READ ME FIRST PLEASE . . . Useful links, Resources and FAQs

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How is a partial refund worked out for age of item and usage?

From the Office of Fair Trading pages covering return of goods (see http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/sogaexplained for the full details) we have:-

OFT/SOGA wrote:

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Where a customer is entitled to repair or replacement because they have accepted the goods, they can claim price reduction or partial refund if the repair or replacement is

* taking an unreasonable time, or
* causing an unreasonable inconvenience, or
* if the repair or replacement is not satisfactory when they receive it.

When you calculate price reductions or partial refunds, think about what an impartial person in a court would think is a reasonable amount.
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The highlighted text outlines the main point.

The calculation of the refund amount offered to the customer is left to the company - but they are advised to consider what a court would consider reasonable.

Every different product has its own life expectancy. Yet even chairs, for example can break in a few weeks or months while others... you see them in antique shop windows hundreds of years old. So just what is a reasonable life expectancy?

A microwave oven has a different life expectancy to that of a car or a brick built garage.

There are so many different products with differing life expectancies, each of which will have been used by the consumer at differing rates that there can be no blanket statement that depreciation should be scaled at this rate, or usage estimated at this percentage.

So the company will offer what they consider to be "reasonable".

Of course, one person's reasonable can be another person's unreasonable. You can of course attempt a negotiation with the company - but if you fail to reach an agreement then your only recourse will be the courts.

Based on that particular product, at that particular price and that particular age and usage - it is a judge who will decide what is "reasonable".
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This FAQ was generated by the discussion in the thread linked here: Sale Of Goods Act Partial Refund Rules

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Being chased for old debts? Statute Barred Debt

A debt will be "Statute Barred" if there has been no acknowledgement of the debt by you making a payment or in writing within the relevant limitation period.

The debt would then be legally UNENFORCEABLE.

If you are in England/Wales then the limitation period is 6 years and you should read:

Link: Factsheet | Liability for Debts and the Limitation Act (England/Wales)

If you are in Scotland then the limitation period is 5 years and you should read:

Link: Factsheet | Liability for debts & the Prescription & Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973

If you feel the debt is "Statute Barred", then there is a letter to write at the end of each factsheet.

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Is a deposit ever refundable?

Like most consumer rights this is not a black and white answer. A deposit signifies intention to buy, provides security and a contribution to expenses that a company may incur before you pay the balance. Does this mean if you cancel your order can you get it back? Leaving morals aside, theoretically a deposit can only be retained if it is a “genuine pre-estimate of loss” incurred by the company, this can cover things like administration, paperwork, time spent on the order and any other legitimate costs that the seller would have incurred as a direct result of your cancellation. If the deposit figure is arbitrary, not a genuine pre-estimate of loss and the retention of the deposit would amount to a financial penalty then this would be unlawful under common law. More from the OFT guidance on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts (1999):

“Where customers cancel...and the supplier suffers loss as a result, they [the customer] cannot expect a full refund of all prepayments. But a term under which they always lose everything they have paid in advance, regardless of the amount of any costs and losses caused by the cancellation, is at clear risk of being considered an unfair penalty.”

(More information on unfair terms here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/rep...rms/oft311.pdf )

Only "genuine losses" can be retained so things like loss of profit (for instance) would not be included as the company still own the asset and can still sell it at the given price.

It would be down to the seller to justify to the court that retention of a deposit was reasonable and would not amount to a financial penalty. There are many factors that determine what value would be reasonable or not; such as how close to the order date you cancelled, the nature of the items bought, the value of the deposit in relation to the value of the item. If you cancelled a second-hand car the day after you ordered then the retention of a £300 deposit would likely be a financial penalty. The retention the day before delivery would probably not.

What does this mean in reality?
Unfortunately once the company has your deposit trying to get it back is easier said than done. They may have terms in the contract that state a deposit is not refundable and may point to this if you ask for it back. It may mean you need to go to court to challenge the retention of your deposit if this is the case. It would be down to the company to justify that the retention of the deposit is reasonable. It may be easier to come to some sort of agreement after making allowances for genuine losses the company suffered as a result of your order. If they refuse to play ball then you may need to issue court proceedings via the small claims court (assuming the claim is for less than £5k via MCOL: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome).

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Posted by somethingcorporate in this post:- [post=45927865]Is a deposit ever refundable[/post]
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