Help!!!!

Pinsandneedles

Hi,
About a year ago I paid £300 to a Chinese herbal medicine shop in town.It was money up front to buy either treatment or items from their shop anytime in the future.She was just starting up in business,and i didnt mind paying up front as i knew i could claim it back later on my Health Insurance policy i had at my place of work.I left it quite a while though!Now the owner says I have not used my credit up soon enough,and now I cannot have anything from the shop or get any refund.Basically she is not giving me a single thing because of her 'time limit' which was previously never stipulated.i have receipt from till,and bank statement showing the transaction.Can I take any action to get my goods/services/refund?
Any answers will be very appreciated....thanks.

Hintza

Letter before action will be the best course of action, she can not amend the contract unilaterally after the event.

paddyrg

Have you got a paper contract with her? Any piece of paper with terms? Even a receipt for the £300 and what it could be spent on as store credit?

Pinsandneedles

Thanks for your interest.As stated in my original post....have the till receipt for the £300 I gave her,and my Santander statement shows the transaction too(I paid by card in one go).No other documents.The agreement was just verbal.I trusted her as she had given me acupuncture over a 3 year period previously when the business was owned by a different person,and she was an employee and not a proprieter.The business closed and then re-opened months later when she decided to 'go it alone' in place of her previous boss.Because I felt I knew her quite well,the trust was there.......more fool me :-(

neilmcl

Exactly what timescales are we talking here?

paddyrg

Ok, so you can probably take this to court and see if a judge agrees with you or her. It may be a bit "she said, I said", and the outcome is harder to predict without any kind of paperwork for the store credit.

However, if you have that receipt and it says something like 'store credit' or 'for future services' or frankly *anything* that shows the intention I'd suggest you have the upper hand if you did take it that far. If she can't/doesn't deny that it was prepayment for goods and services, and can's find evidence that it was a timed offer, the judge may side with you.

Now, question is what would you accept in settlement? It's worth trying first to come to an agreement. For instance, would £300-worth (at retail prices) of stuff from the shop do you? Would you want £300 worth of needles stuck in you by an angry woman?

shaun_from_Africa

Do you by any chance have an e-mail address for the shop or shop owner in question?

If so, it might be worth sending them an e-mail asking why no mention was made of a time limit when you paid the £300 and asking if they will reconsider.
AT least if they reply, even if they refuse any refund, you will have some sort of written proof of what is happening.
Once you have this you will be in a better position with regards to taking legal action.

You stated that you paid by card. Was this a credit card payment?
If so, you may well be able to get a refund from the card issuer by opening a section 75 claim.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Pinsandneedles

Thanks y'all....first time on here for me and I'm pleasantly surprised!
@Neil: I just dug out my old bank statements and I paid her on 22 Oct 2012.
I can't tell from the statement whether I used my switch/debit card or my credit card.Bear with me I'm wading through paperwork at the moment,but I will find out the method of payment......
I'm single dad with two kids and serious health issues which is why I'm not the perfectly organised man I used to be.
Thanks again to you all for showing interest.
Q.where to next? Trading Standards or small claims court or solicitor?
(After I have written to the shop and fingers crossed had a reply,that is)
Will I need funds to see this through? With all the cutbacks I doubt I will get legal aid.Yes,btw.....Im one of those benefit claimants or 'sick scrounger' the current govt has told you about......woe,woe and thrice woe......
P.S.laughed out loud about the angry woman sticking pins in me.she'd have gone straight for my eyeballs,no doubt :-D

keyser666

Try the advice from Shaun regarding email. If no email address, try a normal letter using the same tactic.

After that send a LBA dependant on her response. Then us MCOL online, you will get reduced rtes but not overly expensive, forget ho much it is these days be about £25-30

shaun_from_Africa

keyser666 wrote: »

Try the advice from Shaun regarding email. If no email address, try a normal letter using the same tactic

If you send a normal letter, it might help with a reply if you stick a self addressed stamped envelope in with it.