Do I have a right to my deposit back?

MCMXCV

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone can help me, its a bit of a long one but please stick with it....
Yesterday the OH called DFS to see if we would be able to get the old '4 years free credit, free for a year' plans on one of their sofas. We have a bad credit rating between us so we weren't holding our breaths but the salesman on the phone told her that if we voluntarily offered a deposit of £100 it would help our chances of being accepted (how true that is I do not know). So the OH said it was fine and started giving them our details, expecting to be informed as to whether we passed the credit check. After she had told them everything (including our visa details) the guy said that the order would be put through right away, we would get some paperwork in the post, the sofa would be soon dispatched to our local store and we would be informed about delivery.
The OH thought this implied we had passed the credit check and was pretty well delighted until this morning- when the fella called back and said that we had failed the credit check. Asking us if we could pay in full or get somebody else to take out the credit agreement neither of which we are in a position to do. She told him that we couldnt and then said that we wouldnt be able to take the sofas so we thought that was that but it turns out that now they have taken the £100 deposit out of our account.
We will call to speak to them first thing in the morning but I was just wondering if they have a legal right to keep this. We have never signed anything and we made it clear in the original phone call that we wouldnt be able to buy the sofas unless we could get credit.
In the situation we are in at the moment £100 is a lot of money and we cant really afford to just lose it.
Sorry for the MASSIVELY LONG ESSAY, just wanted to put you all in the picture.
Any advice??

Thanks...

Mark_Hewitt

Quite short compared with some. It does sound completely wrong, not sure about the legal situation but it basically looks like you've been charged £100 for them to credit check you!

KTAT

Hello

If you have any questions please call DFS Customer Service on 01302 330365, alternativly please e-mail [EMAIL="contactus@dfs.co.uk"]contactus@dfs.co.uk[/EMAIL]

chalkie99

I thought suppliers were supposed to obtain some sort of official approval before replying to threads?

KT/AT has stated in other posts that they are DFS staff.

CoolHotCold

I'm not sure of the issue here.

As far as i can read, they took money (as a part of the credit check) as depending on how their systems work they do it at the same time.

And you haven't contacted them yet to enquire about when the £100 will be back in the account.

As it stands right now, its a non-issue. A simple phonecall will sort out the refund.

IF they refuse (and i've never heard of this) then it would become a issue, but as it stands its a non-issue.

Enfieldian

Hmm.

TBH, if you can't afford to lose £100, albeit temporarily, then you can't afford a new sofa, surely?

MCMXCV

Enfieldian wrote: »

Hmm.

TBH, if you can't afford to lose £100, albeit temporarily, then you can't afford a new sofa, surely?

I can afford to lose it temporarily but not just give it away. I would also be able to keep up the repayments which are very small. If I get it back then there is no problem but a bit of research on the net brought me up more than a few posts on forums (this one included) where people have had trouble getting their deposits back as DFS have told them the deposit was paid towards the sofa and by cancelling the purchase because they failed the credit check then they were entitled to keep it.

I was just checking to see if this was right so when the OH gets home from work and calls them she would know where we stood if this was the case.

Freddie_Snowbits

MCMXCV wrote: »

We have a bad credit rating between us

The DFS would be the last place I would even consider for parting with a halfpenny bit.

MCMXCV wrote: »

I can afford to lose it temporarily but not just give it away.

A visit to the Loan Sharks part of the paruish may be beneficial to you.

Loan Arena
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12
They are more forgiving than Dear Old Freddie

VorTechS

MCMXCV wrote: »

I can afford to lose it temporarily but not just give it away. I would also be able to keep up the repayments which are very small. If I get it back then there is no problem but a bit of research on the net brought me up more than a few posts on forums (this one included) where people have had trouble getting their deposits back as DFS have told them the deposit was paid towards the sofa and by cancelling the purchase because they failed the credit check then they were entitled to keep it.

I was just checking to see if this was right so when the OH gets home from work and calls them she would know where we stood if this was the case.

Uncanny as it may seem, in the last few days we went to DFS with a view to buying a sofa, found the one we wanted and then put down a deposit with the rest to be paid on a finance agreement.

Subsequently the credit check failed under my name, with no past history of bad credit (something I'll be looking to separately).

So, I'm wondering how you got on with the refund as we might be in the same boat!

heretolearn_2

As this was ordered over the phone, won't the distance selling regulations apply?