Consumer rights-Item out of stock but money taken

skiTTish

Hi
At the beginning of this month I ordered an electrical item from B&Q and paid for the item in store and received a delivery date -20th march and a receipt.
The money immediatley went out of my account and at no time was I told my purchase was 'subject to availability ' or indeed did it state that fact on my invoice .Why would I hand over my money for item I might never recieve ??
Just before the delivery date ,I had a call to say that the item had gone out of stock and so my delivery date was pushed back to the 31st .
I complained and said I wanted my £10 delivery charge back as the delivery was not to my satisfaction and could get better delivery from companies who dont charge .
Today they rang again to say the item had 'gone out of stock ' and now the delivery date is the middle of April!!!!!
Now my first instinct was to cancel the order BUT they have been sat on my money for weeks now and thus we had a contract for them to provide me with that item.
I suspect this item was never in stock and the money was taken from account and a contract made when they had no idea if they could fullfill it or not ,surely that cant be right ?
Imagine if they did this to umpteen amount of customers ? how much interest could they be making sitting on people money for x amount of weeks ?
Now since the first phonecall this item has become available for 20% less and I missed the opportunity o buy it because of my contract with b&Q and because they have my money .
Where do I stand ?
cheers

skiTTish

Just checked online and this item is showing as 'in stock '
Surely they are not allowed to take peoples money and tell them an item is in stock when it isnt ?
Surely they need to announce it as 'awaiting stock ' or temporarily unavailable ?

Becles

It might not be in stock even though it is showing as in stock.

I've just had a wasted 30 mile round trip to another B&Q store to collect something that was out of stock in my nearest store, only to be told that store is out of stock as well. A bored young lad told me the website is never accurate.

It would have been nice if someone could have apologised for wasting my time and petrol but nobody was interested :mad:

Have come home and ordered the lights from an online electrcial suppliers instead, and even with the postage, I've saved £3 on B&Q prices

dmg24

Cancel your order and get the item from somewhere else. Problem solved!

skiTTish

dmg24 wrote: »

Cancel your order and get the item from somewhere else. Problem solved!

Oh well thats ok then ??! Duh!!
They took money from me under false pretenses ,kept my money for several weeks ,prevented me from obtaining this item elsewhere for cheaper because had my money .
Why should they be allowed to do this ,it seems to be standard practice for them to take money even though an item is out of stock and may possibly never be instock ,say they do this to a few hundred people a day to the value of say a couple of hundred grand and keep they for weeks on end ,could amount to a few mil a week ,what are they doing with all that interest ?

neilmcl

skiTTish wrote: »

Oh well thats ok then ??! Duh!!
They took money from me under false pretenses ,kept my money for several weeks ,prevented me from obtaining this item elsewhere for cheaper because had my money .
Why should they be allowed to do this ,it seems to be standard practice for them to take money even though an item is out of stock and may possibly never be instock ,say they do this to a few hundred people a day to the value of say a couple of hundred grand and keep they for weeks on end ,could amount to a few mil a week ,what are they doing with all that interest ?

So what exactly do you want, compensation. :rotfl::rotfl:

skiTTish

neilmcl wrote: »

So what exactly do you want, compensation. :rotfl::rotfl:

The fact that you think that statement is so funny says a whoooole lot about B&Q customer service dont you think ?:)
Elsewhere when some thing has happened resulting in me being left out of pocket ,I have had compensation ( by the way of money knocked of or vouchers for inconvenience ) without even having to ask !

neilmcl

skiTTish wrote: »

The fact that you think that statement is so funny says a whoooole lot about B&Q customer service dont you think ?:)
Elsewhere when some thing has happened resulting in me being left out of pocket ,I have had compensation ( by the way of money knocked of or vouchers for inconvenience ) without even having to ask !

How are you out of pocket in this instance. Sounds to me your more interested in sticking it to B&Q, regardless of how justified it is, than actually getting the item you've paid for. Save the blood pressure, cancel and go somewhere else. Life's too short.

gjchester

skiTTish wrote: »

Just checked online and this item is showing as 'in stock '
Surely they are not allowed to take peoples money and tell them an item is in stock when it isnt ?
Surely they need to announce it as 'awaiting stock ' or temporarily unavailable ?

Works both ways, by taking the money the contract is formed. If they then say they can't supply and refund you you can buy it elsewhere and sue them for the difference (loss of bargain) if it cost more.

Most online retailers take the money on dispatch because of this issue, it means a contract is not formed until the goods are ready and dispatched. Most places jsut send you an aknowledgement of order email). B&Q don't, so although they can (in this case) sit on the cash, you have additional rights if they cancel on you which you don;t if they had not taken the payment.

skiTTish

Just rang them back again to ask if there was a chance it was back in stock to be fobbed off again ,mentioned that It was still showing as 'In stock and available on the website ' so wasn't that a bit unethical ? Taking money off people for an 'in stock ' item that was not actually in stock atall ! and that I had sent a screen shot of such to Trading standards ....suddenly it appeared as in stock and can be delivered next week ,wow what are they chances ?!...