Company not giving me a refund - been waiting 6 months!

PocoLocoCoco

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place to post but I will post anyway.

Basically, I am asking for advice on behalf of my father who ordered a motorbike part from a company on March 10th, he paid them £75 by credit card.
The part was meant to be delivered in 3-5 days.
My father was going on a motorbike trip on 25th March and expected the product to be delivered in time.
March 20th (10 days later) the part is not here and the company calls, says the product is now out of stock. They said they would be getting more stock next week if he wanted to wait but as my dad was going away he said no I will need to go elsewhere.The company said ok in that case we are sorry and will issue a full refund.

To this day no refund has appeared. My dad has called them every couple of weeks and gets fobbed off every time. He got in touch with his credit card company who told him to write to their disputes department and they will take it from there.

My dad has only told me this now, if only he told me earlier I would have been straight on to it.

Can anyone tell me where my dad stands legally? Will he get his money back? I have a strange feeling as the company have fobbed him off for so long they will avoid having to pay. (This all started way back in March)

I want to give them a call tomorrow as my dad has taken every excuse where as I would not.

Can anyone give me some tips on what I should say when I call tomorrow? I plan to ask them why it has taken this long? why are they using excuse after excuse? why was the money not refunded instantly? and tell them if no money is refunded I will be getting in touch with my solicitor and taking it from there, not only is this issue it's also about principle. (that sounds a bit naff, doesn't it?)

TIA

yummymummy79

By all means ring them, but I would suggest writing instead, it's not too late, I would imagine they've probably been not dealing with it to hope he'd forget about it!

Assuming he bought it online/over the phone and if so, you can throw a bit of law at them which might help. Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 give 30 days for the company to supply the goods, or if this doesn't happen, a further 30 days to issue a refund.

So write to them stating this, and giving a final 7 days to issue the refund. You may also want to mention that you will be reporting them to Trading Standards for breaching the Distance Selling Regs. Send a copy of this letter to the credit card company as well saying you will be coming back to them if the refund is not received (this is under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 so you can mention that too).

If the company doesn't refund, call Consumer Direct and get them reported to TS about the DSR, and then write again to your Credit Card company giving them 14 days to return the payment, or you will report them to the Financial Ombudsman Service. if that doesn't work, then start a claim with the FOS.

Simples!

downright_mean_with_money

it don't matter whether the goods were ordered over the phone, internet or in person as in this case the goods never materialised and the company say they have issued a refund. Although it is handy to have the DSR the fact is the refund has gone somewhere! and I suspect what may have happened here is the company has genuially issued a refund but there's been a mistake along the line and it's not turned up in your father's account..that is why you need to follow the credit cards companies dispute resolution procedure in this case, as it's allot less bother than the other option of issuing a small claim (you have up to 6 years to take action by the way) not that the small claims court is a bother just not for everyone and the credit card company should be able to help by doing all the hard work in getting in touch with the company and asking sepcific information, if the company don't provide then the cc are duty bound to take action or issue a refund. This is not a section 75 issue as the item is under £100 but it is covered eleswhere by the cc t&cs (not sure which).
I've used the dispute form a number of times and it's very easy to complete, takes about 2 months for an answer to come through but in your case I would expect some good news.

You can call the credit company and ask for the form or write both parties a letter informing them as PocoLocoCoco suggested.

But don't be put off asking for the money back - it's yours not theirs'
if you do contact the parts company ask for evidence of when the refund was issued, if they cannot provide then contact the cc. I take it your father still has the original cc receipt?

PocoLocoCoco

yummymummy79 wrote: »

By all means ring them, but I would suggest writing instead, it's not too late, I would imagine they've probably been not dealing with it to hope he'd forget about it!

Assuming he bought it online/over the phone and if so, you can throw a bit of law at them which might help. Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 give 30 days for the company to supply the goods, or if this doesn't happen, a further 30 days to issue a refund.

So write to them stating this, and giving a final 7 days to issue the refund. You may also want to mention that you will be reporting them to Trading Standards for breaching the Distance Selling Regs. Send a copy of this letter to the credit card company as well saying you will be coming back to them if the refund is not received (this is under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 so you can mention that too).

If the company doesn't refund, call Consumer Direct and get them reported to TS about the DSR, and then write again to your Credit Card company giving them 14 days to return the payment, or you will report them to the Financial Ombudsman Service. if that doesn't work, then start a claim with the FOS.

Simples!

Thanks I am totally new to all this so it's not really simple to me but I can see and follow what you are saying.

