This is just a warning to those of you who buy an electrical item (or other item) which includes the original purchase receipt.

You may think, as I did, that the provision of a receipt is more than an indication of the fact that the product was legitimately purchased.  We bought a laptop, on eBay, listed as new and unregistered.  The seller also provided the receipt which proved the purchase price and that it was only one month old - that meant we were secure in the knowledge that we had eleven months remaining on the warranty, so that if there were any problems, we would eb able to return it to the well-known high street electrical chain it was purchased from.  WRONG!  The laptop had ongoing problems, which worsened over time.  According to their Terms & Conditions, we should have been able to take it in for repair, and should they be unable to repair it or if it had two or more faults, it would be replaced/refunded.  There were lots of faults which were not noticed by their technician who was happy to take the faulty unit in.  However, once it became apparent that we would be claiming on their replacement policy, they became extremely unhelpful and have now told us that, receipt or not, they refuse to help as we are not the original purchaser.

The seller provided a letter to this well-known high street electrical/computer store to say that she had indeed passed title of ownership to us, but to no avail.  Thus we are left with an unreliable laptop just over a year after spending £900 on it.

BEWARE: in most cases, unless stated, an original receipt from a store is nothing more than a document to show where and when an item was purchased.  It is possible that, even on production of a valid receipt with a faulty item, the store will not help you if you did not make the purchase.  Trading Standards clarified this for me in my own case.