Does nobody ENFORCE Distance Selling Regulations?

figgypudding

Hmm, not good news to find out that if the credit card company (the bank) does refund us then Paypal may try to recover the debt from us later! But this is a little confusing, as it was Paypal themselves who advised us that, as there is nothing they can do, we should try the credit card route. This was advised over the phone, not on email, so we'd have no record of it if they came after us later. This is worrying!
I wish we had left the Paypal claim as it was now, as Arcon 5 said. But we didn't, as thought we might get in trouble for making a "false claim" about the tiles being misdescribed.
What a mess! I suspect that even if we don't recover the funds from the bank, we may leave it here and cut our losses (we're talking £250) as taking the tile company to court would drag out the pain... We will try to sell the tiles privately to recoup some of our losses.
It is reassuring to hear that we're not the only ones facing this problem and that others have come up against companies not complying, as we were worried that perhaps we'd just handled things wrong and should have accepted the 30% restocking fee nice and quietly. Of course, its not good that this is a widespread problem - and I hope Trading Standards do investigate as best they can!

figgypudding

I should say, I've done a fair bit of research online over the last few days whilst in the midst of trying to deal with the problem, and am confident the DSR's do apply!

neilmcl

It only becomes "a widespread problem" if consumers choose not to do anything about it.

Personally I've not been through the whole legal process myself, so the above is easy for me to say you might argue, but I'm assured, listening to other posters on this site and others, that it's a pretty painless process, especially when you have a pretty much cut & dry case as yours. The likelyhood is that it once the LBA has been received it's unlikely to get anywhere near a small claims court anyway.

One quick question for clarification, this was a private purchase rather than a business purchase, correct?

arcon5

Techhead wrote: »

Aren't we all jumping the gun a little bit; wouldn't a good first step be to assess whether the DSR applies? Before offering advice?

Okay, so what further information do you need to make this assessment?

What would make you think DSRs didn't apply? There are a few exceptions to the rights to cancel, which ops purchase doesn't appear to be covered by - so it's a fairly safe assumption that they will apply.

dalesrider

figgypudding wrote: »

Hmm, not good news to find out that if the credit card company (the bank) does refund us then Paypal may try to recover the debt from us later! But this is a little confusing, as it was Paypal themselves who advised us that, as there is nothing they can do, we should try the credit card route. This was advised over the phone, not on email, so we'd have no record of it if they came after us later. This is worrying!

Of course paypal say that.... They are just fobbing you off.
PP know S75 wont wash.
PP know you have to return the goods.

figgypudding wrote: »

the tiles being misdescribed.
What a mess! I suspect that even if we don't recover the funds from the bank, !

You will have to return the goods if you go to the bank and that will have to be via a method that proves they recieved them back.
You would also have to prove misdescribed.
Taking colours off the internet and thinking they are as they will be on the wall. Is never going to happen.
There is a limited range of colours that can be shown on a website, as well as diffrent monitors display colours diffrently.
So your case is going to be hard to prove.

figgypudding

neilmcl wrote: »

It only becomes "a widespread problem" if consumers choose not to do anything about it.

Personally I've not been through the whole legal process myself, so the above is easy for me to say you might argue, but I'm assured, listening to other posters on this site and others, that it's a pretty painless process, especially when you have a pretty much cut & dry case as yours. The likelyhood is that it once the LBA has been received it's unlikely to get anywhere near a small claims court anyway.

One quick question for clarification, this was a private purchase rather than a business purchase, correct?

Yes, it was a private purchase. I'm just not sure that the LBA will do the trick with the company. The guy we'd been emailing with seemed pretty determined to fight us every step, and whilst we thought we'd spelled out a cut and dry case to him, he just kept coming back with more and more irrelevant responses (details about his contract with the manufacturer, his inability to replace the factory seal, the fact that we'd failed to order a sample, and many more things). But if the small claims is fairly painless, maybe we will give it a go.

shaun_from_Africa

he just kept coming back with more and more irrelevant responses (details about his contract with the manufacturer, his inability to replace the factory seal, the fact that we'd failed to order a sample, and many more things)

None of which are of any concern to you if you are requesting a return under the DSR's.
The OFT and Trading standards are very specific and both state that there is no requirement for retailers to be able to resell goods as new, nor is there any obligation for consumers to return goods in their original unopened or unsealed packaging.

Provided that you follow the small claims process correctly and make sure that you send a correctly worded LBA before starting any legal action, I can't see that you will have any problems.