Distance Selling Regulations - Follow Up

Cardinal-Red

Ok, following on from my original thread a couple of days ago:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2022143

I have since learned the following:

1) Trading Standards and Consumer Direct have confirmed my reading of the rules as correct and stated they have dealt with this issue "many times" though not necessarily in relation to this company;

2) Regardless, the company continue to refuse to accept that the regulations apply to them and have said they'll only issue a refund "if a court tells them to"

3) From web searching and forum browsing, this company have a long history of this kind of behaviour, telling one customer (whose problem was that the goods were faulty) that they "don't do refunds in any circumstances" (a laughable statement) and several others that the distance selling regulations don't apply to them. I am unsure of the outcomes of many of these instances but am trying to find out.

Anyway, I have issued my notice and they have 30 days to issue a refund. This thread is really to gather opinions on which of my options I should take.

I'm pretty sure that they'll ignore my request and so one of these options will be necessary. I've identified that I can do 3 things:

1) Wait until the 30 days have passed and see what happens;

2) Contact my credit card company under the great s75 and get them to issue a chargeback. This then puts the ball in the company's court and if they are literally relying on me giving in and not pursuing the matter, then this forces them to take the county court option themselves which I am pretty sure they will not do. I genuinelly believe that they know full well I have a claim, but are hoping I'll go away. From the documentation on the internet, the OFT guidelines, and the numerous times they've had this argument with other customers, it is simply impossible (in my view) for them to continue to hold the belief that their PCs are exempt

3) Issue a claim through moneyclaim now, paying the fee and claiming back that cost from them should I win the case, including the statutory 8% interest claim

Now the reason why 2 and 3 are in my head are simply cost to me: I used a credit card to buy the machine, obviously, and the APR is around 19% - so if I don't pay this off by bill due date, I will be paying 19% interest on the amount (I calculate around £17 per month) whereas according to HMCS I can only claim interest at 8%. Also am pretty sure that the 8% will run from the expiry of the 30 days they have to pay, which will be after my credit card bill date.

My instinct is to go with option 2 - not least as I have nothing to lose by doing so even if they say no.

So.... any input?

derrick

Your link returns; - "Address Not Found"

Cardinal-Red

So it does. I don't really know this site's rules on links but I used !!!!!!! to do that, and am guessing it's not allowed.

The full link is:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2022143

Cardinal-Red

Haha - judging from the edits in my post, I guess this site blocks and links to a site which makes URLs tiny, ahem, so my apologies for using that link and original post now edited.

kalaika

I think you have your answer...

Cardinal-Red wrote: »

...and have said they'll only issue a refund "if a court tells them to"

If you've given them due notice of your impending legal action and you've got suitable evidence that they are in the wrong so that you can win the action then I'd just open a small claim against them.

However, in relation to the interest on your credit card, I would pay your credit card bill as you would have done had you wanted to keep the goods. The fact that you will incur £17 per month interest if you don't is neither here nor there in terms of getting a refund (i.e. you would be choosing not to pay the bill and so the cost you incur for not doing so would be down to you, not the company you bought from).

Optimist

Don't forget that under Section 75 of the consumer credit act the card issuer is equally liable. If the supplier is refusing to abide by their legal responsibilities the card company would be my next step..

Name the company concerned. There have been a few instances where companies have found out about these threads and they have sorted the problems out PDQ. There are a lot of potential customers read these threads.

Cardinal-Red

kalaika wrote: »

I think you have your answer...



If you've given them due notice of your impending legal action and you've got suitable evidence that they are in the wrong so that you can win the action then I'd just open a small claim against them.

However, in relation to the interest on your credit card, I would pay your credit card bill as you would have done had you wanted to keep the goods. The fact that you will incur £17 per month interest if you don't is neither here nor there in terms of getting a refund (i.e. you would be choosing not to pay the bill and so the cost you incur for not doing so would be down to you, not the company you bought from).

Kalaika,

Your point is interesting and brings out the lack of complete picture in my own thinking. What I am worried about is not so much the interest now, which my post leans towards, but the after effect.

If I pay off the card, get a nil balance and then move onwards, then when this amount is refunded back to me, I will have a positive balance on my card. I've had this a couple of times in the past and each time the company have charged me a 3% fee for "withdrawing the money" from the card. The amount in dispute here is close to £1000, and represents 5 months worth of my usual spending on the card, so offsetting it against normal spending is not a good option.

Thanks though - food for thought!