Wiggle Return, Advice Please...

My tuppence.  

Bought a set of Leyzene Zecto lights almost two years ago, noticed the front light had stopped working when I tried to switch on one evening.  Checked and Leyzene do a 2 year warranty, so followed Wiggles returns policy and got a refund, no issues at all, just took time.  

I had a similar problem with a tyre a few weeks ago - I'd bought it 15 months before, and had used it for a few weeks only. Sent photos and explanation of how tyres used, kept pumped up etc.,they refererred me to the returns policy the OP refers to, I returned the tyre using collect+ with the appropriate form filled out(no charge), they sent me a replacement by return post. (Tyre had sidewall cracking).

Just follow Wiggle's procedure, no option really.

It'll be Winter again soon, so you'll be paying for wheels you can't use anyway. Still, at least if you'd had to pay for them in one go you'd still be saving up for them now and wouldn't have any wheels anyway.

What a bizarre perspective. You aren't renting the wheels, you're paying back the loan you received in order to take ownership of them. The loan was also provided by V12 rather than Wiggle, so how you paid for them is none of Wiggle's concern as they deal with your enquiry 

Unfortunately I feel your pain but what Wiggle tells you is correct. Unfortunately they aren't going to replace your wheels on your word as they will end up covering the cost.

They will send them back to the professionals (in this case FFWD) who will more than likely either replace or credit Wiggle who in turn will ask if you would prefer a refund or a new set of wheels. And 30 days isn't bad, just remember you've got to factor in that shipping to FFWD could take 3-5 days each way and then when they arrive they are bottom of the pile. For all we know FFWD could have 1000 wheels to check.

I hope for your sake FFWD aren't too busy so they can sort you out as quickly as possible.

Let Wiggle do their thing. I had exactly the same dilemma when I returned my Garmin recently. I received the same email that you did and sighed heavily!
After thinking it through I understood that they can't just refund / exchange expensive items without some recourse back to the manufacturer. In my case Wiggle came up trumps in less than a week and exchanged my Garmin without quibble. Very happy with the result.

Are you suggesting you should have more rights by paying on interest free credit? Because if you had paid cash outright you wouldn't make the same statement about not being able to use the wheels you paid for.

"So I'm now left paying for goods that I can't use, for 30 days or longer?"

If your house was flooded & you had to move out for a few weeks, would you stop paying your mortgage because you can't use the house you're paying for? 

You've borrowed money to buy the wheels and the terms of your 12 month agreement is that it's paid back.

Let's hope that Fast Forward warranty the wheel as it's not good that it's cracked after such a short time.  Whilst these spots are under a lot of tension, it shouldn't go after such a short period.  Fingers crossed.

If you've done as few miles as you say, they're not fit for purpose, you should be covered under the Consumer Rights Act. Read this to confirm your rights:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

The 30 days appears to be a legal thing.

Tricky.  Consumer law all hinges on what is 'reasonable' - after 6 months the burden changes as to whether you can prove the goods were faulty at the point of purchase rather than through misuse.   30 days doesn't sound like an unreasonable length of time but longer does.  Where Wiggle are being reasonable is investigating the cause.  Ultimately though, if the manufacturer says it's your fault, you may need to take them to court.