SKODA deposit problem

bitemarx

Hi,

A couple of weeks ago (when the sun was shining on my finances and before I ran into a financial iceberg!), I saw an online ad for a SKODA octavia which I later rang and enquired about viewing. Since I was unable to view the car immediately, the agent advised that I could pay a deposit of £100 to reserve the car and that the money would be refunded if I wasn't interested in it.
About a week ago, things on the financial front took a turn for the worse, and therefore, I had to cancel my plans to buy a new car. So I spoke with the agent at SKODA and asked that my credit card (details of which he had taken during the first telephone call) not be charged for the £100 or, if they had already charged it, that the £100 be returned to my credit card since I didnt want the car.

Looking at m credit card transactions online today, I see that they have indeed taken the £100 but not returned the money.

Im planning to call them tomorrow and ask them to return the money but Id like to know whther they are justified in taking my money in this way. Any thoughts?

P.S. I didnt know where to place this post, so pardon me if this is in the wrong forum!

Thank you!

Guinness_is_good_for_you

Refunds might take a few days to appear on your statement, but it's worth calling them just to make sure they have done it.

bitemarx

Yes, and Im also thinking about calling my bank to check if they can tell me whether the £100 has been paid back.

Hintza

OK here comes the reality post. A deposit is paid to reserve the goods for a period of time. If you don't buy in the end the deposit should be non refundable. It is an option to buy.

The only thing you can really do is to write to them explaining your circumstances and hopefuly the will offer arefund as a gesture of goodwill.

If deposits were refundable then they would be pointless.

Premier_2

Hintza wrote: »

OK here comes the reality post. A deposit is paid to reserve the goods for a period of time. If you don't buy in the end the deposit should be non refundable. It is an option to buy.

The only thing you can really do is to write to them explaining your circumstances and hopefuly the will offer arefund as a gesture of goodwill.

If deposits were refundable then they would be pointless.

Whilst that is often the case, the reality is here that the terms of placing the deposit were that it would be refundable if the buyer wasn't interested in continuing with the purchase.

The difficulty may be in this instance for the buyer to be able to prove this was what was agreed.

However, a refundable deposit is not unknown. I've bought a house before where I had to pay a reservation deposit (not the contract deposit) that I has in writing would be fully refundable if I failed for any reason to progress to exchange.

The placing of a deposit that is fully refundable shows a genuine intent to proceed (avoids the tyre kickers), but its reasonable for a seller in certain circumstances to make such deposit fully refundable e.g. because as in this case the buyer had not seen the car.

Guinness_is_good_for_you

I'm with Premier on this, he didn't see the car (which would make this a distance selling) + was told that the deposit was refundable. I don't think you should have any problems getting the money back, but it might take a few days to appear on your statment as discussed above.

Good luck!