Section 75 refunds - article discussion

Eddybr1991

Sorry if this has already been asked.....
I made a purchase (£215) on my pre-paid credit card for a ps4. The item was both damaged and not working. I contacted the retailer, they were not willing to discuss refunds.
So, I wrote to my credit card issuer, with picture evidence, and filling in a dispute form claiming for a section 75.
I waited the 45 days they specified (to wait for a reply from MasterCard) And was told that they have information from the sender saying the goods were sent and signed for by myself and that I have not returned them.
If I have already sent my evidence, is it that they haven't read my covering letter sent with the disputes form?
Is there anything I can do?
It makes no sense to return the item with the company refusing to talk refunds.
Thanks
Edward

JimmyTheWig

Eddybr1991 wrote: »

I made a purchase (£215) on my pre-paid credit card for a ps4.
...
I wrote to my credit card issuer, with picture evidence, and filling in a dispute form claiming for a section 75.

I don't believe that pre-paid cards are covered by Section 75.
You may still be able to do a chargeback from the credit card, but won't necessarily be easy.

willo65

Hi all,

I am hoping for some advice on a car I have just bought, it is a 1 year old vehicle that I paid a £2000 deposit on my credit car and the rest is on finance.

When I was shown the car at the dealer it had a cut in the tyre and I was advised the tyre would be replaced. I was also advised by the salesman that there would be mats left in the car and that there was £30 of fuel in the vehicle and that as I had agreed to buy the vehicle then they would be unable to drive the vehicle and make use of that fuel.

Upon collection I noted that the tyre has been replaced with a budget tyre when the car initially had premium tyres when I viewed it, they said the mats unfortunately didn't fit in the car as they were the wrong make and as such they had removed them and also that they had put a quarter of a tank of fuel in, this was actually about £10 worth, not the £30 initially stated and not a quarter of a tank.

I have tried speaking to the dealer and they are unwilling to budge on any of the above, am I able to claim under section 75 for a comparable tyre to the one on the vehicle when I agreed to buy it, mats for the car and the missing fuel?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Willo

Crabman

Hi willo65

Did you have any of the assurances in writing? It's not a problem if it was only verbal but you should write down asap what was said by you and them as that will still be usable as evidence in future. You could also email the dealership and clearly explain each point. In their reply they will hopefully refer to their agreement with you and this should be useful evidence too.

Section 75 makes the credit card firm jointly and severally liable with the dealership, so if the dealership agreed to provide you with a product or service but have failed to do so, you can make a claim.

I would visit a garage or two that fits tyres and ask them what they think of the tyre that has been fitted. If they feel it is not recommended to fit a budget tyre when the other side of the axle has a better quality one, that may be helpful (especially if they are willing to put that in writing for you if needed).

However, I would warn you that some credit providers are very harsh in dealing with these claims and will try to bully customers into thinking they don't have a legitimate right to remedy.

Sadly there are rogues in the car sales sector as it's an unregulated industry. I know several people who have had issues with car salespeople who lied through their teeth so I hope you don't feel you did anything wrong here.

willo65

Thanks Crabman,

I have now been in contact with the card provider and they are looking into it. I did visit a couple of garages and one couldn't help with a report as they don't stock the budget tyre and the other didn't want t get involved in any disputes so was also a no go. I did however do some research of my own into the tyres showing the difference between them so hopefully will be ok.

Unfortunately I have nothing in writing but their was 2 of us at the viewing of the vehicle so hopefully this may also help.

Thanks
Willo

HurdyGurdy

This is a kind of a pre-emptive question, as until I was skyping a friend this evening, it never occurred to me that there could be potential for a S75 claim. Just wondering if the knoweldgeable on the forum might be able to advise.

As this is a very long post, a summary is:

1. We bought a bath/shower which despite being assured it would - doesn't fit as well/easily as we expected.

2. It has fancy electronics in it, which don't work now that all the wires and cables are joined up.

3. Because of the way it has been installed, it is going to be difficult if not impossible to access the control panel electronics, which we have been told by the company's engineer, needs to be replaced.

4. The initial £1,000 deposit, plus the final payment, were paid each time on my Tesco credit card.



The long version:
In March/April, my husband and I visited the Ideal Home Show. We had decided to re-do our bathroom, and were looking for any good show deals or at least some ideas. We wanted to remove our bath and replace it with a large shower cubicle/cabinet. We have the world's most stupidly small bathroom, so there was little potential for any creativity on the part of a planning consultant.

Anyway, we came across a company which did the most amazing showers/steam cabinets. We sat down with the sales woman and, long story short, we agreed to purchase their latest, newest, shiniest, top of the range shower thingy. It did come as a bath-with-benefits, but it was a real luxury thing and we loved it. We said that we would wait until the next day after we had been home, measured our bathroom to make sure it would actually fit etc. before placing a firm order.

We were given a special "show price" and also saved the VAT as I have rheumatoid arthritis, and although they couldn't say the thing had medical "powers" it could be beneficial. So it was going to cost £2,000.

We measured it, and then rang the company the next day and told them - to the mm - how much space we had in our bathroom and were assured that this shower cabinet/bath thing would fit. I paid a £1,000 deposit on my Tesco credit card - thinking I was being smart and would rack up the Clubcard points.

