Breach of contract

Kidson

I purchased a Rigid Dog Cage from an online company in the UK having first asked them to apprise me of the transport costs for having the cage shipped to my holiday home in Portugal - they duly quoted and I subsequently placed the order on line for total amount of £135.00 delivered Portugal - and duly received their order confirmation and funds taken from my credit card same day.

Couple of days later they phoned to say Cage to big to go by transport they envisaged and additional cost would be £169.00 - did I want to proceed. I suggest they find alternative more cost effective shipper but they ignore and on own volition refund in full my original payment same day.

I advise they now in breach of contract - I meanwhile find shipper who can ship cage for an additional cost of £53.

On line company say I have suffered no loss hence no claim against them.

I explain if they fail to comply with contract they in breach and I shall purchase same Cage from alternative supplier and debit on line company with additional costs amounting to approx £45.00.

On line company not prepared honour contractual arrangement and I must now proceed small claim court and purchase Cage from alternative supplier and seek compensation of additional costs etc from on line company.

Since small sums of money involved believe on line company hoping I will simply go away and not proceed with litigation but as I have suffered considerable disappointment,inconvenience and monetray loss as a result of their breach of contract I am inclined to proceed.

However as I received full refund - is that all that is required of on line company or do I have right to litigate for additional costs incurred having to buy from an alternative supplier?

jonesMUFCforever

Get a life springs to mind - they refunded you the same day after asking you if you wanted it at a higher cost.
I hope you do go to court and the judge locks you up for wasting the courts time.

Enterprise_1701C

I ama stickler for making sure people fulfill their obligations, but this is over the top. They could not supply the goods at the price you wanted so they refunded, they did not withhold your money or charge you a cancellation fee.

The best thing in this case would have been to simply buy one in Portugal.

You may be disappointed, but you have not suffered monetary loss - that would have happened if they had simply decided to charge you the extra anyway, but they were actually quite nice and went out of their way to contact you and ask you first. You simply could not get it for the price you originally hoped - that happens, get over it.

Cut your (less than considerable and certainly not tangible) losses and forget it.

Kidson

jonesMUFCforever

"they refunded you the same day after asking you if you wanted it at a higher cost. - I hope you do go to court and the judge locks you up for wasting the courts time"

Interesting your view - seller and buyer having discussed and resolved price and terms in advance of an order, then enter into a mutually legally binding contract when seller then says to the buyer – sorry mate no can do – but do you want to go ahead at a higher price? – Now the higher price is not just a few extra per cent – oh no its 125% in excess of the total agreed contractual price and some 700% in excess of the original transport price quoted and agreed prior to order - buyer says sorry that not acceptable – suggest you find alternative form of transport/shipper – supplier declines as not interested anymore and in an attempt to wriggle out of contractual liability without any consequences simply returns funds in the hope buyer will simply go away.

Buyer then goes to trouble of finding alternative transport/shipper to help supplier mitigate the consequential effects of suppliers breach – but supplier not interested in any form of compromise

Further buyer made payment via Halifax Master Card so entitled to hold both the credit card company and supplier jointly and severally liable for breach of contract under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act

Contrary your view believe Judge in addition to monetary loss suffered by buyer could award such further costs as it may assess to be paid for unreasonable behaviour and conduct profoundly unbecoming a company of repute. It is not the buyer but seller who needs to get real - apologize and get on with honouring their contractual commitments.

Kidson

Jane Blackford

Charge me a cancellation fee – have you not got this the wrong way round – if anyone entitled to a cancellation fee – that would be me the buyer! - It is not I but they the supplier who cancelled.

Cost in Portugal is substantially higher than buying in the UK – hence reason to purchase in the UK in first instance – also can buy from an alternative UK supplier and ship to Portugal for some £43 in excess of that contacted with original supplier and I offered share additional cost with supplier – but that refused.

You write:

[FONT=&quot]“You may be disappointed, but you have not suffered monetary loss - that would have happened if they had simply decided to charge you the extra anyway, but they were actually quite nice and went out of their way to contact you and ask you first”[/FONT]

They had no contractual right to charge anything extra - nice to ask me!!! Incredulous and unbelievable.

On the one hand you say I have not suffered loss – and then in concluding you say:

[FONT=&quot]“Cut your (less than considerable and certainly not tangible) losses and forget it”[/FONT]

I have suffered financial loss in being forced to purchase the same product elsewhere because supplier declared intent not to perform after contracting and declining to be bound by our contract.

