Missing Items - Rights?

girl_withno_name

unholyangel wrote: »

You could call Trading Standards or Consumer Direct and check their viewpoint on it.

You could essentially make time of the essence meaning they have to supply the items by a certain date. Basically makes more stable grounds for cancellation. You could also specifically ask them why they feel Regulation 19 of the DSRs do not apply to them.....will be interesting to hear their response.

I've emailed Consumer Direct (very unlikely to be free to call during the hours they are open) and in the meantime I have contacted SelectSpecs asking why they continue to refuse a refund, contrary to their own terms of sale. And I have further queried as you suggest regarding regulation 19 of the DSRs.

arcon5 wrote: »

Can't you reject them for non-performance under distance selling regulations, which states a contract should be fulfilled within 30 days unless agreed otherwise.

That sounds so easy, how do I do that? I think the practicalities of obtaining a refund are an issue though.

unholyangel

girl_withno_name wrote: »

I've emailed Consumer Direct (very unlikely to be free to call during the hours they are open) and in the meantime I have contacted SelectSpecs asking why they continue to refuse a refund, contrary to their own terms of sale. And I have further queried as you suggest regarding regulation 19 of the DSRs.



That sounds so easy, how do I do that? I think the practicalities of obtaining a refund are an issue though.

What arcon is referring to, is regulation 19 of DSRs which i've detailed above I think it was in my first reply.

girl_withno_name

unholyangel wrote: »

What arcon is referring to, is regulation 19 of DSRs which i've detailed above I think it was in my first reply.

I know, but that doesn't mean there'll be a fight... and a struggle to get any kind of refund?

If I remember rightly from a recent course though, I may be able to take this to small claims court and companies generally don't turn up? Not that I'm quite at that stage yet anyway...

unholyangel

Well whether its worth the hassle is really only a question you yourself can answer.

It may take longer to get a refund than it will for them to complete the order. Personally I would weigh up the inconvenience of waiting longer for my item against the inconvenience of writing letters, issuing a letter before action, filing small claims etc. Of course if you paid by credit card and it was over £100, you can claim under section 75 of the consumer credit act. If you paid on debit card, visa and mastercard have their own chargeback policies which can be dealt with by your bank.

So its really up to you on what you feel is the best course of action for you is. We're just here to advise you of your possible options and legal rights

girl_withno_name

This is their latest response:
"Thank you for your email, unfortunately prescription items are tailor made to your specific requirements and subsequently these are not subject to The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.
Please refer to paragraph 17 here; http://www.selectspecs.com/info/terms-of-sale/"

Nothing back from Consumer Direct yet

girl_withno_name

I have replied

"Section 13 of the Distance Selling Regulations states
"Exceptions to the right to cancel

13.—(1) Unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the consumer will not have the right to cancel the contract by giving notice of cancellation pursuant to regulation 10 in respect of contracts—
...
(c)for the supply of goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised or which by reason of their nature cannot be returned or are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly;
..."

Therefore items tailor made to specific requirements are still subject to all other sections of The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

Further, please refer to section 4 of the regulations: Contracts to which these Regulations apply
"4. These Regulations apply, subject to regulation 6, to distance contracts other than excepted contracts."

Neither regulation 6 or excepted contracts (regulation 5) exempts personalised items from The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000

Hence section 19 is still applicable in these circumstances and therefore this contract, which has not been performed within the period for performance, should be treated as if it had not been made."

girl_withno_name

Finally!!

"Hi **,

Greetings from SelectSpecs.com

We've looked into your enquiry ticket and have an update for you.

Thank you for your email, your order has been cancelled as requested, apologies for the inconvenience caused, you'll receive the appropriate refund to your original payment method within 3-5 working days.

We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If not you can simply reply to this email for further assistance.

...

Warmest regards,

**.
SelectSpecs.com Support"

Thanks for everyone who offered their advice, it's muchly muchly appreciated!!

bod1467

Well done. Took a bit of effort but you got there in the end.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Wow that looked like you were pulling teeth in trying to resolve it. Glad you got the proper result though even though they tried to counter argue back.

girl_withno_name

Their last argument was "Please note your order was placed on 16th December, these were then dispatched on 28th December, therefore this was a total of 12 days. Regrettably these have been delayed or lost in the post which is out of our control, but we are happy to replace these for you but unfortunately we cannot offer a refund, sorry."

Once I pointed out that the situation was not only within their control but their fault and the error directly contributable to the company's actions I got the result above... I think the guy who had been responding to me simply hadn't looked into the case and may have thought I was trying to pull a fast one!

Disappointed to have received such resistance, but happy to have eventually reached the desired outcome!