Unitel Direct Refund

laker1990

I originally ordered 3 websites on a 12 month contract from Unitel Direct back in March and a few days later agreed to have them upgraded to premium designs on a one off payment. I was told on the phone when I completed the order that the work would be done within 8 weeks of receiving my design form. I filled in the form and on the 21st March I received a confirmation email stating the form had been received and to allow up to 8 weeks (16th May) for the work to be completed.

On the 13th March I received an email stating that the work had been completed but it turns out it was only the basic design work that had been done, not the upgrade. It took them until the 5th June to do the premium designs but only 2 of the 3 websites were done. I phoned Unitel Direct to inform them of this and my account manager told me he would get it sorted. I had to then phone them again a few weeks later on 25th July as the website had still not been upgraded.

By this point I was annoyed at how long it had taken them to complete the work and I was aware that the websites would need renewing after 12 months so I asked for my money back on the one site as they had not given me the service I paid for but I was told that they would not give me a refund. After sending numerous emails explaining my point they still refused to offer me anything so I phoned and demanded to talk to the refund department (they don’t take calls normally). After a long discussion they offered me a 1 month extension on my sites but I wanted more as they had taken 10 weeks over their own completion date to do the work. They said no to giving me anything and ended the call there.

As the site will need renewing in 12 months and it took them nearly 5 months to complete the work I feel as though I should be able my get my money back or a 10 week extension to the contract but they are saying that as the design is a one off payment and not on a contract I haven’t lost any time. I don't see it this way as when I ordered I thought I was paying for at least 10 months of the premium design, not 7.
Is this something I should take further or will it just be a waste of time?

Hope all of that makes sense and any help/advice would be much appreciated. If I missed any details then please let me know.
Thanks

bris

You need to refer to the companies T&C's relating to your problem. This will come under B2B rather that consumer rights as I assume 3 websites are business related.

There are of course rights under breach of contract that you can turn to, but you may need a specialist solicitor to go over the contract to see if you have a case, not worth it for the few weeks involved.

You best weapon is the threat of moving your services to a competitor after the initial contract, that may get a better result.

InsideInsurance

As has been said, as a B2B relationship you have almost no statutory rights and so are bound by the terms of the contract you agreed to.

Having had a quick scan read of their terms, they retain the copyright of what they design and so you cannot threaten to move your sites elsewhere because you don't actually own them. You could move the domains away, for which they charge and admin fee, but would need new sites designed.