Reasonable / legal time frame for refunding delivery costs

cracklepop

Morning all,

If an online company offered to refund your delivery costs because they dispatched the product late, how long do you think is a reasonable time to wait for the refund?

The company have acknowledged the error and offered to refund the money (before I asked them to) so the question is, from the moment they say they will do it, how long should it take? Legally or otherwise.

I paid for a special express delivery that guaranteed delivery on a certain day. I know it doesn't matter, but if you're interested, it's £10 or so, so not a huge amount of money.

Cheers!

bris

Up to 30 days is allowed.

cracklepop

bris wrote: »

Up to 30 days is allowed.

Thanks. Working days or calendar days?

cracklepop

Also, to add. The product is fine, so this isn't asking for a refund under DSR or anything like that. It's the retailer offering to refund a service I paid for for but didn't get.

My understanding is that they aren't legally obliged to refund 100% of the delivery charge, but they should offer some sort of discount. In this case they are going beyond that.

I'm more than happy with their offer, I just can't any mention of reasonable time frames anywhere.

Best I can find is from the CAB here
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_common_problems_with_products_e/consumer_problems_with_delivery_e/delays_in_deliveries.htm

If you have been given a date for delivery, the trader must deliver your goods by that date. If they don't, the trader has broken their agreement with you and you may be entitled to ask for compensation.

If the delivery date was important, you could argue that time was of the essence. This is a legal term. Time is of the essence if:

• it's clear from your agreement that it is essential that the agreed date is met - for example, where an order for a car says it must be delivered by a certain date as you're using it to go on a holiday you've booked
• it's obvious from the situation that the date was crucial - for example, where a wedding dress is ordered and the trader is told the date of the wedding at the time of the order.
  
  
  If time is of the essence and the delivery date is not met, you can either:

• refuse to accept the goods and claim your money back, or
• agree a new delivery date and negotiate for a discount as compensation.

If time was not of the essence in your agreement, you can arrange a new delivery date making time of the essence.

(bolding mine)

bod1467

30 calendar days.

Hintza

Wait 10 - 14 days and then give them a gentle reminder.

cracklepop

Hintza wrote: »

Wait 10 - 14 days and then give them a gentle reminder.

Actually that's what I did. Reminded them after a week with no reply. Same after 2 weeks, no reply.

Just had an email from then saying they can see a refund is due but there's a process to go through to ensure it doesn't happen again and then the refund will be issue which can take 3-14 working days.

The original offer was made 39 days ago! So they are saying it may take them 60 calendar days (or more depending on the "process") for them to process the refund.

Seems crazy, just wondering how to word the reply.

cracklepop

Just to close this off if anyone is interested.

I waited a few more days to see if they'd sort it. When they didn't I sent them a note saying I was fed up with waiting, quoted the 30 days refund limit to them and told them to sort it out by Monday. (I did finish the note saying this all seemed a little ridiculous for £10.)

Thought I'd follow it up with a post on their Facebook wall.

End result was they sorted it in about 30 minutes with an apology. I'm pretty sure it was the Facebook post that did it!