Dunster House Ltd

[Deleted User]

These lot sell stuff like log cabins and climbing frames
I went down to their Kent showroom and had a look at one of their log cabins, got interested and paid nearly 800£ in deposit. Came back home and measured my plot and it became evident that the size of the log cabin I ordered was not going to fit it. Next day morning (monday) I send them an email requesting the cancel the order following the procedure laid out in their paperwork they gave me.
No word for a week and I chase them over the phone, someone says refund has been processed and three days later the money appears back in my credit card account MINUS £30. I chase them again why money is missing, no response as usual. Today I sent them a strongly worded email and they cheekily reply saying it's for administrative cost and I need to go to trading standards if I want to sort it out.....seriously ???
To start with there was no administration done, order was not processed, delivery was not scheduled, no delivery was made(offcourse), balance of the payment due was not processed...so what bloody admin charge ? and to make it worse none of the paperwork that was given to me says anything about cancellation charge.
These lot are a rip off, steer clear and stay away - their business model is not making money out of the products they sell but purely in all these underhand tactics they employ.......I hope they go bust soon enough - good riddance
I'm not fully sure how to proceed now as they are quoting because I made the purchase on site they have the right to charge me etc but they did not make me aware of any such thing when I placed the order and the paperwork they provided me does not say anything about being unable to cancel or liable for cancellation charges.
Any tips on how to get my money back will very much be appreciated

chrisw

Since you signed on their premises they are under no obligation to give you any money back unless the goods are faulty or there is a breach of contract.

Since it is you that have breached the contract you are probably fortunate that they are holding back only £30 as they could chase you for the whole cost, not just the deposit.

I would treat it as a lesson learned and move on. Not worth getting stressed over.

Valli

And was it THEIR fault that you ordered something that wasn't right for you? There WAS some administration 'done' as you put it!

They COULD have kept the £800!

(Waits for OP to accuse self of being in their employ...like I can fit it in between working for all the OTHER companies posters decide I must be employed by)


Their T&Cs from the website -

2.1 Orders made by telephone, mail order or on-line customers have the right to cancel any order for Log Cabins, Playsystems or Decking (excluding any bespoke made to order items). This right to cancel extends for 7 days after the items have been delivered.

2.2 Any notification of cancellation must be made in writing, either by post to Dunster House Ltd. Caxton Road, Bedford, MK41 0LF, fax 01234 224497 or email to [EMAIL="cs@dunsterhouse.co.uk"]cs@dunsterhouse.co.uk[/EMAIL].

2.3 Assuming that the Goods were as described and not faulty a refund will take place less any reasonable charges for the costs Dunster House Ltd has incurred. Refunds will take place within a reasonable period of time after the items have been returned and inspected.

These rights do not apply if you have ordered at any of our display sites.

keystone

Today I sent them a strongly worded email and they cheekily reply saying it's for administrative cost and I need to go to trading standards if I want to sort it out.....seriously ???

That reads as though your email was agressive, threatening, abusive and all sorts of other stuff. Only you know that. It probably got the reply it deserved although the person that gave you same reply would have got a flea in the ear if they worked for me. Be nice and you usually get what you want. For £ 30 though is it worth it?

Cheers

keystone

Valli wrote: »

Waits for OP to accuse self of being in their employ...like I can fit it in between working for all the OTHER companies posters decide I must be employed by

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::T :T Your sig applies.

Cheers

macman

Deleted_User wrote: »

These lot sell stuff like log cabins and climbing frames
I went down to their Kent showroom and had a look at one of their log cabins, got interested and paid nearly 800£ in deposit. Came back home and measured my plot and it became evident that the size of the log cabin I ordered was not going to fit it. Next day morning (monday) I send them an email requesting the cancel the order following the procedure laid out in their paperwork they gave me.
No word for a week and I chase them over the phone, someone says refund has been processed and three days later the money appears back in my credit card account MINUS £30. I chase them again why money is missing, no response as usual. Today I sent them a strongly worded email and they cheekily reply saying it's for administrative cost and I need to go to trading standards if I want to sort it out.....seriously ???
To start with there was no administration done, order was not processed, delivery was not scheduled, no delivery was made(offcourse), balance of the payment due was not processed...so what bloody admin charge ? and to make it worse none of the paperwork that was given to me says anything about cancellation charge.
These lot are a rip off, steer clear and stay away - their business model is not making money out of the products they sell but purely in all these underhand tactics they employ.......I hope they go bust soon enough - good riddance
I'm not fully sure how to proceed now as they are quoting because I made the purchase on site they have the right to charge me etc but they did not make me aware of any such thing when I placed the order and the paperwork they provided me does not say anything about being unable to cancel or liable for cancellation charges.
Any tips on how to get my money back will very much be appreciated

So you thought that signing a contract and paying £800 deposit was just to express some interest in the product then?
Consider yourself lucky that the aren't holding you to the full value of the contract, which they are perfectly entitled to do if you cancel after signing.
£30 is extremely reasonable for messing them about.

