Quote Originally Posted by lionel View Post
Legally, I'd say you are quite right, but if any particular retailer gets the feeling that you're using the consumer credit act just to help you browse, they may become a little wary of doing business with you in the future.
Yes, I agree but the law is the law and there isn’t a retailer in the UK that could legally support a refusal for a full refund on something you are returning that you’ve purchased without even seeing i.e. mail order or internet.

However in this current recession I bet there are a few retails that would be only too willing to agree to sell you a £1,300 scope on the bases that you might return it in the same condition as it left them, if it’s not to your liking, at least that way they have a 50% chance of a sale.

Buying something mail order so that you can have a look at it and then deciding whether to keep it or not is no different to looking at it in the shop, the only difference is that you are looking at it in your own home and not on the shops premises. Almost the entire population do this (Freemans, Kays etc, etc) most of the time you end up keeping what you ordered but sometimes you return things, the only looser in this case is you because you end up paying two lots of postage but sometimes this is still cheaper and more convenient than driving to the shop and back.

Opening a box and looking at something is exactly that whether it’s in the shop or at your home makes no difference.