Retailer charged me for a service without telling me

Zandoni

earthstorm wrote: »

but what you are asking is not part of the service it is an additional service you are asking them to do.. So they can charge for this extra service. you are not asking them to heat or light the store.

It's not additional, the new phone couldn't be used without it.


If I visited the store and it was dark and cold I would ask them to turn on the lights and heating. I wouldn't expect to be charged.

earthstorm

Zandoni wrote: »

It's not additional, the new phone couldn't be used without it.
.

it is additional as you could have purchased the correct sim for the phone, but instead asked them to make your sim from your other phone fit the new phone.

shops would have lighting and heating on anyway, so what you say about heating and lighting is irrelevant, you asked them to perform an additional service and were not happy they charged you for it.

OlliesDad

Zandoni wrote: »

It's not additional, the new phone couldn't be used without it.

Just because it needed to be done doesn't mean it is not an additional service. It was the OP who had the incorrect shaped SIM.. the shop are within their rights to charge for the service. I do agree however they should have advised the OP prior to doing it (in reality I suspect that most people would have agreed to paying £5 for the service when already paying several hundreds for a phone).

earthstorm

OlliesDad wrote: »

Just because it needed to be done doesn't mean it is not an additional service. It was the OP who had the incorrect shaped SIM.. the shop are within their rights to charge for the service. I do agree however they should have advised the OP prior to doing it (in reality I suspect that most people would have agreed to paying £5 for the service when already paying several hundreds for a phone).

The OP needs to take part blame for not asking if their was a charge

techspec

NewFolder wrote: »

I suppose so.

I thought that legally the retailer was responsible for informing the customer how much things will cost, and not up to the customer to ask, is this correct or am I mistaken there?

Ever been to a carboot sale?


Would be a noisy place is sellers started shouting prices at passers buy, just in case they bought it.


You will find that for items or services not price marked - buyers always ask sellers "how much is that".


Its common sense.

OlliesDad

techspec wrote: »

Ever been to a carboot sale?


Would be a noisy place is sellers started shouting prices at passers buy, just in case they bought it.


You will find that for items or services not price marked - buyers always ask sellers "how much is that".


Its common sense.

I have sold at a carboot a couple of times and there are many times where somebody will ask to buy an item without asking the price.. I then need to tell them the price.

This situation is slightly different as it was a service that cannot be reversed so the OP had to pay the price at the end. However, I do not think that £5 is an unreasonable price for the service.

terra_ferma

NewFolder wrote: »

I recently purchased a rather expensive mobile phone from a local branch of a national retailer.

The phone I purchased used a micro sim, rather than a mini sim like my old phone, so I asked if it would be possible to cut the sim to fit the new phone. The colleague replied that it would be no problem, and went to cut the sim for me. About 20 seconds later they came back with the sim card. As it was a very simple and quick task, and I wasn't informed of any cost, it never crossed my mind that I would be charged for this.

However, when I checked the receipt later, I found that I had in fact been charged for the cutting of the sim card.

It wasn't a huge sum of money that I was charged, but I'd say it was excessive considering it only took a few seconds. If I had been informed that it was going to cost this much, I wouldn't have accepted the service.

I didn't see any signage in the store about a charge for sim card cutting, and the colleague didn't inform me of any cost, which is why I am annoyed about this.

Is there anything I can do to reclaim the money or get some sort of goodwill from the retailer?

They can only charge you if a contract has been formed at some point, but as he didn't tell you the price doesn't sound like the conversation would have been enough to form a contract.
But if you signed a contract which had the full price, you would have accepted the work done and the charge for it.
Also if you left the store without checking the receipt maybe that would equate to accepting the charge?
These are just opinions, but I can't really see how you can get your money back, once you have accepted the charge, signed a contract or simply paid for it and left the shop.
But someone else might know more about the legal position.

terra_ferma

NewFolder wrote: »

I suppose so.

I thought that legally the retailer was responsible for informing the customer how much things will cost, and not up to the customer to ask, is this correct or am I mistaken there?

They would have, when the OP paid he would have seen the cost, and had the opportunity to challenge it, and at that stage in my opinion he would have been right, as no contract can be formed without knowing the price.

earthstorm

If you ever visit a street market you will find a majority of stalls dont have items price marked, but customers will ask the prices before purchase.
On my stall i dont price mark anything as the pitch rents for fairs/markets are differ.
I may visit a fair and pay £10 to trade for the day, but then trade at the great yorkshire show and pay £300 to trade, so your prices have to change to reflect this. Yes on some items i will use printed price cards, but even with these people will still ask the price

Zandoni

earthstorm wrote: »

it is additional as you could have purchased the correct sim for the phone, but instead asked them to make your sim from your other phone fit the new phone.

I just find it strange how so many people on here accept poor customer service. The shop should have made it obvious this was a chargeable service before they started. Like the OP I would have been amazed that they would charge for this.