GCs PCs - DO NOT BUY FROM [Removed]

pentreath_2

What a crook! I used to go to the school he's at, I can't say I'm surprised.

I'm curious about the additional charges to customers' cards. I was under the (clearly naive) impression that sites like his, which pass you on to a third-party payment site when you want to pay for the items in your basket, have no access to your card details. How does a retailer then manage to add extra charges?

deanos

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4083133.Business_of_whizzkid__16__under_scrutiny/

dinah_greek

Well I have an official comment from a lawyer on those Ts and Cs - many of the clauses are unfair and breach consumer rights....so if ******* is reading this - eight years plus of writing about consumer statutory law means it seems I do know what I am talking about!

I have looked at the site and it seems that there have been some changes but I also have the originals and the lawyer went through them all. My thanks to ****** of Pinsent Masons for a sterling effort.

Those extra charges that are obviously one of the sticking points and which were looked at carefully by Struan however remain despite any changes.

The upshot is he said a judge is unlikely to uphold parts of these Ts and Cs if a consumer takes out a legal action against this company. The OFT - which is looking at the Ts and Cs - well I hope so since I have been in contact about this - has the power to force him to remove unfair terms and conditions.

If someone feels that this company has taken money that it shouldn't have they should make a formal complaint to the OFT. I would urge that all those people to do this.

The OFT doesn't take on individual cases per se but enough complaints will flag up this issue again to them. People who have had extra charges taken from their cards really should consider filing a claim in the small claims court and also talk to their credit card issuer.

I agree with******** on one thing. Inform him you have a complaint. This is for your benefit by the way so you have covered all bases. Let him know if you intend to take further action and what this is. The law really prefers it if you have tried to resolve the matter this way first. I would do this via recorded letter to his house in Benfleet although an email to [EMAIL="legal@gcspcs.co.uk"]legal@gcspcs.co.uk[/EMAIL] should be sent as well. I do hope he doesn't try charging £6.70 for this but if he does then keep a record.

If anyone wants further advice by all means contact me and I will try to see if I can help further or highlight your plight in the news story. I will update you on any further developments - if there are any.

dinah_greek

Hi Cleo - he contacted me after I sent an email. I was surprised he got back so quickly - but probably because he was aware that things were getting hot after seeing forum posts - we had a long chat.. with him mainly telling me that I didn't know what I was talking about and because I don't have a law degree I was not qualified to tell him the Ts and Cs were unfair and breached consumer rights - in short - the conversation was unproductive while he stonewalled me - although he accused me of wasting his time and because I chuckled at one point it proved that I was "unprofessional" and not taking this seriously.. please do email me Cleo to talk about this. If you include your phone number I can call you back

dinah_greek

I concur with the last post - I did say in earlier posting that people should contact Consumerdirect and make a complaint. This will then be passed on to Essex Trading Standards; the more understanding of what is going on the better. I have just spoken to the acquiring bank again and should get something concrete to say from them by this afternoon or monday.

MoneySavingNovice

Hope I'm not breaking any forum rules - but there is also an interesting post on

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=946227&highlight=gc+pc+s

about this topic!

also I think that as the T&C's are unenforceable, The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply, which is here

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm

(I hope its OK to link to a government website!)

Brooker_Dave

dinah_greek wrote: »

I concur with the last post - I did say in earlier posting that people should contact Consumerdirect and make a complaint. This will then be passed on to Essex Trading Standards; the more understanding of what is going on the better. I have just spoken to the acquiring bank again and should get something concrete to say from them by this afternoon or monday.

Where does the website stand as far as VAT is concerned?

I've been lead to believe that if a company is VAT registered the VAT number must be clearly shown?

Surely any business turning over £30k a month is VAT registered?

jpvic

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Where does the website stand as far as VAT is concerned?

I've been lead to believe that if a company is VAT registered the VAT number must be clearly shown?

Surely any business turning over £30k a month is VAT registered?

The current registration threshold for taxable supplies is £67,000 PA as of 2008 budget.

Brooker_Dave

jpvic wrote: »

The current registration threshold for taxable supplies is £67,000 PA as of 2008 budget.

Was the mini-magnet not boasting of his £30k per month sales?

The VAT man does not take hostages....

vikingaero

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Was the mini-magnet not boasting of his £30k per month sales?

The VAT man does not take hostages....

There's the difference between his actual turnover and that bragged to the gutter press. Maybe his £30k pm turnover was talked up and was in reality £3k per month, in which case the little scrote may not have reached the threshold for paying/registering for VAT?