Consumer Credit Act - Section 75

Becles

I've always bought goods over the internet with a credit assuming I was protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

In December I bought a gift voucher through ebay as a present. After Christmas my boyfriend tried to spend it and found out the voucher was stolen and therefore invalid.

I contacted the seller who denied all knowledge of it being stolen and has since ignored all communication from me.

The Police told me there was nothing they could do.

ebay and Paypal said there was nothing they could do.

I also put in a claim with Nationwide credit card, assuming I was covered under Section 75. After many phone calls to them between January and now, Nationwide have just told me over the phone that I am not covered under Section 75 as the transaction was made through Paypal. The lady could not explain why I am not covered, and I have had no written communication from them. Therefore I will not be refunded for my purchase.

Can anyone explain why Paypal isn't covered?

I am also considering a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

I'm quite upset and annoyed as I spent nearly £300 in good faith. The trader has my cash and I have a worthless stolen voucher. It's just frustrating that he can be allowed to get away with that, and I'm left out of pocket

scotch

Hi
I had a problem similar to this a while ago.
When you buy goods using your credit card you gain extra protection so long as the goods cost between £100 and £30,000. The credit card company and the seller are jointly responsible for any breach of contract.

I think your credit card company is trying it on (mine tried but i insisted that it was their responsibility).

I would get back on to the credit card company and to the police and insist something is done.

But do not withold any payments to the credit card company as you will then be in breach of your contract and all sorts of problems rear their heads.

The DTI website is pretty good for info.

Good Luck!!!

Becles

I've just phoned back. Apparantly Section 75 doesn't apply to ebay/PayPal transactions as you are buying from a private seller not a trader.

I've been advised to put it down to a bad experience

Gutted now and cheesed off

Anon

I thought people could be prosecuted for passing on/trading stolen goods (knowingly or not). I would pursue the police and also keep on at ebay/Paypal.

Information on Ebay may be useful if not attempted already:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/confidence/overview.html#8

Taking into account both Paypal and Ebay have taken a fee for processing your purchase, they are also profiting from stolen goods which may be worth pointing out to them ...

Good Luck

Anon

DerekVader

Keep on at the police, since you presumably have the seller's address, and if they do nothing keep escalating it within their ranks. How they can say there is nothing they can do is beyond me. Even if they send someone round to ask a few questions of the seller it might put the frighteners up them enough to stop it happening further.

Leylauk

My friend had a similar bad experience on ebay buying a plasma TV. The goods were never sent so she contacted the police local to the seller and they went round and told them that they had better send the TV or they would look into prosecuting for obtaining property by deception. One week later the TV was delivered. So it might be worthwhile contacting the police again.

Hope it all works out for you - I think that it is disgusting that ebay/paypal are denying any sort of responsibility.

MarkyMarkD

Becles wrote:

I've just phoned back. Apparantly Section 75 doesn't apply to ebay/PayPal transactions as you are buying from a private seller not a trader.

I've been advised to put it down to a bad experience

Gutted now and cheesed off

That's NOT the reason, becles. The credit card transaction is between you and paypal. Paypal haven't done anything wrong so there's no way for the credit card company to do a chargeback.

It's the transaction between paypal, you and the seller which has gone wrong - the credit card company isn't a party to this.

The credit card company has bought you credit with paypal. You've then used the credit with paypal to buy something from a crook. Therefore no section 75 protection.

You see what I mean?

Paypal, on the other hand, should get your money back - although on all accounts, they are pretty useless at doing so.

daveboy

Ebay - make ridiculous profits and don't care if something goes wrong.

PayPal - owned by eBay and take more of your money for using it on top of the sellers fees etc.

Police - totally useless but we'll all pay a bit more for them in our new council tax bills soon to come through the letter box.

I have used eBay but will never do so again. And I have no respect for the police whatsoever.

Never ever buy anything of high value off eBay - it's too much of a risk. Looking at feedback isn't always going to tell you what you need to know.

dandare

will overseas purchases made before the november ruling be covered under section 75, im trying to get back cash from barclaycard as a company sold me a worldwide warranty for the goods but never supplied one.

Becles

I wrote a letter of complaint to Nationwide, as I was disgusted at how they have handled this. I disputed the transation on 4th January, but have not had any form of communication from Nationwide, other than me ringing up asking what is going on. I said if they didn't reply in writing with their reasons for not refunding me, I would seek advice from the financial Ombudsman.

I've just checked online and I've been refunded the full purchase price, plus interest. Oddly it says this was applied to my account in February, although the transaction doesn't appear on my March statement

Just happy that I've got the money back now and it's sorted.

davidcampbell

Becles wrote:

I've just checked online and I've been refunded the full purchase price, plus interest. Oddly it says this was applied to my account in February, although the transaction doesn't appear on my March statement

QUOTE]


standard practice. they will have backdated it to february so that you arent penalised in terms of interest paid.

DC