buying abroad - company not fulfilled

dpc197

Hi
Not sure what my rights are here.
I placed an order for a bike from a reputable Dutch company on 25/9. They confirmed the order next day and let me know their bank details to transfer the money.
On 01/10 they chased me for the payment. I replied 4/10 with an apology and said I would be in a position to transfer tomorrow.
The next day on Friday 5/10 I confirmed that I had made the transfer.
Today, Monday 8/10, they sent me an email saying that, as they hadnt recieved the payment, they had cancelled the order and sold the bike to someone else. They confirmed they will return payment if they ever receive it.
Seperately I have recieved confirmation that my payment has been processed.

Can they simply cancel the order like this? Appreciate I took some time to transfer the payment. Do I need to study terms and conditions (they are in dutch!)?

All email communications have been in English and I feel they could have at least warned me that if they didn't recieve payment by dd/mmm they would unreserve it for me. Given I confirmed payment on Friday, they surely must understand this wouldnt get processed on the weekend.

I am now out of pocket on the fee to make the international transfer and I will probably lose out on exhange rate loadings when they return my payment.

Sorry about long post. Am annoyed at potentially losing fees but even more annoyed at not getting the bike.

Hope someone can help.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

dpc197 wrote: »

Hi
Not sure what my rights are here.
I placed an order for a bike from a reputable Dutch company on 25/9. They confirmed the order next day and let me know their bank details to transfer the money.
On 01/10 they chased me for the payment. I replied 4/10 with an apology and said I would be in a position to transfer tomorrow.
The next day on Friday 5/10 I confirmed that I had made the transfer.
Today, Monday 8/10, they sent me an email saying that, as they hadnt recieved the payment, they had cancelled the order and sold the bike to someone else. They confirmed they will return payment if they ever receive it.
Seperately I have recieved confirmation that my payment has been processed.

Can they simply cancel the order like this? Appreciate I took some time to transfer the payment. Do I need to study terms and conditions (they are in dutch!)?

All email communications have been in English and I feel they could have at least warned me that if they didn't recieve payment by dd/mmm they would unreserve it for me. Given I confirmed payment on Friday, they surely must understand this wouldnt get processed on the weekend.

I am now out of pocket on the fee to make the international transfer and I will probably lose out on exhange rate loadings when they return my payment.

Sorry about long post. Am annoyed at potentially losing fees but even more annoyed at not getting the bike.

Hope someone can help.

Your question, can they do this, the answer is yes. You ordered on 25 Sept, yet did not attempt to make a payment until nearly a week later. They sold it to someone else. In the meantime, you can rely on their goodwill to return your money or, perhaps, ask for a similar bike.

I should also have said, why make a transfer, when a CC payment would had done. Now I smeel a rat. Was the site legit or someone on ebay wanting a transfer of money. I am afraid if this is the latter, all you can do is join the fat lady and hope you make a good duet on Saturday night in the social club.

InsideInsurance

dpc197 wrote: »

Do I need to study terms and conditions (they are in dutch!)?

To get the full answer it would be the T&Cs and dutch law but the terms you agreed to would be the best place to start.

InsideInsurance

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

I should also have said, why make a transfer, when a CC payment would had done. Now I smeel a rat. Was the site legit or someone on ebay wanting a transfer of money. I am afraid if this is the latter, all you can do is join the fat lady and hope you make a good duet on Saturday night in the social club.

It isnt uncommon for european companies not to accept CCs. In Germany, payment on delivery (you give the cash to the courier) is still very common but British couriers don't offer this option and so bank transfers are the remaining option.

The OP says they trust its a genuine company. I have bought a couple of high end hifi components from europe and all have gone with this route and all the items have turned up as expected (often buying directly from the manufacturer)

paddyrg

I guess an international transfer is a lot slower than domestic - and you may have just left it too long? I know you can do expedited transfers but pay a lot for them, so maybe your transfer really is just stuck in the system and you'll get a refund (less transfer fees?) when it processes?

dpc197

Thanks all for your input.

Yeah they don't accept CC or Paypal so bank transfer was the only option. They have recieved the money now - probably a couple of hours after they decided to sell the bike to someone else.

To me it just seems wrong that they wouldn't have at least waited until the end of this working day given I confirmed to them I made the payment on Friday and they must know it wouldn't transfer on a non-working day. At the very least I thought they could phone me and say someone else has an interest in the bike.
On the other hand I did take over a week to pay.

Oh well, the bike has gone and I guess I'll just wait for them to return the money (not concerned here - they are a big company), and I'll have to write off the £80 in fees and ER loading I've paid.


Thanks