Invisible delivery charge of £10!

dotchas

Hi,
I am looking for advice.
I purchased a designer Alarm Clock in january for a birthday pressie next week.
It was £19.99 with delivery£0.00.
I placed the order and it was delivered.As it was a pressie for OH I hid it right away.
The shock came when I checked my bank statements,and I have been charged £29.99!!
When I opened the invoice (which unfortunately I had not opened at first, as it was a present ,I just checked the clock was OK and then hid the parcel)I was shocked to see a delivery charge of £10.
The box is about 2.5 in x8in x 1in so it is not big or heavy.It would probably cost £1.00 to post!
I checked the website today to see where i went wrong,and delivery still shows up as £0.00.
When I phoned them today they admit they have a problem with the website and are waiting on it being fixed!!(Its now 5 weeks since I ordered!)
They claim to have e-mailed me re the error and only put the payment through when I did NOT reply.I am sure I never got that e-mail.
I asked to return the clock and they agreed,but will not return my £10 P+P.
Where do I stand as when I clicked pay I thought I was paying £19.99?
Help!

squashy

I know there are certain laws regarding distance trading. But I also can see that you are absolutely in the right- the price you agreed to pay was the one that appeared on the screen (ie £19.99) and nothing else. This sounds very dodgy if not illegal to me. Do you have a printout of your checkout confirmation, either from their site or via email?

Don't back down on this one. Take it higher within the company and don't rule out writing to watchdog, you can't be the only one this affects.

dotchas

Thanks for the reply,
Unfortunately I don't have an e-mail confirmation.I am usually very good at keeping these but as it was a pressie I might have deleted it:mad:
They are adamant that they are correct,as they e-mailed me re the error and gave me 24 hrs to reply.I definately do not remember getting that e-mail.
Surely 24 hrs is not long as not everyone sits at a desk.
They DID phone me next day as a digit was wrong on my expiry date,I corrected that but they never mention the P+P.
I might phone my bank and see what they say...
I have looked at trading standards and cut and pasted a few bits into an e-mail to the company... .Ravaya furniture.
Off to get lunch and contemplate what to do next...

dotchas

Jings !I just checked the website again,and now the delivery charge comes up as £50!!!!!!
I had wanted to print it out showing £10 P+P.
Imagine £50 to deliver a alarm clock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dotchas

I have sent the following e-mail and will see what or if they reply.


Re invoice number 5281

2.4 All prices and charges offered by us are quoted in UK pounds. The price you pay for your order is that price which is displayed on the website. Prices include VAT unless otherwise stated but exclude delivery charges. Delivery charges are calculated as part of the checkout process, based on the proximity of your delivery address and the item in question. If we discover an error in the price of goods you have ordered we will inform you as soon as possible and give you an option of reconfirming your order at the correct price, or canceling the order. If we are unable to contact you we will treat the order as cancelled and you will receive a full refund.

Hi,
Further to our telephone conversation this morning,I found the above information in your Terms and Conditions.
I maintain that you did not ensure that you had contacted me about the P+P charge of £10 to which I had not agreed when I placed my order.
I did not respond to the email as I did not receive it.
I did not "reconfirm my order" as required in your terms and conditions.
You telephoned me on 12 January re a wrong digit on my cards expiry date,but did not take that opportunity to mention the charge.
The delivery charge of £10 is excessive for a small item such as the Alarm Clock.
I did not agree to pay this charge and would be grateful if you would reimburse me this cost as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully
xxxxx

dotchas

RESULT!!!!!!!!!!
Just got this reply,fingers crossed the cheque will arrive.
Hi,

Thankyou for your email, can i first tart by apologising for the situation that has occured. We did have problems with our online system, but at no point should you have been charged the £10 without your consent. As a result we will be sending out a cheque for £10 to you today. Could you please confirm whome to make it payable to and also the address you would like it sent to.

Once again please accept my apologies for the situation that has arisen.

Kind Regards,

LittleVoice

dotchas wrote:

RESULT!!!!!!!!!!
As a result we will be sending out a cheque for £10 to you today. Could you please confirm whome to make it payable to and also the address you would like it sent to.

,

I'm pleased to see that they have acknowledged they were at fault.
However, how can they state they will send out a cheque "today" if they don't know to whom it should be payable or what address to use??!!

Fingers crossed that it arrives soon.

Clive_Woody

dotchas wrote:

RESULT!!!!!!!!!!
Just got this reply,fingers crossed the cheque will arrive.
Hi,

Thankyou for your email, can i first tart by apologising for the situation that has occured. We did have problems with our online system, but at no point should you have been charged the £10 without your consent. As a result we will be sending out a cheque for £10 to you today. Could you please confirm whome to make it payable to and also the address you would like it sent to.

Once again please accept my apologies for the situation that has arisen.

Kind Regards,

Excellent result, I imagine a lot of people would have given up, more people need to be encouraged to fight back. Great example of standing up for your rights.

dotchas

RESULT

Cheque arrived today ....less than 24 hrs,lets hope it doesn't bounce!!!!

I am glad I kept at it as I was aware not having the confirmation e-mail weakened my case but I never told them that!!!!

I hope Oh likes his clock;)

Thanks for all advice/support,

Dot