Distance Selling Regulations - refund of delivery charges

doublew_2

Hello,

I recently purchased a camera case from an online seller (via Amazon). Even though I had checked the dimensions on the website before buying, when it arrived, I decided it was too big for my needs. So I decided to return it and ask for a refund. I did this the day after I received the item (so within the 7-day cooling off period).

According to the T&C's on the invoice I had to call the company to authorize the return before posting it back. I did this, and was told that they would refund me the cost of the item, but not the original shipping charges of £3.84.

I disputed this, as I was pretty sure that under the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs) the company has to refund all of the money I paid as part of the original purchase (including any delivery charges). The seller told me that because their returns policy stated upfront that they do not refund shipping charges, then they are not obliged to refund the £3.84 to me. I said I would like to proceed with the return but that I did not accept his stance on the shipping charges and I was going to look into it further.

After my phone conversation I checked the returns policy wording on the sellers page on Amazon. It said:

By law, customers located in the European Union also have the right to withdraw from the purchase of an item within seven working days of the day after the date the item is delivered.

Where you are withdrawing from your purchase within the seven working day cooling-off period, and there has been no error on our part, we will refund the cost of the item.

It will be the customers responsibility to ensure that the item is returned to ourselves, in identical condition to that when it was dispatched, and at your expense. We advise using a trackable means of return, and to insure expensive items against loss or damage.

The 3rd paragraph states that I would be responsible to cover the cost of returning the item to the seller, which I fully accept. But it makes no statement about not refunding the initial shipping charges.

I then looked into the DSRs in more detail and found the following statement in the OFT's guide for businesses:

The DSRs require you to refund any money paid by or on behalf of the consumer in relation to the contract to the person who made the payment. This means the full price of the goods, or deposit or prepayment made, including the cost of delivery. The essence of distance selling is that consumers buy from home and receive goods at home. In these circumstances, almost every case of home shopping will involve delivery of the goods ordered and so delivery forms an essential part of the contract.

I have since contacted the seller with all of this information, and they have in this case decided to refund my shipping charges. So victory for me.

However, they are still disputing the fact that they are legally obliged to refund the initial shipping costs. They told me that in this case they accept the wording in their terms and conditions was vague and they will work to correct this in future to make it clear that they will not refund initial shipping charges.

My question for this forum is this: does the seller have the right to refuse to refund the initial shipping charges if they state this upfront in their T&C's? For me, the DSRs are clear that the seller must offer a refund of these charges, regardless of what is stated in their T&Cs?

I have been back to this seller's page on Amazon again today and I noticed that they have now changed their returns policy to read:

By law, customers located in the European Union also have the right to withdraw from the purchase of an item within seven working days of the day after the date the item is delivered.

Where you are withdrawing from your purchase within the seven working day cooling-off period, and there has been no error on our part, we will refund the cost of the item only, but you will be responsible for any shipping charges incurred in the dispatch of the item as shown prior to purchasing the item.

It will be the customers responsibility to ensure that the item is returned to ourselves, in identical condition to that when it was dispatched, and at your expense. We advise using a trackable means of return, and to insure expensive items against loss or damage.

I think that they are in breach of the DSR's by inserting this additional wording. Am I right?

derrick

Yes they are in breach of the DSR's which are legally binding, their T&C's cannot override the law,inserting them does not breach the regs, asserting them does, maybe a word to Amazon and/or Trading standards.

.

doublew_2

Thanks Derrick, yes I intend to follow-up with trading standards. Just wanted to be sure I had my facts straight first