Refund/claim advice for an unfulfilled service?

Fraxure

Hi there, this is my first post here so I hope I am posting in the right section - please move it to a necessary forum if not!

I'm having some trouble with a transaction I made earlier this year and I have been unable to find any help on the subject after searching tirelessly.
Basically, I paid an artist for a bespoke commission artwork and paid via my credit card through Paypal. I made the payment around the end of March - for a few weeks afterwards I had no problem communicating with the artist, we discussed my idea for the art as well as a deadline and they assured me that they would be working on it "next week". That was at the end of April. I have sent them several emails but to no avail, they have not replied at all since then.

I am an artist myself, I am experienced with commission work as well so I was empathetic towards the nature of being paid to "create" something (it does not always happen instantly, I know!) but I fear I may have been too lenient on the time-frame I allowed to pass by with no reply from them. Is there anything my bank will do to protect me at all from this failed transaction? I sent the artist one final stern email this week expressing that unless I receive the artwork or a refund from them, I will be calling my bank. However I am afraid that I have no ground to stand on as many months have passed since I heard from them.

The whole situation has made me very stressed the entire time I have not heard from them, and I'd just like to know if there is anything I can do to reclaim the payment I made for this unfulfilled service? I am doubtful as it has been so long but I hope someone may be able to give me some advice (or any future advice for these particular service-type transactions). Thank you!

frugal_mike

The problem you'll have here is that you paid using paypal, which muddies the waters. If the amount you paid was more than £100 then you may be able to claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act which says that the credit supplier is jointly and severally liable for the contract. But the credit card supplier will likely refuse a Section 75 claim because paypal breaks the debtor-creditor-supplier relationship.

The other option would have been a chargeback, which is a service provided by card providers that is above and beyond your statutory rights. This means they can set their own terms and conditions, and I believe you are out of time to use it.

A chargeback would probably be a bad idea when using paypal anyway because I've heard stories of them terminating the accounts of people who have done that after paying with them.

You are not out of time to take the artist to court though, the statute of limitations for that is 6 years. You will need to send a Letter Before Action (google it), and if that doesn't get you your art or a refund you will need to start a claim in the small claims court.

frugal_mike

Oh, and one piece of future advice would be to avoid paypal where possible if the agreed delivery date for the goods and services is beyond the time they give to claim money back. Before this time I believe they are good at issuing refunds, but after this time you are usually on your own.

Fraxure

Thank you for the reply frugal_mike!

I was under the impression from other topics I searched for online that unless you used Paypal credit specifically (which I didn't, I paid directly from my credit card through Paypal to the recipient's Paypal account) then they referred you to contact your bank? Regardless I wasn't able to talk to a human being when I tried to contact Paypal, I'm already aware of their 45 day dispute policy so I expected no help even if I could speak to someone...do you know anything about this? Many people seem to have different opinions about it (and Paypal's website is not exactly crystal clear)

I have read that bank chargebacks are only valid for 160/180 days, so I am already past that time-frame. It's such a frustrating situation to be in as it could so simply be resolved if they got in contact with me. It seems I will just have to write it off as a loss - thank you for your help and advice either way, I appreciate it.

Edit: I will be more careful about negotiating a deadline within the 45 day policy - I suppose I found it quite difficult to impose such a short deadline on something as complex a service as commissioned art as I am in the field myself, but for safety's sake I will try to employ that deadline in future!

Valli

Before you write it off why not follow the advice of Frugal_Mike and consider proceeding to Small Claims?

As has been stated, you first need to write a Letter Before Action in which you state the remedy you require - either fulfillment of the contract within an agreed timeframe OR an immediate refund.

The cost of this will be minimal - stamp plus recorded delivery.

Got to be worth a try!

More details here - https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

wealdroam

Fraxure wrote: »

Edit: I will be more careful about negotiating a deadline within the 45 day policy - I suppose I found it quite difficult to impose such a short deadline on something as complex a service as commissioned art as I am in the field myself, but for safety's sake I will try to employ that deadline in future!

I wouldn't worry too much about that either.

Paypal buyer protection does not cover services.

From the Paypal website:

Buyer Protection

What’s an eligible item? Only physical goods that can be posted and aren’t prohibited by law are covered.

What’s not eligible? Buyer Protection does not cover certain kinds of purchases. These include: digital goods (intangible items), services, property, vehicles...

As mentioned above, Small Claims is the way to go.