No refund until goods collected?

LiggyB

I bought a treadmill for Christmas from UK Sports Imports, which arrived broken. Another one was dispatched, which also arrived broken. They said they would immediately refund back onto my Credit Card, but couldn't collect the two treadmills until the New Year.

Telephoned them today to ask where the refund was, to be told (for the first time) that they wouldn't be able to refund until the damaged items were collected, and they couldn't do this until at least 3rd January. This means they've had my money since 13th December, and I've had to store two very bulky and heavy broken treadmills for them.

Can they withhold my refund until they receive the goods back? I feel that I've been penalised because the longer they delay collecting, the more interest they'll receive, and they're not having to store them.

What can i do? Lost all faith in the company now.

Thanks.

McKneff

It's normal practice I'm afraid with most companies now.

It'll probably be in the terms and conditions too.

Vote with your feet and buy eleswhere.

arcon5

Legally they have to refund within 30 days of cancelling.

bod1467

Which means a refund soon after 3rd January is still within that period.

halibut2209

Tell them that if you are not refunded within the legally required 30 days, you will charge them £10 a day for storage.

artbaron

They are not legally allowed to extend the refund period just because they haven't got the goods back in their possession. Their Ts&Cs are irrelevant.

Fosterdog

Don't forget though that the 30 days will start from when you notified them of the problem and they agreed a refund and not from your original order date or the date your account was debited.

somethingcorporate

A few days interest on a couple of hundred quid is a couple of pence. Not a particularly compelling line of argument!

halibut2209

It's not just the interest. What if the OP wanted to buy something else that was on offer and couldn't get the funds together to get it at the reduced price because this company had unlawfully not refunded them.

So whilst that may not be a compelling argument for you, the fact that the company may well be acting unlawfully certainly is.

Fosterdog

halibut2209 wrote: »

It's not just the interest. What if the OP wanted to buy something else that was on offer and couldn't get the funds together to get it at the reduced price because this company had unlawfully not refunded them.

So whilst that may not be a compelling argument for you, the fact that the company may well be acting unlawfully certainly is.

You're getting ahead of yourself a bit there. The company has done nothing wrong yet, they have another 15+ days for a refund to clear (based on the purchase date could be over 20 days from when the refund was agreed) All SD have said is they want to collect the items first which will be done on or shortly after the 3rd and then issue the refund.

The company are not acting unlawfully in any way at this point. If OP is still chasing a refund after the 30 days are up then further action can be taken but at this point they will get themselves worked up over nothing.

somethingcorporate

As Fosterdog says, nothing unlawful as they do not need to refund for 30 days and so the only argument left is the interest one, which is (literally) worthless.