section 75 successful, merchant threatening me

sharmansgig

hello all

I ordered goods (online). Merchant sent wrong goods. CC (LloydsTSB) upheld my section 75 claim. Got money refunded from CC Co. All well. Lloyds CC disputes dept: "we will let you know when/if merchant comes back to us".

So. Goods were still in my loft (unused). I wrote (2nd class post, not "signed for") to merchant: "please collect your goods at earliest convenience". Thought about setting limits for imposing weekly storage charges or a "will be disposed of if not collected by date x", but decided against it at that time.

Merchant (one month later) has just sent me "last reminder" stating "we were not able to charge your credit card" (which is technically a lie, no? - they WERE able to charge to the CC). If not paid before 4.5.11 will "hand matter over to debt collection agency". NB their letter arrived on 4.5.11 Cheek!

I phoned Lloyds CC disputes dept who were not very helpful. They said simply "this should have come through us first". I suggested that I would write to merchant and tell him to conduct all correspondence on this with payee aka Lloyds CC disputes dept. and would also send them copy of threatening letter. Lloyds CC disputes dept agreed to this but said nothing further.

I googled a lot on this. The FOS has a test case (follow this link and search "furniture" way down page) here: (add w w w. in here) financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/goods-and-services-bought-with-credit.html____
This suggests that in fact it should be Lloyds who collects the goods seeing as they have accepted liability?

So what do I do about:

1. the debt collection agency? I expect to hear from them soon. Should I return all letters unopened? Or should I respond or ignore their demands? Will I have to see them in court?

2. the goods, It the merchant or Loyds CC responsible for their collection? Who should I issue "please collect or I will dispose of" letters to? How long should I give them? Scope for storage charges?

3. the merchant.
I contacted the police and requested that criminal charges be pressed in light of the aggressive behaviour by the trader towards me. The trader has threatened to take action that cannot be taken legally (debt collection agency) and has lied to enhance credibility of the threat. The police declined, noting that the action that is threatened concerns a civil not criminal issue. I pointed out that the criminal act is the threatening of an act that is not allowed in this matter. The police still declined. Is this worth puruing in writing to the police?

Can I charge the merchant storage fees, admin fees, postage (signed for) fees? accumulating until this is resolved?

Really appreciate insight.

Greg Sharman

redpete

sharmansgig wrote: »

Really appreciate insight.

Is opinion OK?

1. the debt collection agency? I expect to hear from them soon. Should I return all letters unopened? Or should I respond or ignore their demands? Will I have to see them in court?

How will you know the letter is from them if you don't open it?
If you do get contacted by a DCA why not reply by telling them what has happened and see what happens then?

2. the goods, It the merchant or Loyds CC responsible for their collection? Who should I issue "please collect or I will dispose of" letters to? How long should I give them? Scope for storage charges?

Regardless of some subtle interpretation of the law that you found on the internet the obvious route seems to get the merchant to pick up the goods. Call them and explain the situation.

I contacted the police and requested that criminal charges be pressed in light of the aggressive behaviour by the trader towards me. The trader has threatened to take action that cannot be taken legally (debt collection agency) and has lied to enhance credibility of the threat. The police declined, noting that the action that is threatened concerns a civil not criminal issue. I pointed out that the criminal act is the threatening of an act that is not allowed in this matter. The police still declined. Is this worth puruing in writing to the police?

Stop being so sensitive ("aggressive behaviour", "threatened", "illegal") and stop wasting police time.

Can I charge the merchant storage fees, admin fees, postage (signed for) fees? accumulating until this is resolved?

You forgot compensation for mental anguish.

mo786uk

Debt collection - either ignore or keep sending them letters explaining the situation

Goods - no idea

Police - lol if you think they are going to spend time on your 'harassment' case when there are actual crimes happening, forget it.

Dont give the goods back without getting a signature of somesort as proof.

magpiecottage

Without knowing the full situation, from what you say, it seems that you ordered goods on-line.

