free legal advice needed

oli1879

Back in August a company phoned me and asked if I would like to advertise my business in their publication. It sounded quite good so I paid them £170 up front and agreed to pay another £170 once the publication had gone out in September. I waited and heard nothing from them for a long time. I phoned them in November and they told me a memo had gone out saying that the publication had been delayed until 15th Jan 2010. They said they did not have an email address for me. (even though my email address is on the advertisement and I had contacted them by email?).

Anyway, This was no good to me as I probably won't even be trading by then so I asked for my money back. Now they are telling me that the terms and conditions state that they cannot be held responsible for any delays and I can't have a refund.

My question is, is it worth taking this to small claims? Even if it is in the terms and conditions, is it fair?

Also, I don't know if it is relevant but they intially took 2 payments out of my account and I had to phone them repeatedly and wait for call backs which never came before they paid back one of the payments. So far they have only paid back £150

dunstonh

There are a few scams going around where you get cold called to advertise in a publication which never exists.

There are a couple of threads on these in these forums.

Name the company. I wouldnt be surprised if its one of the scam ones.