What are my rights when buying from America?

Fenris

Don't know if anyone can actually answer this, but thought I'd ask just in case!

I signed up for a "subscription" from an American action figure retailer. The "subscription" isn't like you'd get with something like a magazine sub over here. Basically it's a long-runing pre-order; you sign up and you're gaurenteed (sp?) to get the six figures released during the year. For subscribing you pay $20, which gets you a seventh exclusive figure.

I subscribed last July and paid my sub fee. January's figure came out and the money was taken without problem. However, this week there was a problem with the payment; they tried to take it a week earlier than they should have and it didn't go through as I didn't have funds on the card yet (pre-paid USD card). Over the last few days I've been banging my head against the brick wall that is their customer service department. There are a few issues I can't get them to sort out, but the main one is this: I paid for the sub and the exclusive figure in July last year, therefore I want them to supply said figure. They've said they'll refund me the money, but I don't want that, I want what I've paid for.

So the question is, is there some legal way I can force them to supply the goods I've paid for?

I should point out that, as far as I'm aware, there were no terms and conditions attached to the subscription; none have been shown to me at any rate.

Any ideas? Or does anyone know of anywhere I can get advice?

Cheers!
Fen.

wealdroam

Always a problem when buying from abroad.

Probably worth starting to look for US consumer legislation.

Warning... there may be as many different versions of such legislation as there are states in the US of A.

:beer:

hairy_g

Depending on which state they are in. Start with the Better Business bureau..... http://www.bbb.org/us/list-all-bbb-locations/

bris

You can go to the USA and sue them.

Annisele

Sounds like you have two problems: finding out what your legal rights are, and enforcing them when you find them out.

Am I right in thinking the exclusive figure would have cost you $20 USD? If that's the case, then asking the company nicely is likely to be your only real recourse. I suspect that suing the company in the US and/or enforcing the judgement would cost you *substantially* more than $20.

It might be worth looking to see if you can buy the figure on Ebay; if you can, it's likely easier and cheaper all round than trying to sue a US firm.

Oopsadaisy

Op says (pre-paid USD card)....

Never used one of these...is it a cc or a dc??...if so get the dosh back from the cc/dc company.

If it's the saem as sending cash in an envelope then you're pretty much screwed.

Techhead_2

If the OP has failed to make all the subscription payments then it's really a matter of what the terms of the offer were. To me a reasonable person would assume that the exclusive figure was a reward for making all the payments.

So it seems persuasion of the company is more likely to be the correct route. Its not like they have behaved unreasonably so far, they have offered a refund.

Fenris

Thanks to everyone who posted a sensible reply.

@ hairy_g: I have already threaterned them with the BBB, but haven't yet contacted the BBB itself. I think this may be the only real recourse. However, much like Trading Standards, I'm lead to believe that they have very little power to actually do anything.

@ Annisele: Actually it's more like $100 as I bought for myself and some friends. We figured combining the sub would save us on both shipping and RM rip-off fees. So it's not just me who's loosing out here.

I can get the figure on eBay but it's considerably more expensive. Looking now it's around £50 per figure, which is almost as much as I paid for five! So not really a viable option.

I don't really want to sue anyone, I just want what I've paid for, simple as that really.

@ Oopsadaisy: It's a Mastercard. But that's neither here nor there really as I originally paid via my Debit card. So, no help there.

@ Techhead: I haven't actually failed to make payment, they've changed the goalposts. Let me see if I can explain: when signing up for the sub I was told that my card would be debited two days prior to the date the figures usually go on sale. So, for example, today is sale day, I should have been charged on Friday (two working days). However, they tried to bill me last Monday and I was not prepaired for it. When I knew they were going to bill me again I put money on the card, but then found out that they had hiked the shipping cost fourfold, so, once again, the payment failed. I was told how much shipping would be per month and they have not stuck to the agreed sum.

The company who runs the logistics is incompitent and has been for over a year. I'm not the only one on the site complaing of these problems, many, many other people are being overcharged (paying $40 for this months subscription figure and the sub exclusive they paid for in July last year!), having shipping fees hiked and just having random payment failures even though there are funds on the card. So I'm not alone in this at all.

I'm not the one breaking the subscription agreement, the company is.

The exclusive figure was bait to get people to buy into the club. We all paid for that figure in July last year. I've paid for January's sub figures and I had every intention of paying for this months sub figures. It's only due to the company changing the rules as they go along that I haven't been able to pay for this months figures. I don't think I'm an unreasonable person for wanting what I've paid for.

As it is, I now have to buy this months sub figure when he goes on sale today because I've heard nothing back from the company as to whether or not I'm ever going to get my subscription.

As for the refund, as I said before, I on't want a refund, I want the figures I've paid for. If they refund me it's highly likely I'll get back less than I paid last July due to the fluctuation in exchange rate. Would you be happy with that?

Oopsadaisy

Fenris wrote: »

@ Oopsadaisy: It's a Mastercard. But that's neither here nor there really as I originally paid via my Debit card. So, no help there.

You could do a chargeback via your debit card [120 day limit, so maybe not?]

Fenris

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

You could do a chargeback via your debit card [120 day limit, so maybe not?]

It's been eight months since I paid, so I'm guessing not. I didn't know you could do that with a debit card? I thought it was tough luck if you didn't pay on a Credit Card?

Anyway, I've just found out that the company who runs the logistics in America has an office in the UK. I wonder if I could take some kind of action against the UK branch as they're the same company? Just a thought.

squeaky

Fenris wrote: »

It's been eight months since I paid, so I'm guessing not. I didn't know you could do that with a debit card? I thought it was tough luck if you didn't pay on a Credit Card?

Anyway, I've just found out that the company who runs the logistics in America has an office in the UK. I wonder if I could take some kind of action against the UK branch as they're the same company? Just a thought.

How about starting a dialogue with the UK office?

Ask them for help in sorting out the problem with the [STRIKE]muppets[/STRIKE] people across the pond?