Distance selling and "personalised" items

MiaB

I ordered a wheelchair for my mother from an on-line retailer.

The wheelchair has a choice of size and whether the the controller is needed on the left or right hand size.

When I place the order they told me that this was a "prescription" chair and I had to put my choice of seat size and controller location on a dealer form.

The chair was delivered by an Engineer who asked me what side I wanted the controller put on ( it is interchangeable so isn't "built" in). We couldn't test drive at the time it was delivered as the carers weren't available to hoist Mum into the chair.

Later that day we did, and the chair is not suitable.

The retailer website states we have a 7 day cooling off period and gives us the charges for cancellation.

I emailed to cancel and received a reply that we could not return the chair as is it a "prescription" chair, which means it is built to order.

I have emailed back (long email so will summarize), to say that they do not make any mention of "prescription" items on their website, nor were we advised this type of order was precluded from returns. Further, it was not "built to order". We picked a "seat size", and the choice of control side is not built in - the engineer plugged it into the required side on the day. In other words, if it is returned it is still resalable.

That's the long question ! - the short question is what constitutes "personalisation" in terms of distance selling regulations.

Thanks in advance for any help.

pinkshoes

What's wrong with it?

wealdroam

The OFT has a view on this.

On pages 22/23 of their guide to the DSRs we are told:

Instances where cancellation rights do not apply
(Regulation 13)
Can consumers cancel an order in any circumstances?
3.38 Unless you have agreed that they can, your consumers cannot cancel if the order is for:

• the supply of goods made to the consumer’s own specification such as custom-made blinds or curtains. But this exception does not apply to upgrade options such as choosing alloy wheels when buying a car; or opting for add-on memory or choosing a combination of standard-off-the shelf components when ordering
  a PC, for example

Seems pretty clear to me that your wheelchair is not personalised in this context.

MiaB

pinkshoes wrote: »

What's wrong with it?

It isn't "faulty" if that is what you are asking? It just isn't suitable.

Mum slides down and out of it. The mid wheel drive makes it impossible to manouvre within the house to enable us to get it out the door.

But none of the above matters in relation to the question of cooling off period : offered under regulation and the retailers website.

Thanks.

MiaB

wealdroam wrote: »

The OFT has a view on this.

On pages 22/23 of Link Removed we are told:

Seems pretty clear to me that your wheelchair is not personalised in this context.

Thanks, that's one of the places I got me info from. My opinion is that we have picked "options" and not had it personalised.

I'm just wondering if there is anything more specific as the reference to RAM and Hubcaps is a bit random

wealdroam

MiaB wrote: »

Thanks, that's one of the places I got me info from. My opinion is that we have picked "options" and not had it personalised.

I'm just wondering if there is anything more specific as the reference to RAM and Hubcaps is a bit random

Not sure what else you are looking for.

Regulation 13 in the legislation itself says pretty much the same thing but without any examples:

Exceptions to the right to cancel
13.—(1) Unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the consumer will not have the right to cancel the contract by giving notice of cancellation pursuant to regulation 10 in respect of contracts—
(c)for the supply of goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised...;

MiaB

How spooky.
"Don't get done get Dom" was on in the background earlier, some guys who had ordered a stairlift through a website then cancelled, and they tried to keep his deposit as it was a "personalised item"

Basically the consumer experts were quoting the same the posters here and went on to say that if a company wants to refuse the distance selling right to return in terms of items being customised or personalised then they needed to make that a condition of the sale.

They need to advise the customer in writing and the customer needed to agree to the sale on those terms, before the order goes ahead.

So with the great advice here, and armed with the above I will await the retailers response and respond as above.

I will post an update in case this threads helps anyone in the future.

Thanks for the responses.

neilmcl

MiaB wrote: »

How spooky.
"Don't get done get Dom" was on in the background earlier, some guys who had ordered a stairlift through a website then cancelled, and they tried to keep his deposit as it was a "personalised item"

Basically the consumer experts were quoting the same the posters here and went on to say that if a company wants to refuse the distance selling right to return in terms of items being customised or personalised then they needed to make that a condition of the sale.

They need to advise the customer in writing and the customer needed to agree to the sale on those terms, before the order goes ahead.

So with the great advice here, and armed with the above I will await the retailers response and respond as above.

I will post an update in case this threads helps anyone in the future.

Thanks for the responses.

But this isn't relevant here. Your purchase wasn't customised or personalised in any way and you shouldn't accept that it was.

MiaB

I don't and won't accept that is was customised.
I just intend to point out to them that even it had of been, they still could not exclude the return/refund as they hadn't followed those rules either, to avoid protracted correspondence/dispute over what is considered " customisation"
Thanks

derrick

When was it delivered?

Make sure you email them to inform you are cancelling under DSR within 7 working days beginning with the day after delivery, as if you don't then you have not conformed to the DSR and they may make life difficult or impossible.

.

BJV

Think that everyone has already given you all the info you need so i don't think i can add anything constructive. Except to say good luck. So sad and such a shame that some companies act like this. When will they understand that if they had handled it differently you would be here saying how fab they where and would of most likely ordered a replacement.

Best wishes to your mum.