Can I reclaim a holding deposit on a kitchen

Le_Heron

Hi

My first post on the forum so hopefully I am posting in the right place etc!

Hopefully someone may be able to advise me regarding a holding deposit I paid on a kitchen last December.

I paid £1500 in a holding deposit after agreeing a kitchen design with a local company. The main purpose for paying the deposit was to secure the pre VAT increase prices and we had every intention of going ahead and getting the work done. The kitchen designer was fully aware that it may be a couple of months before we actually wanted the kitchen made and delivered, as we had extensive building work to do beforehand. The kitchen designer was going to return once the work was done to remeasure and finalise the design.

Unfortunately since then my wife has lost her job and we can no longer afford to finance the project. We have told the kitchen company and they now refuse to refund the deposit.

The only paperwork I signed was an order form and the £1500 is simply listed as "holding deposit". There is no small print and no mention of whether the deposit is refundable or not, neither were we told verbally that it was non refundable.

Am I legally able to demand a refund as we have not actually received any of the goods or services listed on the invoice, neither has the kitchen company ordered or made any of the units.

Help would be very much appreciated so I can go back to them and renogotiate

Many Thanks

pcombo

If you order a custom made suit to your exact measurements then leave a deposit then 2 weeks down the line you change your mind. The company is going to be out of money because of this, so a kitchen had to be meased to exact measurements also so i doubt you will get the kitchen deposit back, plus you dont deserve it back, wasting everyones time.

Le_Heron

Thanks for the reply.. sort of.

We ordered the kitchen from stock. The designer was going to come back and measure the kitchen accurately after we had the building work done. This has obviously never happened, so there has been no significant expense by the kitchen company, only the expense of some paper work and they have had the advantage of my £1500 in thheir account for the last 10 months..

As this is my first post on the forum I am sorry if my wife losing her job and being unable to go ahead with a home project was wasting everyones time.

I would welcome any more helpful views please

Thanks

George_Michael

Don't worry too much about the earlier response from pcombo.
More often than not their posts are simply an attempt to make themselve look big, and rarely, if ever do they actually post anything of any use. (as in this case, they failed to notice that the measurements hadn't yet been taken).

As to your deposit.
Businesses are legally entitled to keep some or all of a deposit if a customer changes their mind, but they can only keep enough to cover their expenses incurred or their actual loss.
As there are no terms stated on the receipt that you have, you may well be entitled to a full return of the money paid.

You should write to the company concerned explaining how your circumstances have changed and ask for the deposit to be returned. It might be an idea to mention that you would be happy to pay a reasonable sum to cover their costs.

somethingcorporate

In true Blue Peter fashion here is one I made earlier...http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=42873192&postcount=16

Have a read.

Le_Heron

Brilliant. Thanks George and thanks somethingcorporate.

I was hoping that to be the case. I will write the letter as advised and quote some of the text from the Office of Fair Trading document in sc's link. Hopefully they will agree to settle once I have set out my case. I will post an update to let you know how I got on

I am glad that some posters on here are much more helpful than pcombo!

Cheers

baza52

George_Michael wrote: »

Don't worry too much about the earlier response from pcombo.
More often than not their posts are simply an attempt to make themselve look big, and rarely, if ever do they actually post anything of any use. (as in this case, they failed to notice that the measurements hadn't yet been taken).

To quote the OP's orig post "The kitchen designer was going to return once the work was done to remeasure and finalise the design."

That would suggest to me it HAD been measured.

George_Michael

That would suggest to me it HAD been measured

Quite possibly, but only to give a rough indication of the price or to work out what units could be fitted into the available space.


As the designer was going to return to "remeasure and finalise the design", there is no way that items would have been ordered on the basis of a rough measurement, especially as the design of the kitchen hadn't even been determined.
This is a lot different to pcombo's statement of "so a kitchen had to be meased to exact measurements".

Flyboy152

George_Michael wrote: »

Don't worry too much about the earlier response from pcombo.
More often than not their posts are simply an attempt to make themselve look big, and rarely, if ever do they actually post anything of any use. (as in this case, they failed to notice that the measurements hadn't yet been taken).

As to your deposit.
Businesses are legally entitled to keep some or all of a deposit if a customer changes their mind, but they can only keep enough to cover their expenses incurred or their actual loss.
As there are no terms stated on the receipt that you have, you may well be entitled to a full return of the money paid.

You should write to the company concerned explaining how your circumstances have changed and ask for the deposit to be returned. It might be an idea to mention that you would be happy to pay a reasonable sum to cover their costs.

I have to take issue with this part of your otherwise excellent post George. Even if it is the OP's intention to settle with the company, including a deduction for administration costs, it should never be offered. It should be up to the company to ask for it.

If the OP was, to say, offer one hundred pounds to the company, to compensate them for loss of profit/administration costs, that would open the window for them to demand more and the fight will take even longer. It could even prejudice the OP's entire claim.

If the OP really wants to offer this, they must, without fail, offer it "without prejudice" and make it categorical that is what they are doing.

Le_Heron

Thanks for everybodys help on this.

My wife spoke to the proprietor who was insistant that he could keep the whole deposit or we would have to accept "goods in lieu". This isnt much use to us as the whole kitchen cost was in excess of £10k so having a part of a kitchen in lieu seems to me to be not of much use as we cant afford to buy the rest! Since then we have written to him, and sent it recorded delivery, highlighting why we feel that he has no just cause to withold the deposit as we have not received any goods or services since it was paid. We quoted several parts of the Office of Fair Trading documents, linked in the other thread, to support our case. We have had no reply of acknowledgement as yet. We didnt offer to cover any administration or other costs at this stage in our letter.

We are trying to maintain friendly relations with the company, our cancellation was only due to our financial position changing and not to any problem on their part. We only chose them because we thought they were a good company!

Just to clarify an earlier point. The original design was based on my own measurements and were therefore considered approximate as they were taken prior to building work. No units have been made or ordered by the company. The service we have so far received is the standard, free consultation and design service, that most kitchen companies offer free to customers to try and secure orders.

I will update when we have any more movemtn on the issue.


Thanks again