Bt & Chanel Sunglasses

A READER from Dublin splashed out on a pair of Chanel sunglasses in Brown Thomas in June 2008 at a cost of €230. The Chanel symbol dropped off the arm of the glasses a couple of months ago so she brought them back to BT.

She was told the glasses would be sent off to the shop’s supplier for repair and was told it would take up to eight weeks to get them back. Time passed and eventually the store contacted her to say that it was not possible to repair the sunglasses as the line in question had been discontinued by Chanel.

Then the store lost her glasses so she was told BT would replace them. Five minutes after she was told the glasses were lost she received a call saying BT had found them again so BT rescinded the offer of a replacement pair.

Before our reader went to collect the glasses, with no logo, she went on to the Chanel website in the UK where she read that the company offered a two-year warranty on all Chanel eyewear. She also rang the Chanel HQ in London and was told the same thing.

She went into BT to explain this but was told the store did not honour this warranty and a shop assistant repeated that BT only offered a one-year warranty.

She took her glasses away and contacted Chanel in London again. She was told that the particular line had not been discontinued, as BT had claimed, and were still being made so a repair would be possible. Chanel also said that they would be happy to try and repair them and, if they could not do so, then a replacement pair would be sent to our reader.

We contacted BT to find out why it only offers a one-year warranty on this product when Chanel offers two and why it told our reader that the range had been discontinued when it had not? A spokeswoman for the store accepted that there was a discrepancy but, following our reader’s intervention, said that they would now conduct a systematic overhaul of their policy in this regard. She said that in the future the store would ensure that it matched the warranties offered by manufacturers. She also said that the store would immediately replace the broken sunglasses for our reader.