Cancelled van hire - no refund?

longwalks1

I booked and paid for van hire for a move over a weekend, £204 on my credit card 3 weeks in advance. Then 4 days before hand I had to cancel it, was abraod at thetime so it was a brief phonecall to them, they was fine with it and I (possibly wrongly) assumed I'd not be charged and get a refund, but I didnt. Just had my statement throguh and I paid the £204, is there any chance I can get this back?

What are my rights? Thanks in advance

Looksguywalker

What do the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to when you took out the van hire say?

baza52

what did you agree to when you booked the van?

longwalks1

Looksguywalker wrote: »

What do the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to when you took out the van hire say?

I dont know as it was done over the phone I know I should of checked

longwalks1

baza52 wrote: »

what did you agree to when you booked the van?

There was no mention (or thought) of needing to cancel it, so it wasnt discussed, all that was done was I paid by card over the phone, and agreed a time to pick the van up on the Friday ready for the weekend.

marleyboy

In most cases, refunds are non refundable. However, check the T&C just in case.

Hintza

marleyboy wrote: »

In most cases, refunds are non refundable.

Eh???????????

marleyboy

Hintza wrote: »

Eh???????????

Noted, cheers

Meant to say deposits are non refundable.

longwalks1

Hello all
a long overdue update, now been almost 4 months, I phone 3 times a week to be told 'We'll look into it, and call you back' nothing. Everytime I call, im told 'ah you spoke to someone else, ill pass the message on', basically being given the run around, even though I was assured it would be refunded 3 months ago as it was on 'top of the pile'

Frustrated, and wondering what my next course of action is please?

unholyangel

You could write them a letter before action. Stating that £204 amounts to a financial penalty. However....they are entitled to any losses they have reasonably incurred due to your breach. And they do have a duty to mitigate their losses.

4.3 Where customers cancel without any such justification, and the supplier suffers loss as a result, they cannot expect a full refund of all prepayments. But a term under which they always lose everything they have paid in advance, regardless of the amount of any costs and losses caused by the cancellation, is at clear risk of being considered an unfair penalty – see Group 5.

4.5 A way to improve the fairness of such a term is to ensure that it does not go beyond the ordinary legal position. Where cancellation is the fault of the consumer, the business is entitled to hold back from any refund of prepayments what is likely to be reasonably needed to cover his net costs or the net loss of profit resulting directly from the default.18 There is no entitlement to any sum that could reasonably be saved by, for example, finding another customer.

4.6 Alternatively, the prepayment may be set low enough that it merely reflects the ordinary expenses necessarily entailed for the supplier. A genuine 'deposit'– which is a reservation fee not an advance payment – can quite legitimately be kept in full, as payment for the reservation. But of course such a deposit will not normally be more than a small percentage of the price, otherwise it is liable to be seen as a disguised penalty (see paragraph 5.8).

5.1 It is unfair to impose disproportionate sanctions for breach of contract. A requirement to pay more in compensation for a breach than a reasonable pre-estimate of the loss caused to the supplier is one kind of excessive penalty. Such a requirement will, in any case, normally be void to the extent that it amounts to a penalty under English common law. Other types of disproportionate sanction are considered below – Part III, Group 18(c).


5.6 Cancellation penalties and charges. A term which says, or is calculated to suggest, that inflated sums could be claimed if the consumer cancels the contract is likely to be challenged as unfair. For example, a penalty for wrongful cancellation that requires payment of the whole contract price, or a large part of it,20 is likely to be unfair if in some cases the supplier could reasonably reduce ('mitigate') his loss. If, for example, he could find another customer, the law would allow him to claim no more than the likely costs of doing so, together with any difference between the original price and the re-sale price.

PZH

britishboy wrote: »

Frustrated, and wondering what my next course of action is please?

Get a copy of the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to.