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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Miles Brignall

It's taking me a lifetime to navigate TomTom's free offer

Road to nowhere: pointing the finger at TomTom and Halfords.
Road to nowhere: pointing the finger at TomTom and Halfords. Photograph: Richard Gardner/Rex Features

I bought a TomTom XL UK, Republic of Ireland and western Europe classic satnav from Halfords on 9 December. It came with free lifetime maps updates, which is why I purchased that particular- model.

On the outside of the box was a label which stated that the offer had to be redeemed by 30 June, 2015. I did not try to redeem it until 9 February.

This was the first time I had plugged the TomTom into my computer, and I was surprised to be told that the offer was no longer valid as I should have redeemed it within 30 days of purchase. There is no other documentation with the satnav that says this, nor does it warn that this is the case on the Halfords website.

In addition, the staff at Halfords did not draw my attention to this. I have been in contact with both TomTom and Halfords, and neither is prepared to honour the maps offer.

JH, London

Again, this was another open and shut case – the packaging clearly stated that the lifetime maps offer had to be redeemed before June.

You would have been perfectly entitled to return it and demand your money back. It was a bit rubbish of Halfords staff to try to pass the buck to TomTom – a company that has -featured in these pages before. The retailer is responsible – the item must be as described, which in this case it obviously wasn’t.

Fortunately, when we pointed out to Halfords its responsibilities in this area, it resolved the matter.

“Thank you for raising this issue with us, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused to JH. We have contacted our supplier TomTom, and the lifetime maps offer will now be honoured and installed as soon as possible,” a spokeswoman says.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us atconsumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number

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