Zavvi claims they cannot cancel order

senileturtle

I hope this is the right board.

I ordered something on the 27th January and a few days later got their usual spiel via email of them contacting the supplier. Every time this has happened, without fail, the order ended up cancelled by them after a long wait.

So I happen upon the same item today at a cheaper price in town. My order on zavvi is still 'processing'. I go through the motions and it says the following:

"How do I cancel my order?
You can cancel your order up to the point of the item(s) entering our warehouse process.

You can do this by:

Logging into your account and finding your order in the order history section.
A 'CANCEL' option will display if your order has not yet been despatched. Select this to continue with your cancellation
You will then be asked to select a cancellation reason. This helps us to improve our services by understanding why your order is no longer required.
PLEASE NOTE: if any of the items on your order are in stock and display the availability of 'In stock usually despatched within 24 hours' your cancellation request may not be successful.

Once you have completed your cancellation request you will receive an email to confirm whether the cancellation request was successful. Please allow up to one hour for your email to be received.

If you receive an email advising the request was unsuccessful, we are unable to stop the order from being sent, however you can contact us once you receive the item to arrange a return."

Yet there is no cancel button; and the item in question says 'usually despatched within 3 working days' so it can't be the 24hr thing either.

I contact zavvi and their reply is:

I am really sorry but once an order is placed I am unable to cancel or amend it.

I understand this is disappointing and I am sorry for the inconvenience, however once the order has been despatched, we would be more than happy to provide you with returns details to have the items sent back to us for a refund.

If there is anything else that we can do, then please do not hesitate to get in touch and a member of our team will be happy to help.

So - claiming they cannot cancel an order once it's been placed even though they have a cancellation process explained and have knowingly cancelled orders in the past.

I did message them back but I can't find the message in the zavvi message centre so I do not know if it got through.

Why are they talking out of their behind and what should I do?

wealdroam

senileturtle wrote: »

Why are they talking out of their behind and what should I do?

You haven't said, but if we assume you placed the order online or by phone, then yes of course you can cancel the order.

Distance Selling Regulations definitely allow you to cancel an order before it has been delivered.

The OFT's guide to the DSRs says:

Can a consumer cancel an order before they receive the goods or where goods are lost in transit?
3.35 Yes. Where the DSRs give consumers rights to cancel, this right is unconditional. If consumers cancel before they have received the goods you must refund the total price of the goods, including any delivery charges. Consumers who have cancelled under the DSRs may refuse to accept delivery of the goods. Refusal in such a situation cannot be treated as a breach of contract.

What Zavvi probably mean is that they cannot stop the goods being sent out.

At best, poor wording on their part, at worst illegal, because it is not lawful to deny a consumer his statutory rights.

Buzby

Some IT systems cannot cope - you've asked, and they've answered. Nothing they can do amends or cancels your DSR rights, your right to return is unaffected.

However, the MSE is to do due diligence on your purchase BEFORE you place a confirmed order. Trying to change it afterwards just leads to inconvenience for all.

If you can, refuse delivery, and the carrier will return it to the sender.

senileturtle

Yes I placed the order online. Afaik they have no phone to order on or any call centre unfortunately.

It seems that their new customer service query centre on the website does not allow a customer to respond at all.

I wouldn't be able to turn away the parcel as it's not signed for; just standard in the letterbox.

unholyangel

senileturtle wrote: »

Yes I placed the order online. Afaik they have no phone to order on or any call centre unfortunately.

It seems that their new customer service query centre on the website does not allow a customer to respond at all.

I wouldn't be able to turn away the parcel as it's not signed for; just standard in the letterbox.

They should cancel it. I'd try again in writing this time specifically stating you are cancelling under the DSRs and draw their attention to 2 parts of regulation 10. Those are:

10. (1) Subject to regulation 13, if within the cancellation period set out in regulations 11 and 12, the consumer gives a notice of cancellation to the supplier, or any other person previously notified by the supplier to the consumer as a person to whom notice of cancellation may be given, the notice of cancellation shall operate to cancel the contract.

(2) Except as otherwise provided by these Regulations, the effect of a notice of cancellation is that the contract shall be treated as if it had not been made.

In other words, if they send the item out once the item has (by law) been cancelled, they will be responsible for the return postage costs.

Perhaps post on their facebook page (assuming they have one but everyone and their granny seems to have one now) stating that they are breaking the law by refusing to allow your cancellation under DSRs. It may just spur them into action.

senileturtle

Unfortunately the support form is as such you can't even type a message, just click options

I have posted on their facebook page but I have a feeling it will be ignored as they often ignore customers on there too. I will try twitter though.

senileturtle

I've had to go round the houses on their support form to find a way to send them a message.

It was character limited so couldn't quote the DSR properly.

Order ####### -######.

Since I cannot reply to my cancellation query I made earlier I am having to go through this way to get the message across. The customer service reply I got was that they are unable to cancel an order once placed. This is a total lie as they have cancelled orders in the past.

By denying my right to cancel the order you are breaching Distance Selling Regulations.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

Regulation 10 and 3.35 are of concern to you.

So please cancel my order of ####### as per my previous requests.

CKhalvashi

unholyangel wrote: »

In other words, if they send the item out once the item has (by law) been cancelled, they will be responsible for the return postage costs.

Perhaps post on their facebook page (assuming they have one but everyone and their granny seems to have one now) stating that they are breaking the law by refusing to allow your cancellation under DSRs. It may just spur them into action.

If they send it out, I'd argue that you've attempted to cancel it (ping an email to their CS department so you have some proof) and leave them liable for the postage.

Again, try Facebook, but I never shopped at Zavvi, so I don't know how good their CS is.

Good luck!

CK

zaax

send them a letter.

WTFH

Sorry, I can't see what all the fuss is about. The company have said:
"I am really sorry but once an order is placed I am unable to cancel or amend it.

I understand this is disappointing and I am sorry for the inconvenience, however once the order has been despatched, we would be more than happy to provide you with returns details to have the items sent back to us for a refund."

To me that means they cannot stop an order once it has gone to the warehouse for picking. They have not said your DSRs are denied. It's their system that cannot stop an order once it starts to go out the door.
Once it has been delivered to you, then you can return it.

They are not denying you your DSRs.
They are not lying to you.

They are stating a fact that once the order has gone down to be picked they are not able to stop it.
I work with IT systems for warehousing. It's very easy to stop ("cancel") an order before it is sent to the warehouse. Once it's gone down into the warehouse it is a lot more difficult to stop the process, and depending on the system it may be impossible.

Imagine this... you go to Argos and order something. It gets picked off the shelves and put on the conveyor or carried to the collection area. If you decide that you don't want it while it is on the conveyor, they don't stop the conveyor, put it into reverse, then put the item away. It has already been booked out of the warehouse. Instead, they have to process the order at the collection point, refund you and then raise a return to the warehouse so they can put the item back on the shelves.

senileturtle

The difference with zavvi is they were contacting supplier so did not have it in stock in the first place. It was not was in their warehouse to begin with. And the words "order has been placed" imply that as soon as you place an order you cannot cancel it.