Tomorrow I am going to give them a call, say I am calling on behalf of my father regarding a refund that has never been received. I will tell them that 6 months for a refund is absolutely unacceptable and that I am well aware of the DSR and how they have not adhered to this. I will ask them that they immediately refund the monies owed to my dad. I will inform them they have 7 days for the money to reach the account or I will be taking further action along with reporting them to Trading Standards.

My dad has wrote a letter to the Credit Card company which I will look over tomorrow. Should I wait 7 days before posting it as I am giving the company 7 days to refund him?

I am glad it's only £75 to think it could easily have been a lot more money.

Thanks for your help so far.

PocoLocoCoco

downright_mean_with_money wrote: »

it don't matter whether the goods were ordered over the phone, internet or in person as in this case the goods never materialised and the company say they have issued a refund. Although it is handy to have the DSR the fact is the refund has gone somewhere! and I suspect what may have happened here is the company has genuially issued a refund but there's been a mistake along the line and it's not turned up in your father's account..that is why you need to follow the credit cards companies dispute resolution procedure in this case, as it's allot less bother than the other option of issuing a small claim (you have up to 6 years to take action by the way) not that the small claims court is a bother just not for everyone and the credit card company should be able to help by doing all the hard work in getting in touch with the company and asking sepcific information, if the company don't provide then the cc are duty bound to take action or issue a refund. This is not a section 75 issue as the item is under £100 but it is covered eleswhere by the cc t&cs (not sure which).
I've used the dispute form a number of times and it's very easy to complete, takes about 2 months for an answer to come through but in your case I would expect some good news.

You can call the credit company and ask for the form or write both parties a letter informing them as PocoLocoCoco suggested.

But don't be put off asking for the money back - it's yours not theirs'
if you do contact the parts company ask for evidence of when the refund was issued, if they cannot provide then contact the cc. I take it your father still has the original cc receipt?

Yes my dad has a receipt from the company.

My dad has been given excuse after excuse about the refund, first they said accounts need to deal with it, then they said it hasn't been issued as they don't have his cc security code and didn't have the postcode (lie) they have also used a number of other excuses which have been just billy bullshine tbh.

I am hoping if I call tomorrow we can resolve this and I won't need to take any further action.

downright_mean_with_money

that's sounds good then, if you have cc reciept then that's all the proof you need. As for the company themselves they just sounds bonkers by not admitting something has gone wrong here.

I don't see why a court in this land would not issue a judgement in your favour with a cc receipt for goods not received and no refund...after 6 months!
and if you did you can also claim for lost interest! I would therefore also ask for soemthing in the way of an apology and a goodwill gesture on their part. the usual rule on interest reclaim is 8% p.a. from the date the transaction happened (162 days) or roughly £75 + £3 = £78

good luck

Firefox1975

Double check you dads CC statement to make sure it hasn;t been refunded and overlooked. You will look proper daft if the company is correct and the oversight was on your behalf!

yummymummy79

PocoLocoCoco wrote: »

My dad has wrote a letter to the Credit Card company which I will look over tomorrow. Should I wait 7 days before posting it as I am giving the company 7 days to refund him?

You could do that, or you could send a copy of the letter you send to the parts company to the CC co as well. As it's only 7 days you'd be waiting, don't think it makes a huge amount of difference either way. As long as everyone knows what's going on, that's the main thing.

PocoLocoCoco

Well I have decided I am not going to ring them as I am not getting into an argument over the telephone.

I am writing a letter to them giving them 7 days to refund or further action will be taken. I will send a copy of that letter along with another letter to the dispute claims department at his credit card company.

I have checked my dads credit card statements since March to date and there has been nothing.

Hopefully I can get this resolved as soon as.

Also could anyone help me write a letter to them? I haven't done anything like this so will need a little help to make.

PocoLocoCoco

Here is a draft letter, if anyone could please help me with this I would be really grateful.



Dear Sir/Madam,


My name is X X and I am writing regarding a refund (Order No: 18403) which I have not received.


I made an order over the telephone on 10th March 2009. I ordered a product, the order could not be fulfilled by yourselves and I was promised a refund. I received a sales invoice and receipt on 12th March 2009. £75.00 was removed from my credit card.


After numerous phone calls and excuses from yourselves I have had enough, 5 months for a refund is absolutely unacceptable.


I am fully aware of the 'Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000' which you have not adhered to.


Monies owed to myself should be immediately refunded. I will allow 7 days for the money to reach my account or I will be taking further action along with reporting you to Trading Standards.


Yours


X X

KeithP

That letter looks pretty good.

BTW this type of letter is known as a letter before action, and if you google letter before action sample, you will find many many examples for different situations.
HTH.