Fast forward to last week, when our fitter actually came to start. The room had been ripped out and the flooring laid, and the plastering done. Then when he took the bath bit upstairs (it wasn't just a bath, but came on a heavy metal frame, so it took two people and a lot of swearing to get it upstairs), it only just fitted into the room. Well, I say only just - he had to hack out a chunk of the new plaster to squeeze it in. Once it was in, it wasn't coming out again. It was completely wedged in. Only then did we realise that the front bath panel was fixed and couldn't be removed to access the pipework underneath.

After much deliberation, we decided that we would go head with assembling the rest of the unit. Then the fitter realised that it was impossible to fit it the way it was meant to be fitted. Despite the assurances at the show, and on the phone (three times) that this was easy to assemble and would perfectly fit in our bathroom, there was absolutely no way that the cabinet could be screwed together the way it was meant to. There just wasn't the room to be able to do it. The fitter would have to be at the back of the unit to screw it together, and then due to the size of our bathroom he'd be there forever more as he'd not be able to get out again.

Once he started to put it together, he realised that it was meant to be assembled, fixed to the bath and the whole thing then slid into position. This was impossible in our bathroom. So the fitter compromised as best he could with it, and "glued" the bits together. We understood that this wasn't the way that it was meant to be assembled, but as the instructions were atrocious (poorly photocopied pamphlets - several of them - and no indication as to what order things should be done in), we went ahead.

This shower is state of the art, and has loads of electric/electronic bits to it. When the fitter had finally got everything in place, it wouldn't switch on. He spoke to one of the engineers from the company, who said that we need a new control box and panel.

This was on Friday. After he had spoken to the engineer, the fitter then spoke to the office and asked for a control box/panel to be sent out. They wouldn't do it on his say-so, as he wasn't the one who had bought the shower. By the time all this had gone on, and he'd managed to let us know, the office was closed, and so we can't do anything now until Monday.

So - given that we were assured by the company that this unit was easily assembled, and would fit in our bathroom no problem, and given that the fitter has had to improvise and "glue" instead of screwing, where would we stand, do you think, if the company refuses to do anything, because it's not been put together the way it was meant to be, and getting to the electronics is going to be so difficult.

I know, I know - with the benefit of hindsight, once we realised that the bath wasn't going in without some of the wall being hacked out, we should have stopped there and then. But we didn't. And now we may potentially be left with a £2,000 piece of equipment that won't work.

Would this be something that a S75 would entertain? It not being fit for purpose or something? Or that we have been mis-sold something?

Our intention now is to start saving up to have it taken out again and replaced, as we originally intended, with a normal shower cubicle, because my fear is that there will be a leak and we won't know about it until the bathroom ends up in the kitchen. Or that we can only access the underside of the bath via the kitchen ceiling. And as our next job is to do the kitchen, that is to be avoided at all costs. The only way the bath is coming out is for it to be cut up and taken out bit by bit. The shower cubicle assembly will be able to be removed, but not the bath.

I don't know whether to mention the company name or not, so I won't for now, but if anyone wants to see a picture of what we have, I can post a link.

yenool

After being critical of Capital One a couple of weeks back I've just had a phone call from them and they have approved my claim.

chutuk

Hi All,

Just after some advice really. I purchased a new 55" TV from an online store approx 8 days ago.

The TV was delivered the next day but the packaging was damaged on arrival. I signed for the goods as 'Not inspected. packaging damaged' fearing it might have been damaged in transit.

On unboxing the TV it appeared mostly undamaged except for a small hairline crack in the very top corner which causes a cluster of dead pixels about 1cm wide in the top left of the screen.

I reported this to the company and we initially talked about returning the item, however I advised it would prove difficult given the damaged packaging and the size of the item. (It would probably need a brand new 55" box to be transported safely) The company have since taken the stance that they believe the issue to be a 'manufacturing defect' and want a Philips engineer to come out and inspect the TV before anything further is done.

I'm now getting a bit frustrated that I've paid for a TV I'm not using, and the faffing about with possible engineer visits etc (That may take 1-2weeks). Even after an engineer has inspected the TV there's only two outcomes neither of which are really acceptable

1) Engineer confirms it's damaged and I have to go back to retailer
2) Engineer confirms its' a fault and I have to wait for parts/repair etc.

The retailer so far hasn't been unhelpful but the lack of any real progress has made me question whether I should claim under section 75. At the moment I only really see three possible options

1: Seller arranges collection of TV with new packaging and issues full refund
2) I keep the TV, accept the damage and seller issues an appropriate discount
3) Section 75 claim via Visa

What do you recommend?

Crabman

If it was damaged upon arrival and you noted this on the delivery note, they should take away the damaged one at their cost and either provide a refund or replacement. This is what the law says should happen.

If the retailer is being difficult (have you spoken with a manager?) I'd talk to the card provider and tell them what you want as a remedy under Section 75. They may simply do a chargeback as that may be a quicker way of getting you a refund.

Blether

I bought my daughter a washing machine which has a damaged seal. We reported it to the shop Argos and they declined to repair it as it was a couple of days outside the guarantee. It looks like there was a bubble in the seal and it tore. Is that the sort of thing that can be claimed under the Section 75 rules. It was paid for using a Capital One Card.

Thanks