How Do I Enforce my Right to a Refund

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Tony_F
Tony_F Posts: 24 Forumite
in Consumer rights
A few weeks ago I bought a basic quad band mobile phone plus an international sim card online from a company called GO-sim for £30.84 delivered. Looking at another website I discovered the phone would not work in Canada which is where I was going so I emailed GO-sim to cancel the order which they agreed to but it had already been despatched. They told me to return it to EKIT.COM UK Ltd with an address in Hounslow & gave me a return no. to be marked on the package. I carried out their instructions but after several reminders had not received a refund until yesterday when I got an email from a company called Telestial saying they had refunded USD 25.14 to my credit card. This has not ben received yet & is about half what I paid. The original invoice had no company name or address but the VAT no. used belongs to EKIT.COM UK Ltd a company registered in the UK so I presume they have to abide by the UK Distance Selling Regulations.
My question is who do I complain to if the company still refuses to give me a full refund?
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  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    Chargeback through your credit card issuer.
  • Tony_F
    Tony_F Posts: 24 Forumite
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    I'm not familiar with chargeback but assume I have to convince the card issuer that I'm entitled to a refund.
    I see the distance selling regulations quoted a lot on forums & by moneysavingexpert but what do you do if the trader just refuses to give a refund? Is it a trading standards issue or must you go to the small claims court? In this case it's only 30 quid so not worth spending a lot of time form filling & perhaps more money. If that is the case it makes the distance selling regulations pretty useless in the case of small amounts.
  • MothballsWallet
    MothballsWallet Posts: 15,852 Forumite
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    I think the best thing to do is to talk to your card issuer, tell them what's happened, but the trader's refusing a refund even though the service didn't work.

    Ah - just noticed that bit, it may depend on whether the SIM card is classed as goods or services because the latter's different under the distance regs (which have been replaced last year).
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    Chargeback guide

    Costs you nothing more than a phone call to your card issuer.
  • bod1467
    bod1467 Posts: 15,214 Forumite
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    If the SIM wasn't activated then the service hasn't started, so cancellation rights still apply.

    Warning: some unscrupulous companies pre-activate the SIM prior to despatch of the phone and SIM, on the premise of "quality control checks".
  • frugal_mike
    frugal_mike Posts: 1,687 Forumite
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    Cancellation rights for services covered by the CCRs do not end when the service starts. They end 14 days from the start of the contract, or when the service is fully completed (as long as the consumer gave express permission for the service to start early).

    Services can be cancelled after part performance, but the consumer must pay for the part of the service they received.

    I guess there are semantics that can be debated around when a service completes, but I personally wouldn't say activating a sim card completes the service.
  • Tony_F
    Tony_F Posts: 24 Forumite
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    Thanks to all for the advice. I have now received a refund to my credit card a/c of £25.14 (not $25.14 as originally indicated) but £5.70 has been deducted for p&p which I believe is not legal under the distance selling regulations. I contacted my credit card issuer & they directed me to their disputed transactions form which I have downloaded & will complete when I have time. It's a lot of faff for only £5.70, but I don't like being short-changed.
  • Hintza
    Hintza Posts: 19,420 Forumite
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    Our Canada Service works on the Bell Mobility and Telus networks, which have 3G frequencies of 850 and 1900MHz. Phones that have both of these frequencies include: iPhone (5, 4S, 4, 3GS, 3G), Samsung Galaxy SIII, SII and Note, Nokia N8, and any Smartphones purchased from AT&T in the United States.

    If your phone does not have both of these frequencies, you must select 'Rest of the World' when turning your phone on. Please note, you will incur more expensive rates when selecting this option
  • Hintza
    Hintza Posts: 19,420 Forumite
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    I'm not convinced this is a UK company?
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    Hintza wrote: »
    I'm not convinced this is a UK company?

    I don't think they are either, but they have a UK operation so I think they would be subject to CCRs.

    http://www.gosim.com/about-gosim.html

    "With offices in the UK, USA and Australia, and fulfillment operations in Canada..."

    Their parent company is the JT Group (seems to be based in Jersey), which is also the parent company of ekit.com.
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