Must customers wait for factory refund approval?
No. If you sold the goods to a UK consumer, you cannot make their statutory remedy depend on contacting the Chinese factory or obtaining its approval. Assess the fault and provide the remedy due; pursue your supplier separately. Factory evidence can help that assessment. Cambridge China Bridge can help investigate supplier problems.
Check who bought from whom
This guide concerns your sale to a UK consumer. Your purchase of stock from a supplier is a separate transaction. The existing guide on goods arriving faulty covers that supplier claim. Do not apply its business-purchase rules to a consumer complaint.
Confirm the seller named on the customer’s order and receipt. If your business sold the goods, handle the complaint through your business. For sourcing arrangements where the seller’s identity is unclear, see agent, wholesaler and platform roles.
Keep factory approval out of the customer remedy
GOV.UK says you must not restrict customers’ rights or mislead them about those rights. Making a remedy that is legally due conditional on factory approval would conflict with that obligation. A factory warranty also does not replace the customer’s statutory rights to free repair or replacement.
Remove wording such as “contact the manufacturer first” or “refunds depend on supplier approval” from complaint scripts. Give customers a contact within your business. You can arrange factory technical support, but keep responsibility for assessing and delivering the remedy with your business.
Investigate the fault without an open-ended hold
Ask for proof of purchase, which can include a receipt or other evidence such as a bank statement. Record the fault, when it appeared, the product identity and what the customer wants. Ask for photographs or a description where useful, and arrange an examination when needed.
Factory findings can inform your assessment. Where the consumer is entitled to repair or replacement, you must provide it within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience, and bear necessary costs including labour, materials and postage. Waiting for a factory reply must not undermine those requirements.
Offer the remedy due, then recover supplier costs
Do not treat every complaint as an automatic refund or force every customer into repair. Establish which remedy is due. Where a refund is due under the statutory right to reject, give it without undue delay and within 14 days beginning with the day you agree the consumer is entitled to it. Factory reimbursement is not the trigger for that deadline.
Keep a separate supplier file with the batch reference, fault evidence, customer remedy and costs. Ask the factory for its findings, proposed correction and reimbursement response. Agree how future claims will be handled using the guide on warranty administration with a UK sourcing seller.
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Give staff a usable response
Use wording such as: “We will assess your faulty-goods claim and explain the remedy due. Please send your proof of purchase and describe the fault. We will arrange any necessary checks and tell you the next step. We will handle discussions with our supplier.”
Appoint someone who can authorise the customer remedy without waiting for a supplier credit note. Keep updates specific: what is being checked, who is handling it and what happens next. Cambridge China Bridge’s staff in China can help investigate the factory issue while your business handles the customer complaint.
Frequently asked questions
Can I tell a customer to contact the Chinese factory?
You can arrange technical support, but cannot make a statutory remedy depend on the customer contacting the factory. Keep a complaint contact within your business.
Can I wait for the factory to approve a refund?
Factory approval cannot be a condition of a refund that is legally due. For a statutory rejection refund, the deadline runs from your agreement that the consumer is entitled, not factory reimbursement.
Can I ask for proof of purchase?
Yes. GOV.UK allows you to ask for proof that the customer bought from you. A receipt is not the only evidence; a bank statement can also help establish the purchase.
Does an expired factory warranty end my responsibility?
No. GOV.UK says the right to free repair or replacement exists regardless of a warranty or guarantee. You may still owe a remedy after the factory warranty expires.