Car parts- trader ignoring DSRs

NWSteve

Evening everyone

I'm having a bit of a to-do with a Citroen car parts company that appears to have little concept of the SOGA and DSRs.

In a nutshell, I looked on this company's website at the parts to find the ones I wanted, rang them to ask for 2 particular panels at £75 per panel, and paid £150 + £15 p+p (pdq print-out and hand-written receipt confirm £165 paid).

I got sent wrong, cheaper panels that cost £70 each. On querying this I get told I asked for the cheaper panels and get charged a further £30 to have the wrong panels collected and the right ones sent out to me.

I then emailed them to say the receipt shows I have been charged for the right amount for the parts I had wanted. They then say that by concidence a mistake had been made that resulted in me being charged £140 not £150 for the panels. However, they would refund £15 of the £30 postage fee they took as a gesture of goodwill (I have received this in my account).

On closer inspection it turns out that the right panels actually are badly made and unfit for purpose.

I then emailed the company back to say they were not fit for purpose, that I wanted a full refund and that the parts would be available for collection from Monday (start of this week).

In their reply to my cancellation email the company owner said that as I had ordered the wrong parts to start with I must pay for the return postage on these faulty parts, and that when they do get the parts back I will have a 10% 'handling fee' taken off the refund too.

It gets better- they have no T&Cs whatsoever on their website and none were sent with the receipt either.

So I am just wanting to check if I should I wait for the full 30 days from the point of cancellation to see if they do refund me (as per the DSRs), or, since the goods are faulty, should I just write and give them, say, 14 days to issue a full refund of all money they have taken from me so far and remind them about collecting the panels?

Should this letter be the letter before action or does that one come later if they fail to act on this first letter?

Thanks for any replies.

alistair.long

firstly you are entitled to the complete postage if the item was the wrong type.

DSR means that you should be entitled to a complete refund less your return postage.
They are not allowed to charge a restocking fee.

bod1467

alistair.long wrote: »

firstly you are entitled to the complete postage if the item was the wrong type.

DSR means that you should be entitled to a complete refund less your return postage.
They are not allowed to charge a restocking fee.

If OP is correct and no T&Cs were provided to advise that consumer must pay for returns under DSRs then retailer bears this cost also.

NWSteve

bod1467 wrote: »

If OP is correct and no T&Cs were provided to advise that consumer must pay for returns under DSRs then retailer bears this cost also.

I've taken screen prints from the website to show there are no T&Cs anywhere in case I have to take this further (or the trader decides to add them later on to try and make me look foolish).

I have a feeling this trader will continue to take the position that it is his business and what he says goes.

somethingcorporate

Then you may have to resort to a letter before action and small claims action or talk to your card provider for a charge back.

bod1467

NWSteve wrote: »

I've taken screen prints from the website to show there are no T&Cs anywhere in case I have to take this further (or the trader decides to add them later on to try and make me look foolish).

I have a feeling this trader will continue to take the position that it is his business and what he says goes.

He can do whatever he likes with his website. What matters is what he may have emailed you or enclosed with the goods (i.e. "durable means") ... if returns costs were not advised then they pay.

NWSteve

The only thing sent with the parts was the pdq receipt stapled onto a company-headed piece of note paper that had a very brief hand-written order description on- i.e. 2 rear wings at £150, total inc. p+p £165.

I've not been sent anything else.

I presume that the reason they can't charge for return delivery if not previously stated is because it is post-contractual, so becomes an unfair contract term?

wealdroam

NWSteve wrote: »

I presume that the reason they can't charge for return delivery if not previously stated is because it is post-contractual, so becomes an unfair contract term?

It's because The Distance Selling Regulations say so.

From page 27 of the OFT's guide to the DSRs...

Who pays for returning the goods if the consumer cancels an order?
3.55 If you want the consumer to return the goods and to pay for that return, you must make it clear in the contract and as part of the required written information – see paragraph 3.10. If the consumer then fails to return the goods, or sends them at your expense, you can charge them the direct cost to you of the return, even if you have already refunded the consumer’s money. You are not allowed to make any further charges, such as a restocking charge or an administration charge.
3.56 If you did not include these details in the required written information then you cannot charge anything. See paragraph 3.10. You can never require consumers to pay the cost of returning substitute goods – see paragraph 3.1 for more information.

shaun_from_Africa

bod1467 wrote: »

He can do whatever he likes with his website. What matters is what he may have emailed you or enclosed with the goods (i.e. "durable means") ... if returns costs were not advised then they pay.

Even if the seller wanted to make sure that the return cost was down to the buyer and they advised the buyer of this by way of a letter or T&C's enclosed with the goods or sent separately as an e-mail it is still not enforceable if it was received after the contract was concluded as the seller would be attempting to introduce conditions after the contract of sale had been agreed.

This method of notifying the consumer is fine if it is to do with the return timescale (in which case they have 7 working days following the day they received the letter/e-mail to inform of their wish to cancel) but the OFT state that other info must be received by the consumer:

Before the conclusion of the contract or in ‘good time’, this
means that the consumer has sufficient time to act on it when
they receive it, for example, to cancel the contract if needed.

bod1467

Even better!

mattyprice4004

kirtinag wrote: »

That is really a no problem issue just wait and watch and after that see the traders.

In English, please?