Requested cancelled order has arrived and been refused - now what?

patwa_2

Hello.

I suppose I could have handled this better, and I'd completely understand if the store are not entirely endeered to me, but would appreciate any help in resolving this as painlessly as possible.

I ordered a set of speakers from Savastore on Friday at around 4pm. At the time, the goods were definitely shown as "Awaiting Stock" both on the Order Tracking page, and on the product page it showed waiting for 1408 units. So, one would reasonably expect them to not be shipped immediately, after all, they're waiting to receive the goods, there's a window of waiting time before this process is completed.

Anyway, I spoke to a friend and the upshot was that I wanted to cancel my order. I wrote to Savastore at their customer service address (cs@watford.co.uk), including the order number and expressing my wish to cancel the order and asking for a refund.

OK. So, after not hearing from them by Monday morning, I checked the Order Tracking page on https://www.savastore.co.uk only to find to my complete frustration that the goods were showing "Fully Shipped/Invoiced". I immediately wrote back to Savastore, siting my previous e-mail, expressing my disappointment and once again asking for a cancellation of the order. A few hours later, at around 14:00 the Ordr Tracking was showing that the goods had been collected, the CityLink tracking number yielded the same on https://www.city-link.co.uk. At this point I may have gone a little too far, but in my total frustration at this company, I wrote back, firmly stating that this was unacceptable, that when the goods arrived they would be refused untampered and that I was not demanding a refund for the order which I made every and all reasonable attempts to cancel BEFORE it was shipped. I also said that, due to the fact that no response to any of my e-mails had been received, I considered this to be suspicious an would file a report with my bank, which I then did. I foolishly bought these speakers on debit card, but nevertheless I have reported the entire matter to the bank for their perusal.

Anyway, the goods did arrive yesterday morning, they were refused without being opened. Sadly, no proof was received, although the despatch note carried by City-Link should show the refusal. At the time of writing I have heard nothing from Savastore, and there is no change in the Order Status. The City-Link site shows that the goods were refused, with the general status as "Returned to the branch after an unsuccessful delivery attempt" as of 16:23 Tuesday (delivery attempt 10:09 Tuesday).

Where do I go from this? I'm more annoyed at the lack of a response to this issue from Savastore's end. I'm working all day, so have no chance to even phone them except when they are closed which defeats the point entirely. We're talking almost £209 here.

Thanks.

furrypolka

Why are you so angry with them for shipping your goods?

You entered into a contract with them for the goods, which they accepted, and clearly shipped them as soon as possible. They may have begun this process before receiving your cancellation notice. There is no way of telling when they themselves received the stock - it may have been the same day as your order. In any case, it's doubtful they've done anything wrong by attempting to fulfil an order as soon as possible.

Now, you don't say what the goods are but you are almost certain to have the right of cancellation under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations, which gives consumers seven days (starting the day after delivery) in which to return an item and claim a full refund. You may be responsible for the return delivery costs, depends on what the terms on their website say. However they should certainly now accept your order as cancelled and their lack of email confirmation is at least annoying.

I would follow this up in writing to their registered address, and keep a copy. They have 30 days under these Regulations to refund you, so make sure you give them a date by which to sort this out. After this, you can write a letter before action and threaten the small claims court.

patwa_2

Thanks, I agree I was maybe a little OTT, but if the goods are clearly "Awaiting Stock in 2-3 days" and they are such a big company, I would have thought they would have received my e-mail before they shipped the goods. Granted, they may be didn't work over the weekend, but on Monday, in the 3 hours between open and when the goods were collected for delivery, the Customer Services could have easily cancelled the order, even if they didn't physically have time for a reply. This IS the same department that sends out the invoices and delivery notifications that we're talking about.

I'll write the letter, anyone know if the registered office is the one on their website or is that just a 'holding' address?

It may all turn out OK, for all I know I might get a mail in today saying they've received the goods and are refunding me, but I doubt it somehow. Also, given the above, I really don't think it's fair for me to pay return carriage costs. I did technically cancel the order BEFORE it was shipped.

