J A Bathrooms

Leif

I rang today and surprisingly I got to speak with Joseph Garnham. He told me off because I had to abide by the distance selling regulations, and I must wait 30 days for the money to be refunded. He told me he would not speak to me because he only dealt with orders, and he told me off because he said he had spoken to me earlier about the cancellation. He said there was no point in replying to emails. The man is a fantasist. My guess is that he knows exactly what he can get away with. If approached by Trading Standards he would simply make up stories about speaking with a customer on the phone.

I think the change was due to sending a cancellation letter by recorded delivery, and for that I am grateful to shirlgirl2004. :TMoney not yet received, so I will phone Consumer Direct for advice, because I do not trust him one inch.

mark96

Leif you have my sympathy, I am in a similar situation, I've just sent off a dispute form to my credit card company with all the details. Trying to claim back £261 for a bath not received after 30 days. Joseph Garnham is a crook, without doubt, but he also knows his rights in that he has a further 30 days to process a refund.

WHAT A CROOK.

Leif

mark96 wrote: »

Leif you have my sympathy, I am in a similar situation, I've just sent off a dispute form to my credit card company with all the details. Trying to claim back £261 for a bath not received after 30 days. Joseph Garnham is a crook, without doubt, but he also knows his rights in that he has a further 30 days to process a refund.

WHAT A CROOK.

Mark, whatever you do, report this to Trading Standards. Also, any communication with him is best copied to a letter sent by recorded delivery. It is impossible to dispute the receipt of a letter, whereas I have found that he invents phone conversations that never took place. From a psychological perspective I find it fascinating talking to someone with no morality or integrity, but it does make it hard for him to be nailed, and I find myself getting very angry.

In my case I do not know if he has 30 days to process a refund since he fraudulently took a much larger amount. And I am mystified as to how he continues trading. Either the law is inadequate, or Trading Standards in his area are inept.

mark96

Again Leif you have my sympathy, I think I'll take your advice and write to MR GARNHAM by recorded delivery, i've already spoken to trading standards but i think i'll now contact the Southend on sea branch directly just to make sure the message gets to the right people.

I've just copy and pasted all the contents of this thread onto a word document (its 22 pages long !!! that tells a story in itself). I think i'll send him a printed copy along with a copy to BBC watchdog.

Leif

I have just spoken to Consumer Direct, and because they debited money for the wrong item, they are in breach of contract and they do not have the right to keep the money for 30 days. There are also issues such as not having T&C on the web site, and not having company details, although I am not sure which are legally required.

janne2110

Joe Garnhams phone number is 01702 333568, best dialed with 141 infront of it if you've spoken to him before, because he'll ignore your calls if he recognises your number.

When I was going through my nightmare of trying to get a refund he told me that distance selling regulations mean nothing as there is no one to enforce them, and it seems he's right. He knows every trick in the book and is an expert in everything he can get away with. Trading standards must have had so many complaints they surely must do something to stop him soon!!

As other people have said, don't just rely on phone calls and emails, document everything in letters sent recorded delivery. Good luck.

Leif

Has anyone been able to send mail by recorded delivery to them? I have sent three letters. One was delivered, but the post code came from a review site and is incorrect. Two with correct post cards are showing as not yet delivered. They were sent a week ago, first class.

shirlgirl2004

Leif wrote: »

Has anyone been able to send mail by recorded delivery to them? I have sent three letters. One was delivered, but the post code came from a review site and is incorrect. Two with correct post cards are showing as not yet delivered. They were sent a week ago, first class.

I did but maybe they have got wise and are now refusing to sign for them. Especially as they read this thread and you said you were sending one. You have to remember that according to the replies on this thread this is a comapny that is promising delivery to many people and then not delivering. They will only do this if they think they can get away with it. Lets hope Watchdog show an interest.

Leif

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

You have to remember that according to the replies on this thread this is a comapny that is promising delivery to many people and then not delivering.

I do not doubt for one moment that Joseph Gardham is thoroughly disreputable. He has shown a complete disregard for customer service, and as far as I can see he flouts the law: switching the order for a more expensive item without my knowledge or consent, sending a quote for the more expensive item AFTER the order was placed, refusing to speak to me despite at least 30 phone calls, refusing to cancel the order, refusing to reply to cancellation emails, making references to conversations that never happened when I did get to speak to him.

The problem with simply getting a debit/credit card company to refund the money is that they might write off the debt as too expensive to pursue, in which case this disreputable man gets away with his behaviour.

I contacted the R4 programme "You And Yours" as per the earlier poster: the more people who do so, the more likely they are to investigate Mr. Gardham.

Leif

Thinking about this a bit more, it is fairly obvious what Mr. Gardham is doing. I asked for the price of item X (£260) and item Y (£410), then ordered item X. He did not confirm the item, or the price, which is normal practice when I order by phone. He then immediately sent an email quote for item Y, and deducted money for item Y i.e. £410. Subsequently he ignored all requests to speak with him until he received a letter by recorded delivery.

He sent the quote for the wrong item so that he could claim in court (were it to come to that) that I originally asked him to quote for item Y, and ordered item Y, then changed my mind. I cannot prove that he sent the quote for item Y AFTER I placed the order for item X. I cannot even prove that I ordered item X. It is his word against mine, and I cannot prove otherwise. Similarly, I cannot prove that he refused to speak to me on the phone. Only when he received a letter, which can be proved, did he speak to me.

Clearly the man has a modus operandi which allows him to appear to be honest, or rather it cannot be proved that he is dishonest. In practice of course there is testimony from countless people that indicates that he is at best disreputable.

And I can only assume Trading Standards are about as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot, and not as tasty.