The wrong goods arrived. There is nothing to indicate the you asked the merchant to collect the incorrect goods at the time. They are entitled to them back - though they must pay for the return.

If that is the case, they have no evidence you got the wrong thing and I can understand why they are unhappy because the CC provider will probably have done a chargeback.

The difference between not getting the money and having a chargeback is pretty subtle and the Police are far too overstretched to get involved over what amounts to little more than a typo.

You are wrong to suggest there is a "FOS test case" - no FOS case sets a precedent for any other.

However, the CC provider has, you say, given you your money back so you are unlikely to get FOS to think you are acting reasonably.

sharmansgig

Thanks for replies people.

I should have said, I DID contact the merchant in the first instance. The merchant responded that there would be a 75 quid return and restock fee. I replied that I was not prepared to accept that as they supplied the wrong goods. They did not reply to this. I therefore went a week later to the CC Co. where I was successful

If that is the case, they have no evidence you got the wrong thing and I can understand why they are unhappy because the CC provider will probably have done a chargeback.

Do you mean that typically a CC Co. doesn't tell the merchant why they are retracting the payment?

However, the CC provider has, you say, given you your money back so you are unlikely to get FOS to think you are acting reasonably.

Maybe I wasn't clear. All i want is the goods to be returned to whomever they should be returned to and not be out of pocket for this. I quoted the FOS because they had instructed a CC Co. in that case to collect the goods and I thought this might be protocol.

What DOES worry me is that the merchant will now write down the part-debt and DCA will just hound me with no interest in taking the goods back, It will then goe to court where people don't always win even when they "should".

Greg

jamesd

If a DCA hounds you for this after you've explained the facts then they will deserve the complaint against them that you'll end up filing with their own regulator.

For a case where the item is supplied isn't the one that was ordered no restocking fee is allowed, so simply stick to the facts and ask the merchant to stop wasting your and their money and time and let you know how they want to pay you to return the goods to them or whether they want to arrange collection by their own transport service. Let them know that if they do arrange for a DCA you'll be happy to offer the goods to the DCA for them to collect as agent of the vendor.

If the vendor threatens adverse credit reports it'll be easy to get rid of those if somehow they manage to arrange it.

It's a trivially easy court win for you. Don't worry about it. If a DCA threatens it, say "thanks, please let me know when you commence action".

paulofessex

OP, l would suggest its possibly not a good thing to post your name on any forum, if indeed it is your real name and any company or person who you may have be in a dispute with decides that something you write may be libelous they can use it in any court action.

I appricate you may be a person who is confident in expressing your views etc and may not fear such action, however its the possible legal costs that may change your mind.

Not sure if you caught the programme 'See You In Court' BBC1 earlier this week. It made interesting veiwing.

chattychappy

sharmansgig wrote: »

I ordered goods (online). Merchant sent wrong goods.

This sounds simple, but is there more to it? It seems the merchant isn't accepting this, or at least isn't engaging.

nomoneytoday

Return goods to supplier - case closed ?

meer53

IF Lloyds have actioned a chargeback and this has been successful then the retailer hasn't technically been paid (you have been refunded and they have been debited) so the goods should go back to them. It's common sense, you have both the goods AND the money, would it not be fair to return the goods as soon as possible to prevent a DCA being involved ? You can't have it both ways.

IS this a Section 75 claim or just a chargeback actioned by Lloyds ? Why are Lloyds saying you should have gone through them first, i thought you'd already disputed this with them ?

Don't bother with the Police, they won't be interested. Threatening letters won't help either, to anyone.

chattychappy

meer53 wrote: »

It's common sense, you have both the goods AND the money, would it not be fair to return the goods as soon as possible

I think the OP's point is that they are available for collection. Given it was the supplier's mistake in sending the wrong goods, why should the OP have the hassle and expense of financing their return.

Personally I would return them just to end the matter, unless there was a particular reason not to (need special handling, not sure of return address etc).

It's not clear to me in what way the goods are wrong. Mention of re-stocking fees suggests the supplier might not accept the goods were wrong.