Barclaycard question..

macca64

Hi all new poster to the forums, but have been reading for a couple of months. I have a question. My sister has a Barclaycard, and she purchased some jewellery from a company off Sky (approx £30 worth), this was paid for on her Barclaycard. The goods were not delivered so she phoned the company, and they said the courier service they used delivered them to a house number "x" which is the same as our house number, however we have never received the goods, the courier company say they left them in a letter box! obviously not ours!!

My sister has told Barclaycard about this problem and said that she will not be paying the £30 as she has not received the goods, and Barclaycard told her that this is ok, but she will be charged interest on the £30, is this right, are they allowed to do this?

Where does she stand with the company who say they have delivered the goods, she has phoned them twice so far, once to inform them the goods had not arrived, then another to chase them up, thats when they said they had been delivered.

What should she do now, the goods were a birthday present, however the birthday has since gone, so she would like a refund now.

Thanks if you can help
Steve

davros_3

I remember reading about something like this on the watchdog website. they had a template letter to send to the credit card company which quotes a credit card clause saying you will not be paying interest

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/draft_letters/payment.rtf

dont know if it helps

Milarky

Because of the amount involved - less than £100 - I don't think Barclaycard are liable for the failure to recieve the goods. [Good draft letter, though, davros].The dispute thus remains between yourselves and the merchant [as the seller]

It sounds as though Barclaycard are just saying that they will continue to charge interest on this item as they would on any other item, having simply passed the £30 to the seller and debited your account. You definitely owe Barclaycard £30 in these circumstances, and should continue to maintain the account in good order. It makes sense to pay off the account financially speaking in any case.

[In general, I'd say that settling an account with a credit card early to avoid paying interest - even where you did have a claim because the value of the item exceeded £100 - should not affect in any way your rights to a subsequent refund by the card company EDIT: Sorry. Hadn't seen the above post at that stage. I'd now say: "only do this if it was your original intention to repay the balance in full anyway and you wished to continue to use the card for [i]other[/i] purchases - i.e. 'clear' the account and claim the money later".]

But if you did get redress from the seller by pursuing them successfully you ought to be able to claim the added costs of the interest as well other costs entailed.

macca64

Ok thanks, she was just about to close the account with Barclaycard, so was not going to spend anything on the account, should she still pay the £30 (she is a student with not much money!!)??

Also what action should she take, I suggested writing a letter stating the facts and asking for a refund, and then sending it registered post to prove it's been delivered ;o)

But I need to know who is in the right, they say it's been delivered, we say it hasn't... does she have any rights?? I thought the company had to prove it had been delivered under the mail order selling act or something similar??

Caped_Avenger

Either way, Barclaycard need to be paid £30. Be this a refund from the retailer once the dispute is (hopefully) resolved, or a payment from your sister. The £30 not being paid is NOT an option. Certainly not a sensible one, anyway. Barclaycard won't close the account until the debit is paid, either way.

My advice to your sister would be to pay it (means she won't get into any interest or late-payment problems), then pursue the retailer. If they subsequently refund, Barclaycard will send her a cheque. Your sister paying Barclaycard £30 is not an 'admission of defeat', and it doesn't affect the issue with the retailer one little bit.

davros_3

heres a leaflet from office of fair trading, it seems pretty clear you are in the right, and they have to deliver it to you and make sure it gets to you

http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8EBE88F6-5BCD-4306-A6E7-35986221BED3/0/oft334.pdf

macca64

Ok thanks, I'll tell her to pay the £30 to avoid interest charges especially at 20%+ APR that she is on :eek:

Anyone know the situation with chasing the seller? as per my earlier post??

macca64

Thanks Davros, posted before I saw your reply.

macca64

Can't find a mention of them making sure they have to deliver it and making sure you get it, can you give a page number?? Sorry if I'm being thick!!

davros_3

on page 10(i think) in section called "if goods don't arrive on time" it said something like "it goods dont arrive at all, you dont have to pay, or are entitled to a refund" (i'm paraphrasing)