DFS Contract & Lied to.

S-Mack

Hey everyone.

I'm currently writing on behalf of my parents, who aren't particularly computer literate, and we desperately need some advise about our rights and what we can do about our current situation.

After Christmas we went to DFS to check out the sales on new settees. We found one we liked but weren't particular on signing up for one just yet. My dad eventually signed a contract under the following knowledge that the sales person told him.

- You can sign up now to guarantee you get the sale price, even if you don't decide for a week on whether or not you want it.
- You can let us know within 7 days whether you still want the settee we agreed on.

So we though ok, we'll go home, check finances, do some precise measurements, and ring up with a yes or no.

Two days later my dad rang up, and just explained that the finances weren't where we wanted them to be to be comfortable with buying a settee right now. The guy said fair enough and that he'd cancel the order. It's important to note that now, thinking everything was sorted out, my parents shredded the signed documents we had.

Fast forward to a week ago, we get a call saying our sofa is ready for delivery. Upon querying and discussing with the manager, apparently there is no "7 day period to cancel", and that it was never done if it was. Now he says we have to take the settee, and offered us the option of not paying for 12 months.

The finance simply isn't there, and we're not going to risk it improving over 12 months, so we won't take that deal. But from here, what rights do we have regarding this? We don't have the contract, and we've been told we're obligated to take the settee.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Fire_Fox

Did you father carefully read what he signed? If so what was in the contract about cancellation? Why did he try to verbally cancel a written contract instead of in writing? Was anything paid?

You can try writing a letter of complaint and asking for a copy of the signed contract. Your rights are not completely clear given the contract was signed and the item quite possibly made to order.

keithdc

Have you actually paid?? Doesn't particularly matter from a contract law perspective, but gives you much more power.

S-Mack

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Did you father carefully read what he signed? If so what was in the contract about cancellation? Why did he try to verbally cancel a written contract instead of in writing? Was anything paid?

You can try writing a letter of complaint and asking for a copy of the signed contract. Your rights are not completely clear given the contract was signed and the item quite possibly made to order.

Nope. He's quite trust and took the salesman at face value with what was said. He cancelled verbally because that was what he was told to do by the salesman. Nothing has been paid yet.

I think we'll write a complaint to head office and post it on monday morning first class recorded then, and see if that gets us anywhere.

keithdc wrote: »

Have you actually paid?? Doesn't particularly matter from a contract law perspective, but gives you much more power.

Nothing has been paid. They're trying to get him to agree to pay from January next year instead now.

mo786uk

Has he entered into a finance agreement?

They would have to get him to sign one for a pay later option. He will be in a weaker situation with finance as the finance company will pursue him for the money and DFS won;t care about the sofa as they will have their money.

arcon5

Legally you have a contractual right to cancel since that was the terms agreed between him and the salesman.

However... a big however, they are denying ever agreeing to this. Had this not been agreed he would be liable for their losses as a result of breaching the contract.

Although they have no money from him so tell them to shove it, they are unlikely to proceed to court

S-Mack

mo786uk wrote: »

Has he entered into a finance agreement?

They would have to get him to sign one for a pay later option. He will be in a weaker situation with finance as the finance company will pursue him for the money and DFS won;t care about the sofa as they will have their money.

I believe he signed a direct debit for payment when he signed the contract.

arcon5 wrote: »

Legally you have a contractual right to cancel since that was the terms agreed between him and the salesman.

However... a big however, they are denying ever agreeing to this. Had this not been agreed he would be liable for their losses as a result of breaching the contract.

Although they have no money from him so tell them to shove it, they are unlikely to proceed to court

Cheers. General consensus, since I posted on another site as well, seems to be that we shouldn't sign for it, and tell them we won't basically.

bris

But the general consensus aren't the ones who may very well have the debt collection hounds set on them trashing their credit file and risking court action for a broken contract.

With a signed DD mandate there is no defence, it is just asking for trouble later, refusing delivery will not be the end of it, they may also pile on storage charges, for what is effectively your suite.

arcon5

Op, did you sign a DD mandate or enter in to any kind of finance agreement OR did you (as it sounds to me) simply sign a contract of sale & if so what was the agreed payment terms at the time?

If you did enter in to some kind of finance then you need to make sure this is cancelled within the finance cooling off period - failing to do so will damage your credit rating.

If you have not entered in to a finance agreement then even if they do send it to debt collectors, they cannot damage your credit report! Not until it's been to court and they've won, and only then if you haven't paid within 30 days.

ajones456

If you can remember back to how many copies you signed I can tell you what you signed. If you only signed two things, both giant white boxes you will have signed both copies of the contract. However if you signed more than two things and one of them is a DD mandate you have signed a finance agreement.

However the fact that you said the sales person says they are offering you 12months means you probably didn't.

Also on the back of the contract it does state its legally binding AFAIK

bris

S-Mack wrote: »

I believe he signed a direct debit for payment when he signed the contract.

I am just going with this which states he signed the DD form

arcon5 wrote: »

Op, did you sign a DD mandate or enter in to any kind of finance agreement OR did you (as it sounds to me) simply sign a contract of sale & if so what was the agreed payment terms at the time?

ajones456 wrote: »

If you can remember back to how many copies you signed I can tell you what you signed. If you only signed two things, both giant white boxes you will have signed both copies of the contract. However if you signed more than two things and one of them is a DD mandate you have signed a finance agreement.