Appliances Online refusing to refund £49.95 delivery charge

jarthurs

I ordered a cooker from Appliances Online in the middle of February and was advised my model was not in stock but that they were having a delivery on the 25th February. The guy on the phone then said I could expect mine to be delivered around the 3rd March. I paid for the cooker and the £49.95 delivery fee (it's a range cooker and a two man delivery).

What I didn't know was that the sales guy had taken down my email address incorrectly. So on the night of Friday 25th February I got a text stating my delivery from Buy It Direct would be taking place tomorrow. Never having heard of Buy It Direct I figured it was a mistake. On Saturday morning I got a call from a delivery driver stating he was 20 minutes away, unfortunately the wife and I had gone away for the weekend, so we were at least three hours away!

To add insult to injury, I got an email after a few days to say my new delivery date would be the 19th March. I phoned them up and it appears the cooker had gone back to the depot and been allocated to someone else. I was going to have to wait for a cooker from their next shipment!

As my wife was expecting a baby on the 17th March, this date wasn't really convenient so I asked them to cancel the order, and they agreed. A couple of days later a credit appears in my account, minus the £49.95 delivery fee.

I called them a couple of weeks ago to ask for the money and was told that they had tried to deliver and I wasn't there to receive the goods. They had sent the delivery details to the incorrect email address and despite admitting this, didn't seem to feel that this administrative c*ck up was their fault. Evidently sending emails to a non existent address is a suitable method of notifying someone. Indeed the woman had a go at me that they hadn't received any failed delivery notifications, it's not even my bloody email address!?! :-)

In short they see that the van went out and tried to deliver and are refusing to refund the delivery charge. They seem unwilling to entertain the fact that they were sending the delivery details 'into the void' and still expecting me to get them.

If they remain stubborn on this, what recourse do I have to get the delivery fee refunded? I was considering going to the bank and seeing if they would do a chargeback (it was paid for on a Debit card), failing this what can I do?

Regards,
Jason.

geo555

So they contacted by text saying delivery would be on the saturday and you chose to ignore it.

shaun_from_Africa

Contact them again stating that you wish to cancel the contract under the terms of the distance selling regulations, and as such you are legally entitled to a full refund, including the delivery charges.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

Can a consumer cancel an order before they receive the goods or where goods are lost in transit?

3.35

Yes. Where the DSRs give consumers rights to cancel, this right is unconditional. If consumers cancel before they have received the goods you must refund the total price of the goods, including any delivery charges. Consumers who have cancelled under the DSRs may refuse to accept delivery of the goods. Refusal in such a situation cannot be treated as a breach of contract.

If they still fail to refund the delivery charges, then you should consider legal action, and I'm sure that once you've sent them a letter advising them of this, they will refund you.

So they contacted by text saying delivery would be on the saturday and you chose to ignore it.

No they didn't ignore it. They received a text from a company with a different name to the one they ordered from stating that something would be getting delivered the following morning, which was 10 days earlier then their item should have been arriving.
These texts are automated and can't be replied to, and as it was Friday night when sent, I doubt if anyone fromAppliance direct would have answered the phone even if the OP knew that the text originated from them.

Freddie_Snowbits

Never had a problem from the local electrical shop whwere I live, current Lady Snowbits got her washer in 2 days, at a time convenient for her to ghet my washing sone, no problem

Seems OP waits upteen days for none delivery, ignores emails etc?

Then cancels the order, but noit under DSR. One would suppose the charge is a restocking charge.


Then again their T&Cs are pretty carp at that, but does say a contract is formaed when they put the goods on a van?

http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/services/terms_and_conditions.aspx

But they offer a 10 day return (No Fuss)

http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/services/ten-day-returns-guarantee.aspx

But then the charge extra for a Saturday delivery.

Too many holes here for Freddie to get close to an offer of absolution on this.

Noted

jarthurs wrote: »

I ordered a cooker from Appliances Online in the middle of February and was advised my model was not in stock but that they were having a delivery on the 25th February. The guy on the phone then said I could expect mine to be delivered around the 3rd March. I paid for the cooker and the £49.95 delivery fee (it's a range cooker and a two man delivery).

What I didn't know was that the sales guy had taken down my email address incorrectly. So on the night of Friday 25th February I got a text stating my delivery from Buy It Direct would be taking place tomorrow. Never having heard of Buy It Direct I figured it was a mistake. On Saturday morning I got a call from a delivery driver stating he was 20 minutes away, unfortunately the wife and I had gone away for the weekend, so we were at least three hours away!

To add insult to injury, I got an email after a few days to say my new delivery date would be the 19th March. I phoned them up and it appears the cooker had gone back to the depot and been allocated to someone else. I was going to have to wait for a cooker from their next shipment!

As my wife was expecting a baby on the 17th March, this date wasn't really convenient so I asked them to cancel the order, and they agreed. A couple of days later a credit appears in my account, minus the £49.95 delivery fee.

I called them a couple of weeks ago to ask for the money and was told that they had tried to deliver and I wasn't there to receive the goods. They had sent the delivery details to the incorrect email address and despite admitting this, didn't seem to feel that this administrative c*ck up was their fault. Evidently sending emails to a non existent address is a suitable method of notifying someone. Indeed the woman had a go at me that they hadn't received any failed delivery notifications, it's not even my bloody email address!?! :-)

In short they see that the van went out and tried to deliver and are refusing to refund the delivery charge. They seem unwilling to entertain the fact that they were sending the delivery details 'into the void' and still expecting me to get them.

If they remain stubborn on this, what recourse do I have to get the delivery fee refunded? I was considering going to the bank and seeing if they would do a chargeback (it was paid for on a Debit card), failing this what can I do?

Regards,
Jason.

jarthurs

geo555 wrote: »

So they contacted by text saying delivery would be on the saturday and you chose to ignore it.

The text came through at 11pm the night before they attempted delivery, it also stated a company name I had (until that time) never had any dealings with. Not exactly 'warning'.

Regards,
Jason.

jarthurs

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Never had a problem from the local electrical shop whwere I live, current Lady Snowbits got her washer in 2 days, at a time convenient for her to ghet my washing sone, no problem

Seems OP waits upteen days for none delivery, ignores emails etc?

Then cancels the order, but noit under DSR. One would suppose the charge is a restocking charge.

I made the original order by telephone and the sales guy took my email address over the phone (incorrectly), I had hoped to get a telephone confirmation of the delivery date he offered (3rd March) so I wasn't expecting a delivery earlier than that. I only cancelled the order when they subsequently gave the cooker they had tried to deliver to me, to someone else and offered me one from their next shipment.

Regards,
Jason.

mo786uk

Assuming you order strictly by distance means then the DSRs should apply

This means you can cencel the order within 7 working days from when you recieve it. As you have cancelled the order before you got it they should refund you all your money.

The fact that they cocked up should help your case.

I would send them a letter and if that fails take them to court.