Has your Mous case or backpack now broken twice and the only thing they offer you is a discount code to their store? Don't believe them just yet. Depending on the customer protection laws in your country you may still have a legal right to not just a replacement, but a full refund in cases where your product has been replaced and the replacement proves faulty.
Mous of course doesn't want you to know this and for example removes posts concerning customer rights from their subreddit using their moderator rights (example 1, example 2). It seems that the company tolerates a certain level of negative feedback on this subreddit to appear transparent, but removes criticism that mentions customer legal rights.
If you live in a developed country (for example EU, UK, Australia), there is a good chance that the customer protection law will under certain circumstances legally obligate Mous to give you a full refund for the products you purchase. Mous cannot use its warranty policy to limit statutory customer rights (although it certainly tries to do so).
To find out more about your customer protection laws, you can contact your local authorities. Before that, you can use your favorite AI model to get preliminary information about the laws in your area. For best results ask for exact quotes of the law. Then independently verify that these paragraphs exist and aren't hallucinations by the AI.
The very existence of Mous' warranty policy breaks the law in the EU and possibly other areas as well, as it is missing key details required by the law. This description uses EU law as an example, because the author knows it best.
Mous is an UK company and is supposed to follow UK customer protection laws. These should be the same as elsewhere in the EU, as they are based on an EU directive and were implemented on the UK law before Brexit. In their warranty policy Mous is supposed tell you that:
Mous does none of these things. When their customer service is confronted about the issue, they usually attempt to mislead you by referring to their warranty policy even though under EU law it's null and void.
Products sold in the EU can have two types of warranties: a legal guarantee which provides the customer with a minimum level of protection and an optional commercial warranty provided by the manufacturer which extends these rights. These days the legal guarantee is often more extensive than the commercial warranty. Mous is in the habit of misleading their customers to believing that the Mous commercial warranty somehow limits the legal guarantee, which is not true.
Mous' commercial warranty policy is so full of loopholes that it's basically impossible to hold them responsible for anything at all. For example, it does not cover any problem or damage to an item that is caused by or originates from:
If they want to avoid warranty repair, they can simply say that your product has been damaged by one of these exclusions. This makes their warranty policy about as useful as an empty sheet of paper. You are entirely dependent on their goodwill, because legally this policy is almost worthless to a consumer. It also states that they never give refunds and that you are only allowed one replacement.
In order to fill the conditions of the legal guarantee the product should simply fulfill the consumer's reasonable expectations. Failing that, the product is almost automatically faulty (or "non-conforming" in legalese).
According to Article 7 of Directive 2019/771 the goods must be of the quantity and possess the qualities and other features, including in relation to durability, functionality, compatibility and security normal for goods of the same type and which the consumer may reasonably expect given the nature of the goods and taking into account any public statement made by or on behalf of the seller, particularly in advertising or on labelling.
The goods must be also be fit for the purposes for which goods of the same type would normally be used.
In order to fill the conditions of the legal guarantee the product should simply fulfill the consumer's reasonable expectations. Failing that, the product is almost automatically faulty (or "non-conforming" in legalese).
Considering the high price and marketing of the items it is perfectly reasonable for you to assume that the cases can be used for many years. The legal minimum for even the cheapest and crappiest products is two years: the seller shall be liable to the consumer for any lack of conformity which exists at the time when the goods were delivered and which becomes apparent within two years of that time. (Directive 2019/771 Article 10(1))
On the first time your products encounter problems you have the right to a repair or replacement only (Directive 2019/771 Article 13(2)). On the second time, you also have the right to a full or partial refund (Directive 2019/771 Article 13(4)(b)).
Mous most likely intially refuses co-operation when you make a valid legal guarantee claim which is not in accordance of their commercial warranty. This is illegal.
Empirical evidence seems to support the fact that Mous usually gives you the first warranty replacement without problems.
If you need a second replacement, you will have the right to a full refund. Mous support will most likely become very unhelpful at this point. They keep quoting their meaningless commercial warranty policy to you. At this point, you will simply have to be persistent. Remember that your claim is not a commercial warranty claim but a legal guarantee claim and their warranty has no impact at all on the proceedings. Keep quoting the law when appropriate and keep reminding them that you have no reason at all to accept any solution that is not fully in compliant with the law. Don't give up, no matter what they say.
In the UK Citizens Advice can help you to make a claim, give you information about your rights and file a complaint to Trading Standards. In the EU, Norway or Iceland you can get help from ECC-Net. Others countries may have similar organizations.
In case Mous is uncooperative, you have the right to make the same demands to your creditor. They will reverse the transaction and send the bill to Mous, with interest. If there are enough chargebacks, Visa/Mastercard will first increase Mous's transaction fees or in a particularly severe case terminate their business relationship. A business like Mous cannot survive without credit card payments. This means the chargebacks are a “nuclear option” that all companies respect. Sidenote: never do it to Apple, Google, Steam or other companies that you have bought digital content from! They will permanently lock you out of your account and you will lose your digital library.
This website is in no way affiliate with Mous.