Stooby2

This thread ought to be deleted. A company's good name is being dragged through the mud by one customer who has had a problem, which is largely his own fault (who on earth buys a log cabin without knowing whether it fits??) To call the company thieves (and not even spell it correctly) shouldn't be allowed as they don't have any recourse.

Sagz_2

Stooby2 wrote: »

This thread ought to be deleted. A company's good name is being dragged through the mud by one customer who has had a problem, which is largely his own fault (who on earth buys a log cabin without knowing whether it fits??) To call the company thieves (and not even spell it correctly) shouldn't be allowed as they don't have any recourse.

The company don't need recourse - mse members have set the op straight!

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the replies, including to some personally attacking ones :-), but no worries as I'm not in the business of attacking MSE forum members making odd assumptions without full knowledge of all the facts.
If the company has the right to charge me then so be it, but grief is that they did not make it clear that will be the case in the paperwork they provided me and the paperwork they gave does not say anything about cancellation charges, does not say my rights/lack of rights to cancel if I place the order in situ., not sure why I should be looking at their website for their terms and conditions because I placed the order in their showroom :-0, so they should be giving me all the details in there where I signed and paid for it.
But since this problem arose I have been looking through their website and in their FAQ section they state the following :
13. Your Right to Cancel: (Sold at Show Site or Exhibition)
13.1 Orders placed at out show sites or at from an exhibition site do not have the right to cancel any order.
13.2 At the Companies discretion however, and certainly excluding any bespoke made to order items, we may allow an order to be cancelled at any time up to the 5 days before any agreed delivery/installation date. Any refund due will be less any costs incurred by the Company up to that point. Examples of these costs are: Credit/Debit/Charge Card fees, admin fee (£15), attempted delivery/installation fees etc. This is not a consumer right, it is our Company Policy.
13.3 Any request for cancellation must be made in writing, either by post to Dunster House Ltd. Caxton Road, Bedford, MK41 0LF, fax 01234 224497 or email to cs@dunsterhouse.co.uk. We will reply to outline if we accept the cancellation and what the costs incurred would be.
13.4 Refunds will take place within 30 days after the cancellation has been accepted by both parties.

http://dunsterhouse.co.uk/popuparticle/35/terms-and-conditions

So I'm wondering why this info was not on their paperwork that I signed and despite what the above says why they are charging me £30 instead of the stated £15 admin charge. Obviously the company will not incur any credit card charges if the refund is processed, so not even sure why they have it in there., and no delivery was scheduled or attempted so no costs incurred there.

Funnily enough they even send me an invoice yesterday for the full amount several days after they processed the refund request and I'm left wondering why they are doing that now ?? - perhaps to demonstrate that they did some admin ? - just guessing :-)

And if you read my post with attention you will notice that part of my grief is the poor customer service where they did not respond to my emails/phonecalls which I would expect any company with 'good' name to do.

Valli

But OP those cancellation rights you quote ONLY APPLY for a purchase made 'at a show site or an exhibition'. And even then the right to a cancellation is not automatic, but must be agreed. So what's your point?

Since you are clearly capable of asking the right questions you could have asked, before paying the deposit, what would happen to it in the event you decided to cancel.

You went to their retail premises; if you form a contract to buy goods at a vendor's retail establishment then there (usually) are NOT any cancellation rights available to you. There is certainly no requirement in law that a company accepting a deposit on their premises need refund ANY of the deposit.

macman

Any contract you sign on site can be assumed to be binding from that point unless specified otherwise. That is the whole point of a contract-it's a legally binding agreement. You have no automatic right to cancel any such agreement without compensating the vendor, unless their in-house policy says otherwise. The vendor doesn't have to tell you this in the contract-it's perfectly obvious. It's up to you to ask 'what are my rights if I want to cancel?'
But why did you pay a deposit and sign without even measuring up first-it's not as though it was the last one left in the shop!