Mis-sold Advertising

brokenant

Hi, hopefully someone can offer some advice or comments. It’s a long post but I don’t want to miss anything.

On Thursday I was offered advertising space in a brochure to go in the bedrooms and reception of some local hotels (part of a national chain). Seems a good idea, as I run a local pub/restaurant and the chain of hotels do not provide any catering facilities.

I asked which hotels and whether the hotel on the local business park was part of the chain to which I was told by the salesman a definite yes. Happy with everything I signed the contract and paid a deposit.

After checking further this weekend it turns out that the local hotel I based my decision on(and was told by the salesman was part of the advertising) is actually part of a different chain. So the Hotels I have signed up to advertise in are all on the other side of the city (nearest one is about a 15 min drive away).
I spoke to the salesman again this morning to explain his mistake and to cancel as it no longer seems to be worth me advertising, he got very aggressive from the start and told me it clearly states on the contract which chain of hotels I am advertising in, I agree but say I only signed because he told me that the local hotel was part of that chain, his response was that yes he did say that but he lives in Blackpool so how should he know what the local hotels are (well for a start its because you’re selling the advertising for them!!). From this point on every time I try and speak he just speaks over me telling me its my fault for signing regardless of what I say. I tell him to stop speaking and listen and ask him if I can speak to his supervisor (there was no point speaking to him further because I was getting nowhere and he was acting like an idiot). He tells me there is no point because I signed the contract which clearly states which chain of hotels the advertising is for, I reply with I only signed because you lied to me about which the hotels were. He replied with are you calling me a liar, I’m not a liar, that’s scandalous etc. to which I replied what would you call it then. Finally he shut up and said you’ll have to speak to my legal team then and hung up.

I have just spoken to the legal team who were very polite and proffesional unlike their salesman, they went through the same things such as I signed the contract which clearly states which chain of hotels the advertising was for, and I keep telling them the only reason I signed was because the salesman lied to me about which hotels they were, eventually they said they sympathise with my situation but don’t think they can do anything but she said she would speak to someone higher up and get back to me.

Thanks for sticking with me through all that, does anyone know were I stand, I only signed up because the salesman lied to me and he has admitted that he gave the wrong information before I signed.

texranger

i am afraid they aree right if the contract tell you which chain of hotels you are advertising in then you are bound by the contract. regardless if the salesman told you that a certain hotel was part of the chain.

most chain hotels would have on their main sign that they are part of XXX chain, so you chould knopw if it was part of the chain or not

heretolearn_2

Hard because it's only your word against his for what he may have said. The only contract with any proof is the written one, and that clearly states which chain is included. I don't think you'll get very far, although I can see how annoying it must be.

AliceJenkins

Was it a cold call? never ever buy from cold callers.

brokenant

Thanks, confirmed pretty much what I was thinking, just wondered if there was any cooling off period but it seems not.

I did manage to speak to someone in charge, who told me what has already been said about the only contract being the written one, however as gesture of goodwill due to his salesmans mistake and attitude he's going to add me on the brochure in two independent hotels in the close area for no extra charge. I'm happy with this as legally he didn't need to do a thing.

texranger

brokenant wrote: »

Thanks, confirmed pretty much what I was thinking, just wondered if there was any cooling off period but it seems not.

I did manage to speak to someone in charge, who told me what has already been said about the only contract being the written one, however as gesture of goodwill due to his salesmans mistake and attitude he's going to add me on the brochure in two independent hotels in the close area for no extra charge. I'm happy with this as legally he didn't need to do a thing.

well at least you have got this sorted.

have you every tried to contact that local hotel yourself and see if you can place some business cards etc in their hotel.

steve1980

You have a 7 day cooling off period if the sale was completed over the phone due to DSR.

Personally, these are a rip off and I would never advertise in them. Are they providing a copy of what is being sent and proof that it's actually being advertised in the hotel?

As for the "gesture of goodwill" if the hotels weren't on the original list then how comes they can put them in there now?

texranger

steve1980 wrote: »

You have a 7 day cooling off period if the sale was completed over the phone due to DSR.

Personally, these are a rip off and I would never advertise in them. Are they providing a copy of what is being sent and proof that it's actually being advertised in the hotel?

As for the "gesture of goodwill" if the hotels weren't on the original list then how comes they can put them in there now?

DSR just applies to consumers and not b2b transactions

The Distance Selling Regulations were passed to protect consumers when they shop online or enter into other contracts at a distance from the supplier. The rationale for giving consumers special protection in such deals is that the consumer does not have the benefit of meeting face-to-face with the supplier and inspecting the goods or services offered for sale.

Properly called the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, the Regulations do not apply to contracts between businesses.