Goods sent that I never ordered!

Huffy

I made an enquiry to a company called Intelligent Recording to see how much their SD Recorder was. They never told me, they just sent out the recorder which I hadn't actually ordered. Shortly after I received an invoice for £186.83, which was way more than I had seen the unit elsewhere. I told them this, and they accused me of not wanting to pay for the item. I pointed out that I had never even ordered the item and they had just sent it. They made no attempt to collect the item. The MD was so rude, that I said if they didn't want to collect it I would pay a reasonable price once he had apologised. I have never received this apology.

A little while later, I received a call one evening demanding £100, I was a bit flumuxed by this, and said that I would pay that once I'd heard from the MD. I never heard anything more. Then they tried to take me to court for payment, but the messed up the forms and cited me as both the claimant and the defendant! I thought I would pay the £100 jsut to get rid of them, so I rang to make payment. they took my card details to process the debit. A little while after I received an email saying that I had to pay £125 to include the court fee. I pointed out that the court submission had been marked invalid, and so I wasn't paying the court fee.

I then spoke to the MD who again was very rude, and said he wanted the full £186.83 payment, although they had never rescinded the offer of £100. Remember that I never ordered it in the first place either. I emailed them and explained that I wasn't in a financial position to pay that amount, but was happy to pay the £100, which they could take fromt eh debit card details which they held, if they were not happy with that they could collect the recorder. They said as it was over 30 days they would not collect the unit. The next thing I found was that they had debited the full £186.83 from my account without authority. I emailed demanding that they refund the £86.83 by the end of last Thursday, and haven't heard anything more from them.

I'm sure they can't just take money from my card without authority, and sure they can't make demands when I didn't even order the item. Please can someone tell me where I stand as a consumer.

Thanks

Ivory_Tinkler

If you didn't order the recorder how did the company know where to send it?

lincroft1710

From the Department of Business Innovation And Skills website

Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, (as amended) it is an offence to demand payment for goods known to be unsolicited, in other words, they were sent to a person without any prior request made by them or on their behalf.

Someone who receives goods in these circumstances may retain them as an unconditional gift, and does not have to pay for or return any unwanted goods. Anyone who receives a demand for payment for unsolicited goods should report the matter to their local Trading Standards Department.

G51shopaholic

If you didn't want it you shouldn't have accepted the delivery.
you should have returned it.
You then shouldn't have tried to "keep" the goods without paying.
Then try and get them at a reduced price.

seems they've decided to play you at your own game.

tbw

Its also not a good idea to give your debit or credit card details to any Company that you are in dispute with!

Huffy

Gosh you are a cynical lot. I came here for some help, but instead I feel like I'm the criminal. What a sorry site, if all I get is persecuted! To answer your accusations, my address is in the sign off of my email so they had it when I enquired about the price. I did not hold onto the item, I just made no attempt to return it. It was available if the company had made any attempt to collect it, but they didn't. Does that make me sound anymore credible??? Honestly, you cynics should be ashamed of yourselves, people come here for hlep not to be picked on!

Now as for lincroft1710, thank you for your reply, that is very useful, I shall try that tomorrow, I will also speak to the CAB. I just thought I might get some helpful opinions here, but one helpful opinion and three accusation doesn't really incline me to use this website again!!

OlliesDad

I would also report the unauthorised transaction to your bank as well as soon as possible.

Have you still got a copy of your original email asking only for a quote? If not, the company may argue whether you ordered or not.

If you can prove you only asked for a quote, advise the company that the item is ready to be collected and to arrange a full refund. Advise them that if they do not do that within 14 days, you will proceed with a small courts claim.

dmg24

lincroft1710 wrote: »

From the Department of Business Innovation And Skills website

Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, (as amended) it is an offence to demand payment for goods known to be unsolicited, in other words, they were sent to a person without any prior request made by them or on their behalf.

Someone who receives goods in these circumstances may retain them as an unconditional gift, and does not have to pay for or return any unwanted goods. Anyone who receives a demand for payment for unsolicited goods should report the matter to their local Trading Standards Department.

This is not an unsolicited good as covered by the above statute. It is a mistake.

Both the retailer and the OP sound as unreasonable as each other.

Huffy, have you actually used this item? Why did you not just send it back when you first received it?

Huffy

Thanks OlliesDad. Yes, I have all the emails, and fortunately I record calls too (yes there is a warning in my emails that I will do this to comply with Oftel requirements), so I have all the conversations that we've had too. I wondered if I should be considering a small claim through the County Court?

The problem is that the payment was taken from my VISA Debit card, and debit cards don't fall under section 75! I just don't think they should be able to get away with this.

janiebaby29

Dear Huffy ,
Thankyou for your rather Huffy PM , BTW Did you send anyone else one or was it just me ??
How did they get your debit card no to charge you the money ??

OlliesDad

Huffy wrote: »

The problem is that the payment was taken from my VISA Debit card, and debit cards don't fall under section 75! I just don't think they should be able to get away with this.

With a Visa Debit card your bank can do a chargeback rather than invoking section 75.