At court I could ask for Specific performance in lieu of damages:

[FONT=&quot]Specific performance grants the plaintiff what he actually bargained for in the contract rather than damages (pecuniary compensation for loss or injury incurred through the unlawful conduct of another) for not receiving it; thus specific performance is an equitable rather than legal remedy. By compelling the parties to perform exactly what they had agreed to perform, more complete and perfect justice is achieved than by awarding damages for a breach of contract.[/FONT]

magpiecottage

Kidson wrote: »

Jane Blackford
[FONT=&quot]Specific performance grants the plaintiff what he actually bargained for in the contract rather than damages (pecuniary compensation for loss or injury incurred through the unlawful conduct of another) for not receiving it; thus specific performance is an equitable rather than legal remedy. By compelling the parties to perform exactly what they had agreed to perform, more complete and perfect justice is achieved than by awarding damages for a breach of contract.[/FONT]

I am curious, which piece of legislation are you relying on for this.

Almost always in English Law, the court will only provide redress to put you back into the position you would have been in had the transaction never taken place.

You could, if you wished, sue them in an English court. That will be a small claim and both sides will meet their own costs so you will have to come here and you will have to pay the fee.

The court will issue the summons, they will show that the money has been paid back. The court will dismiss the case and you are out of pocket to the tune of the court fee plus the costs of coming over.

Similarly, you will get nowhere with attempting to sue Halifax - apart perhaps from getting your account closed down. The Ombudsman won't look at it either because there is clearly no financial loss.

So trying to get some kind of redress on this is (only to be attempted by a) no brainer!

jonesMUFCforever

Kidson wrote: »

jonesMUFCforever

"they refunded you the same day after asking you if you wanted it at a higher cost. - I hope you do go to court and the judge locks you up for wasting the courts time"

Interesting your view - seller and buyer having discussed and resolved price and terms in advance of an order, then enter into a mutually legally binding contract when seller then says to the buyer – sorry mate no can do – but do you want to go ahead at a higher price? – Now the higher price is not just a few extra per cent – oh no its 125% in excess of the total agreed contractual price and some 700% in excess of the original transport price quoted and agreed prior to order - buyer says sorry that not acceptable – suggest you find alternative form of transport/shipper – supplier declines as not interested anymore and in an attempt to wriggle out of contractual liability without any consequences simply returns funds in the hope buyer will simply go away.

Buyer then goes to trouble of finding alternative transport/shipper to help supplier mitigate the consequential effects of suppliers breach – but supplier not interested in any form of compromise

Further buyer made payment via Halifax Master Card so entitled to hold both the credit card company and supplier jointly and severally liable for breach of contract under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act

Contrary your view believe Judge in addition to monetary loss suffered by buyer could award such further costs as it may assess to be paid for unreasonable behaviour and conduct profoundly unbecoming a company of repute. It is not the buyer but seller who needs to get real - apologize and get on with honouring their contractual commitments.

Look for E & OE on any site in the terms and conditions.
This will be the get out clause.

Kidson

Magpiecottage

Please enlighten me as to what remedies exists when there is a breach of contract?

Are you suggesting a supplier can enter into a legal binding contract and then decide for whatever reason they no longer wish to perform and honour the terms of the contract and simply return the funds and walk away from their contractual obligations without consequences?

You write:

“Almost always in English Law, the court will only provide redress to put you back into the position you would have been in had the transaction never taken place”

Damages is the basic remedy available for a breach of contract. It is a common law remedy that can be claimed as of right by the innocent party.The object of damages is usually to put the injured party into the same financial position he would have been in had the contract been properly performed.

“Similarly, you will get nowhere with attempting to sue Halifax - apart perhaps from getting your account closed down. The Ombudsman won't look at it either because there is clearly no financial loss”

Account closed down?

Suggest you have a read for breach of contract under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Kidson

jonesMUFCforever
Extracted from Supplier:

"Do you send goods outside of the UK, and what are the shipping charges?

Yes goods may be sent outside of the UK, the checkout should calculate any charges for shipping for these orders, if it does not we need to get a price for your location, continue with the order and we will contact you by email, prior to charging your card with a quote for shipping you can then decide whether to proceed with the order"

Before proceeding to checkout specifically requested price for shipment to Portugal – and was given in writing - which figure then included in total price.

There are no terms and conditions on the website - I know there should be but none exist - only FAQ.

Dr.Shoe_2

In the case of breach of contract you can only claim out of pocket expenses. However, the contract in this case would be considered "frustrated" which is to say that one party was unable to fulfill the contract owing to circumstances beyond their control. Both parties mutually agreed to cancel the contract so therefore neither party has any further rights or responsibilities under the contract.

dmg24

Is the company Hyperdrug? If so, here are the t&c's.