My consumer rights, re wedding dress, any advice please?

suzie1979

Hi,

Just a query. In 2007 and was going to get married and the wedding was cancelled. I has already paid nearly £500 pounds toward the cost of an £800 wedding dress. When the wedding was cancelled the dress that was a standard uk size 14 had not been altered in any way. After many phone calls trying to get hold of the manageress and after numerous visits to the shop where she was always "unavailable", I finally managed to speak to her. I was told I could not have any money back unless ahe couls sell the dress again, or I could pay the rest of the money abd take the dress. I agreed for her to try and sell it, thinking this would be fairly easy as it is the UK's 2nd most common dress size. I left in her hands she promised she would be in touch.

Several months passesd with me trying to speak to her again. Eventually she sent me a letter saying she had sold 2 size 8s, a size 10, a sixe 12, a petite size 14 and a size 16. (seemingly very convenient). The dress was going to be altered to fit me so I found the petite 14 thing particularly hard to belive.

However I gave her the benefit of the doubt and she said she would continue trying. That was nearly 2 years ago. She never made any further attempt to get in touch. I have not heard anything since.

I was reminded of this only when I came across all the reciepts and the terms and conditions of sale that I did not sign. They were generally unhelpful throughout and only got in touch with me if I contacted them first. I do believe that they sold the dress again. So I feel like they took nearly £500 of my money for no reason. I could understand if the dress had been altered to fit me but it had not.

Is it too late for me to chase this up? and were they in the right. Any advice muchly appreciated.

Thanks

Suz

Antispam

Well there is no harm in asking but as you know you have left it rather late but sounds like you got the run around before

augustsmummy

You can try hun, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope, due to the length of time that has lapsed. How did you pay for the dress?
You may also struggle as you might not be able to prove that she did sell it on afterwards. Have you tried CAB? They might be able to give you some advice as to where you stand.

Bellestar_2

Go into the shop and ask them to bring the dress out because you've brought in the £300 balance?

If they bring the dress out you'll know they really haven't sold it yet .... if they can't bring it out because they've sold it, they can give you your refund straight away.

augustsmummy

Yes what Bellestar said!

pinkshoes

I would go with what Bellestar said too.

Forget that 2 years has passed. Just go in, and say you'd like to try your dress on which you've paid a £500 deposit for (take receipt!).

If they can't produce the dress there and then (or at least go somewhere and get it), then ask for the £500 back.

augustsmummy

But surely if they could only sell it for £300 they should have contacted OP and checked that it was ok for them to go ahead and selll it as it would leave her no better off. If they do however say that then say the idea was they sold it on at full retail price, or as near as possible, in order to reimberse your £500.
This might be hard to argue unless you had a written contract stating they could sell your dress for no lower than a set amount. That could however work in your favour, as if you haven't signed an agreement stating they could sell your dress on, then it is still your dress (well £500 of it is yours) and they should not really have sold it on.
Have you been in and asked?

smcaul

SueSueSue wrote: »

Can't really agree

The OP owed £800 for the dress and wouldnt/couldnt pay. The retailer had a right to minimise their loss and this would be expected in law.

If they didnt sell the dress when they could have then sought damages their claim could have been prejudiced

Try reading the original post again, then go back and edit your post!

The OP said that they had come to an agreement with the shop whereby the shop would try to sell the dress on the OP's behalf, no where does it say that the OP refused to pay the extra.

augustsmummy

I can't see what you don't agree with in my post? Please feel free to enlighten me.
All I said was that IMO they "should" have contacted her prior to selling the dress on for less than it's full retail value. This means a quick call to OP saying "we have a lady here ready to buy the dress for £300, this is the best we will get for it now. We recommend we sell for that and then consider the matter closed," or something like that.
As it stands they have not contacted her AT ALL, to say whether it has been sold or not. Nor have they contacted her to say that she still owes the remaining £300 and that she must pay the amount and collect the dress.
It does sound alot like they have kept the £500, and either sold the dress on at a profit (by selling for more than the £300 which was outstanding) or they have done whatever they normally do with the unsold dresses.
Either way I find it odd that they have not contacted the OP at all in 2years with a progress report.

Firefox1975

She has left it too late.

too much mud in the water now. (Unless the same manageress is still there?)

it;s worth going in to say you have come to pay the balance though - it may very well just be sat in a box in the basement.

And I wouldnt have expected the shop to have tried too hard to sell it, I mean, they got their profit already with your £500! all they will do is lose out if they sell your dress to the next customer!!

muffintop

I recommend going with what Bellestar has said and if you have no joy, then you might consider going down the small claims court route. They have had £500. You have not had your dress. It is more likely than not that they sold your dress if they no longer have it, so you should be entitled to your £500 back.