Pet Supermarket DSR clarification

unholyangel

Optimist wrote: »

Yes there is. It is my opinion that they are not allowed to charge you for the delivery simple. The free delivery part is just a diversion ignore it.

If you had bought that one item they would have charged delivery which should be refunded under DSRs.

The question really, is how far do you want to go for what looks to be £3.50, assuming http://www.canineandco.co.uk/ you are talking about ?

You could contact Consumer Direct who should push your complaint on to the local trading standards, although not sure if Consumer Direct are still in existence but here is a link to contact Conwy Trading Standards direct but I doubt they will do much.

But if you buy more than one item and return one, they dont have to refund delivery unless it is delivery charge per item (ie if its £2 per item as opposed to £2 per order).

If part of the contract was that the OP needed to spend £29 in order to qualify for free delivery, by returning a item he has rescinded that offer.

arcon5

Optimist wrote: »

Yes there is. It is my opinion that they are not allowed to charge you for the delivery simple. The free delivery part is just a diversion ignore it.

If you had bought that one item they would have charged delivery which should be refunded under DSRs.

Yes but if you return a single item under DSR you are not entitled to a refund of the shipping cost -- so in this instance where op purchased multiple items a P&P refund is not necessary, merely a refund for the individual item. Since op has changed the contract and no longer qualifies for the deal as before, it has put her at an unfair advantage -- so she has now been refunded for the item in full less a P&P charge she would otherwise have been liable for.

unholyangel

from their terms and condition:

What happens if I want to return something for a refund?
If upon receiving your order, you are dissatisfied with any item for any reason whatsoever, please return it back to us, it is that simple! We will reimburse you for the value of the item. Please ensure that the item is returned back to us within 7 days of the date the item is delivered to you. Should you have received free delivery when you initially placed your order with our super saver service and the value of your returned item, brings you under the qualifying spend to qualify for free delivery you will be charged the published delivery tariff on the date you placed your order.

Optimist

unholyangel wrote: »

But if you buy more than one item and return one, they dont have to refund delivery unless it is delivery charge per item (ie if its £2 per item as opposed to £2 per order).

If part of the contract was that the OP needed to spend £29 in order to qualify for free delivery, by returning a item he has rescinded that offer.

The op should not be charged delivery at all, after returning under Distance Selling Regs. They can be made to pay for returns but any delivery charges should be refunded. In this case there were no delivery charges so nothing to refund or indeed deduct

They were charged delivery after the contract was complete and DSRs were invoked.

The fact that the company took money for delivery after the contract was complete and DSRs were invoked was a breach of the regulations.

Although I would be very surprised if it were to happen as the judge would not be too impressed but if the OP were to take this to court there are very good chances they would win.

bod1467

That's the gist of what I was trying to say. If there had been multiple items and a single delivery charge (not per item), then return of one item would have invoked the repayment of the delivery charge. So the fact the delivery was "free" in this instance is immaterial - there are no justifiable grounds [*] to deduct a delivery charge from the refund when an item was returned under DSRs.


[*] If the delivery charge was based per-item then there may be a case. Without looking in detail at the T&Cs of the company in question then it's not possible to confirm either way.

hcb42

they make their terms very clear. THe postage is nothing to do with the returned item, it is just no longer free, as they havent spent enough.

I would hope the law of common sense would be on the retailers side here, otherwise it is completely open to abuse.

somethingcorporate

The charge was not made against the returned item - returned under DSR.

The charge was levied on the other items that were subject to the terms and conditions on the website as the value of the order was now below the minimum required for free delivery. The fact that they levied this against a returned item is perhaps where the confusion arises.

Delivery of the items does not constitute the contract completion, especially when clauses in that contract relate to events which may yet take place (the above being an example of this).

I am still firmly in the case that it needs to be paid by the OP, the company made this easy by removing it from the refund of an item rather than refunding them in full and then presenting them with a bill for delivery.

That's my take and it may not be right!

bod1467

I suspect that this is one of those "grey areas" that could be interpreted either way. Unless (or until) it is tested in court and a legal precedent is set then I expect both situations will happen - sometimes there'll be a charge, and sometimes there won't.

unholyangel

bod1467 wrote: »

That's the gist of what I was trying to say. If there had been multiple items and a single delivery charge (not per item), then return of one item would have invoked the repayment of the delivery charge. So the fact the delivery was "free" in this instance is immaterial - there are no justifiable grounds [*] to deduct a delivery charge from the refund when an item was returned under DSRs.


[*] If the delivery charge was based per-item then there may be a case. Without looking in detail at the T&Cs of the company in question then it's not possible to confirm either way.

Read up. I posted the relevant T&C's.

OP was given free delivery based on an order exceeding the value of £29. His order no longer exceeds that value so a delivery charge is applicable. If his order had not included that item in the first place, he wouldnt have qualified for free delivery.

It is not a DSR issue. Its a contractual one.

The best thing to compare it to is (as per my previous post) a buy 2 get 3rd free. If you return one of the paid items and its in the terms and conditions, they can charge for the "free" item. As the item was ONLY free on the basis of purchasing the first 2.

If they had just stated orders over £29 get free delivery the OP might have more of an argument. But their T&Cs clearly state if item/s are returned which bring the order value below £29, they will be charged delivery.

bod1467

unholyangel wrote: »

If his order had not included that item in the first place, he wouldnt have qualified for free delivery.

And unless the P+P was based per-item, returning one of those items received would have invoked refund of the P+P, per DSR. Whether P+P was free or not is immaterial in that situation.

I agree that their T&Cs say what they do - the question is whether they are legally enforceable or an unfair term, in that they try to contract out your statutory rights.

(All IMHO of course).