Thanks.

patwa_2

Hmm, how interesting. It seems that watford Electronics, also known as Savastore have been bought by Globally Limited. No contact information at this time, and no login facilities to check order status. Maybe the issues will be sorted out soon when the site comes back online. Mind you, the suspicious part of me can't help thinking this is mighty convenient timing, lol.

tripled

Presumably they wouold have had a whole stack of emails from the weekend to deal with on Monday morning? Maybe they didn't read it before the order was sent?

However I can understand their lack of response to be frustrating, you would expect them to have turned the emails around by now even if they have been bought out.

patwa_2

Hi, I'm starting to get really worried about this now, that the site has gone down and they have been bought out. However, I read an article that makes out that things may nt be so innocent as they seem - apparently the big guys at Globally Limited (just founded not long ago) also had high up positions at Watford Electronics and Savastore. Also, apparently the company has a history of buying itself and rebranding, having apparently done it before.

And there is no word about whether old Watford Electronics/Savastore issues will be handled by the globally Limited administration.

Likewise, I also do not now even have a postal address where I can send the letter I typed out this afternoon.

Worried and confused.

gaming_guy

patwa wrote:

Likewise, I also do not now even have a postal address where I can send the letter I typed out this afternoon.

here is a screenshot of all their contact info

patwa_2

Thanks very much, going to send it off today.

patwa_2

Hello. Nearly a week now since last post and still no word from this company on their website - in fact it hasn't been modified one jot.

Does anyone, maybe someone who's more in tune with the corporate world than myself know what's going on? As far as I'm concerned, with what I'm reading on the net this whole affair is starting to look very ugly and wreaks of a screw-over. As far as CityLink are concerned the package got to the return address on 12 Feb, but I have not received a refund. I have not had a chance to send off my letter to them yet due to the sheer amount of coursework being forced upon me, but I hope to get it done today.

First Direct, quite expectedly were unable to help recover my money, so we're pretty much back to square one.

Thanks.

patwa_2

Hello. I'm really sorry, but the image that you uploaded isn't legible to me. Could someone that has the address lying around please post the full postal address that I should write to to get this complaint to Savastore or whoever is dealing with the company's affairs?

Thans.

H.

patwa_2

Hello.

I believe I have finally exhausted all informal avenues to get my money back from this company and must move onto more official steps.

There was no word from the company at all since the last e-mail (which was the receipt after placing the order).

On 28 February I e-mailed BBC Watchdog to see if they could do anything. I did not hear back from them.

On 12 April I finally received an e-mail from a person at globally Limited advising that the review of their books was now complete. she gave the address of an Administrator in London for customers who needd refunds or had orders not delivered.

I wrote to the Administrator on 12 May enclosing copies of all correspondence and a full account of the history of this case. i received a letter back from them last week (23 May) advising me that they could not do anything, and that I should write to the Administrator (what? so who were these 'Administrators!'?) with a Creditor debt form (which they enclosed). however they continued by advising that if I went down that route, i would likely only receive a percentage dividend of the due amount, and that this dividend had yet to be announced and may not be announced for some time.

This is unacceptable to me, by percentage I'm thinking maybe £50 at the most. The original amount of the claim was £208.30, if you add on reasonable costs for my time, postage and telephone expenses, etc, it comes to approx £260.

I hve been seriously thinking of going to the Small claims Court (or equivelant here in Scotland) but am not sure how to do it a) because it's a cross border deal with me being in Scotland and the company being in England b) just who exactly I'm claiming against, the bust Savastore, Globally Limited who acquired them or someone else and c) because I'll probably have to attend an actual court hearing which I'd rather avoid and d) just how much this will cost me and how much I'll get back all told.

So I'd like your advice. Just sitting back and letting £200+ go down the drain is a very bitter pill to swallow and not one I'll do likely unless I have no other reasonable choice. i believe my arguement is sound, I believe I've done everything I could on my side to resolve this and I have the required proof to show.

I'd appreciate your advice from someone who's more knowledgeable than me.

Thanks.

H.