charged 35% handling fee !!!!

e238

i ordered a twin coil hot water cylinder after seeing them on the internet, rather than buy on line i went to my local plumbers merchants and ordered the cylinder from them, i ordered the right size and thought i had done a good job, at no time did the lady serving me ask me where i wanted the holes in this, i assumed it would look like the ones i had seen on line.

after waiting 10 days i was called and told the cylinder was ready for collection, i went and picked this huge cylinder up in the car and drove it home, to be told the next day by the plumber and my husband that the holes were in the wrong place and we would not be able to connect this up in the space that we had.
i called the plumbers merchants and they said that they would have to charge a handling fee as this would have to be returned.

when i took this back today i was charged 35% of the amount i had paid, this amounted to £112.00, which is bonkers. I asked why this was and they said that they had to get this in and they would not keep this in stock so it had to be returned to the manufacturer, i reminded them that this was not a special order and that they had ordered this in with their stock order as this was cheaper.

however they say that this is what the manufacturer say and i had no choice but to pay. i am now £112 out of pocket as well as having to get a cylinder from somewhere else and payning for this too..
Any advice ???

gordikin

Check before you buy?

neilmcl

Agreed. Why should the retailer be out of pocket because you haven't done your homework properly. They can charge what they like to take it back or alternatively could have legally refused to refund altogether.

pendulum

They made you an offer to buy it off you in effect - for 35% less than you paid for it. Well it was second hand after all!

Hintza

35% does sound a bit steep but agree with the above. Other question to ask is "what happens if it is not the correct one".

Nukumai

I don't think you have any viable legal recourse, unfortunately. Legalities aside, you would think that the plumber's merchant, in all likelihood knowing the possibility and the consequences to you of ordering the wrong item, might have given you an indication at the outset as to the cost of your making a mistake...if for no other reason than being helpful to a customer.

£112 does seem a lot for a "handling fee", but I think you will have to write this off to experience.

DVardysShadow

Can you give us the link to the product you saw?

nomoneytoday

Why didn't the Heating engineer not source the product?