclaim and negate all other warranties', they can go suck a lemon. It's a completely illegal 'opt-out' attempt. My strong advice is stay away.