6 weeks later M&S haven't refunded a cancelled furniture order

manic_doctor

Dear MSE-ers - I would appreciate your thoughts. About 6 weeks ago I ordered some M&S Furniture over the phone by credit card. When I called a few days later to confirm the delivery time/date I was told the original order hadn’t been processed properly due to a sale discount on offer when I placed the order that hadn’t been applied at checkout due to some unspecified ‘technical error’ at the M&S end. I was told that I could re-order the items and that the original order would be cancelled and refunded to me. I did this.

Unfortunately I have been charged for both the original order and the re-order. I have had numerous telephone conversations and email exchanges over the last few weeks with M&S customer services. Every time I am told the refund associated with the first order will be processed in due course and returned to me. I’m completely fed up as it’s been almost 6 weeks now and the refund still hasn’t been generated. What constitutes ‘in due course’ I wonder? I also see that the original order is still listed as 'open' when I check my M&S order history page.

In summary, I’ve received the goods I ordered but have been charged for them twice (once at the incorrect full price and once at the sale price). What to do? Should I just go down querying this with my credit card company? I have a letter ready to go. It’s amazing to me that a company with a reputation like M&S’ can’t sort this out.

Handsome90

I'm quite surprised to hear that M&S were still didn't sort this out. I didn't expect this from a company like M&S. Yes, dispute the charges with the credit card company. I don't know the email address of the escalation team so can't help you that. But the website "www.resolver.co.uk" may have it. You may have to register before you can make a complaint t through resolver though

unholyangel

2 options.

1) Contact retailer and state that under DSRs they have 30 days to issue a refund once the consumer has cancelled - they are in breach of this.

2) contact your card company and start a chargeback.

The first option is theoretically the fastest option - providing they get their fingers out and don't fanny about.

manic_doctor

Thanks to both of you. I wrote to M&S Customer Services a couple of weeks ago along the lines that you suggest unholyangel - I mentioned the > 4 weeks delay and the fact the refund still hadn't been generated but didn't say anything about distance selling regs explicitly. I haven't heard anything back...

unholyangel

manic_doctor wrote: »

Thanks to both of you. I wrote to M&S Customer Services a couple of weeks ago along the lines that you suggest unholyangel - I mentioned the > 4 weeks delay and the fact the refund still hadn't been generated but didn't say anything about distance selling regs explicitly. I haven't heard anything back...

Bah I've been a complete ignoramus, sorry!

Reread your posts as I went to reply and realised I skipped a few bits.

First, did you actually cancel or did the rep? Have you ever (by email or letter) said anything that would indicate the order is cancelled or received cancellation confirmation? Have you checked with your credit card company that there are no refunds pending?

Were the items individual or part of a bundle? If the former, what were their individual prices? If the latter, what was the total price? If the answer is over £100, you'll have protection via section 75 of the consumer credit act which makes the card company jointly liable with the retailer.

If its under £100 (for each "item" ...so a bundle would be 1 item), you should still be able to issue a chargeback.

You could also try sending them another letter but titling it "letter before action" and telling them they have 14 days to respond before you issue court proceedings against them - at which time you will also be claiming costs incurred (google letter before action template if you want a better idea on what to write). If you do this, send it signed for.

manic_doctor

unholyangel wrote: »

Bah I've been a complete ignoramus, sorry!

Reread your posts as I went to reply and realised I skipped a few bits.

First, did you actually cancel or did the rep? Have you ever (by email or letter) said anything that would indicate the order is cancelled or received cancellation confirmation? Have you checked with your credit card company that there are no refunds pending?

I asked for the cancellation of the original order when the re-order was placed. When I first phoned then to ask why the refund was taking so long I was told the cancellation request was still being processed - so I guess that suggests it was still not completely cancelled. I've checked my credit card statement online over the weekend and there's no refund yet pending.

unholyangel wrote: »

Were the items individual or part of a bundle? If the former, what were their individual prices? If the latter, what was the total price? If the answer is over £100, you'll have protection via section 75 of the consumer credit act which makes the card company jointly liable with the retailer.

The items were part of a bundle - the overall cost was just under 500 quid - the cancelled items total just over 400 pounds.

unholyangel wrote: »

You could also try sending them another letter but titling it "letter before action" and telling them they have 14 days to respond before you issue court proceedings against them - at which time you will also be claiming costs incurred (google letter before action template if you want a better idea on what to write). If you do this, send it signed for.

Thanks - I wonder if I should give them another week or so to reply to my letter. Failing that, I like your 'letter before action' idea. I was also wondering if a brief email to someone on the leadership team (maybe even Marc Bolland) might be an idea.

frugal_mike

unholyangel wrote: »

First, did you actually cancel or did the rep? Have you ever (by email or letter) said anything that would indicate the order is cancelled or received cancellation confirmation? Have you checked with your credit card company that there are no refunds pending?

According to Regulation 19 of The Distance Selling Regulations a company has 30 days to perform their obligations starting the day after the order was placed (unless agreed otherwise). All contracts will be treated as if they never existed after this point. If OP has not issued a cancellation by durable means then this would be the latest point that cancellation took place I think.

Although thinking about it I doubt a contract actually exists, since M&S rejected the order. It's just a case of M&S having OP's money and not giving it back.

manic_doctor

frugal_mike wrote: »

Although thinking about it I doubt a contract actually exists, since M&S rejected the order. It's just a case of M&S having OP's money and not giving it back.

Thanks frugal_mike - that's a good point. Today marks a fortnight since I wrote to M&S as a formal complaint highlighting the issue. Should I give it another couple of weeks before doing anything else then? I have an email to Marc Bolland (current CEO) ready to go asking for someone more high up to resolve this. Not sure if it's appropriate to send that just yet.

I'd appreciate opinions...

ThumbRemote

manic_doctor wrote: »

Thanks frugal_mike - that's a good point. Today marks a fortnight since I wrote to M&S as a formal complaint highlighting the issue. Should I give it another couple of weeks before doing anything else then? I have an email to Marc Bolland (current CEO) ready to go asking for someone more high up to resolve this. Not sure if it's appropriate to send that just yet.

I'd appreciate opinions...

Just send the email. The delay so far is completely unreasonable. This is a simple matter for them to resolve, they don't need any more time to sort it out.

unholyangel

frugal_mike wrote: »

According to Regulation 19 of The Distance Selling Regulations a company has 30 days to perform their obligations starting the day after the order was placed (unless agreed otherwise). All contracts will be treated as if they never existed after this point. If OP has not issued a cancellation by durable means then this would be the latest point that cancellation took place I think.

Although thinking about it I doubt a contract actually exists, since M&S rejected the order. It's just a case of M&S having OP's money and not giving it back.

In which case OP should have no problems issuing a chargeback or s75 claim (if individual items were over £100 each)

manic_doctor

Cheers all - I've now emailed Marc Bolland. I'll give him a chance to reply before going down the chargeback route. I'm still a bit amazed that a company with the reputation that M&S has have been so slow at resolving this. I'll post an update when I have one...