Consumer rights? Help!

murphmk_123

First post so apologies if this is in the wrong place it is very long winded but i feel i need to give the history to explain fully.

Long story ....... I bought a new kitchen from howdens joinery - i paid £4199.95 for this kitchen and after numerous phone calls i finally got a print out of everything i have paid for that makes up my new kitchen which was delivered in 2 batches - i received 2 x housing units for my fridge freezer & 2 sets of doors etc and hinges etc etc (obv only one was required so i called the company there and then and was advised to send back one of the units - which we did -(at this point i didnt realise we had been sent two hinge packs etc)
... anyway i went back to the store today to get the price of the housing unit refunded £166.00 which i was told they had to check their stock levels first before refunding me this but i was asked to leave my card details and it would be refunded before close of business .

Even though the person who i was speaking with was the sales person who had organised everything for us from start to finish and the person i called when the 2nd delivery arrived and i realised we had one unit too many - he was in the warehouse when the unit was returned and confirmed this to me -

I was issued with an invoice type receipt today for the amount of £166.00 - and it detailed all of the items i returned -i signed this and the sales person signed this - this evening i have had a phone call from the sales rep saying that they have only refunded £150.00 onto my card as I havent returned the hinge pack !!! it clearly states on the receipt i returned this today with the doors etc for the unit -
I am dumbfounded - what are my rights - i dont care much for £16.00 but i think this company is at it and trying to swindle me - as i think their plan was all along - this guy has been avoiding me by phone all week ever since he issued me finally with the detailed invoice (almost as if he knew something wasnt right on it) - when i realised we had been charged twice on wed i called him 3 times and not once did he return my call - infact when i confronted him about this today he advised me that noone had passed on the messages (even though it was over 2 different days and 3 different members of staff)
i should maybe add this kitchen was delivered at the beg of nov. Therefore they got their £4199.95 at the end of oct - so im just getting no customer service at all now that they have their cash they dont care at all!

On the first delivery the delivery man was carrying in the new washing machine and whilst he was carrying this on his own he walked straight into a wall mounted shelf holding ornaments which .... the ornaments were worthless tat and the shelf was from ikea but what he done actually caused the shelf to be pulled off of the wall ripping it clean off and the plaster too - I was totally willing to let this go - purely because my husband is quite handy with DIY and could easily patch this up himself (obv at extra cost to us) but im now tempted to go in all guns blazing with howdens and demand some form of compensation or something for this - what are everyones thoughts.

What started as a very pleasant transaction has ended in appauling customer service now that the deal is done im so disappointed as I was very happy to recommend them prior to this .

Where do I stand?

arcon5

Firstly, the damage to your wall... the problem here is if they deny it you have no proof it was the delivery person, especially since you didn't persue it for which I assume you didn't make a report with the company. By all means put in a complaint, but i'm not sure how much weight it will carry having not reported it sooner.

I am though very surprised that they are trying to swindle you out of £16 when you spent over £4k with them :huh:

I'd perhaps send them a letter by registered post (so they can't deny receiving it) enclosing a copy of the 'receipt' the chap gave you confirming you returned the said item, to head office. You could threaten to persue them via the small claims court, although wouldn't really be worth it for such a small sum.

molerat

Can't make out from your post if you have returned the hinges or not.

murphmk_123

yes sorry i didnt make that very clear - the hinge pack was returned with the doors on friday - the unit was returned to them about 3-4 weeks ago - although it only became clear to me on wednesday last week that we had actually been charged for 2 of these units, so i think he was actually trying to make an extra £166.00 - as surely when i returned the unit he would have realised then that he'd charged me twice but chose not to mention this to me.

I know im annoyed with myself for not having reported the damage at the time but theres one thing that i will not accept and thats being made out to be a liar by them if thats the route they decide to go down with me.

dmard

Hi i worked for howdens for five years and i can confirm that the hinges come free eitha a complete unit. You should not have been charged for these. Any money howdens can make they will.glad i left