Purchase Refund

Janeys69

My mum ordered and paid for 2 items of bedroom furniture about 5 weeks ago, as they weren't in stock she was told there would be a 6 week wait. Unfortunately she passed away last week and now the furniture shop are saying we can only have £800 of the £1288 returned because it was a special order.
If she had ordered made to measure items I could fully understand them not being able to refund but as these were a bed and a wardrobe it feels as if they are fobbing me off at this time of grief can anyone help please? Thanks.

arcon5

In situations where a consumer bought in store and anticipates to breach the contract by failing to perform their duties the seller would be entitled to deduct their losses from the deposit - or if a reasonable case could be presented to reject the cancellation altogether.

How this is affected where the party has passed away I don't know..

Janeys69

This is the predicament I'm in, I feel it is exceptional circumstances therefore all the money should be returned, it is more the principal than the money.

Gavin83

Sorry to hear about your mum.

If the store is out of pocket then I don't see what difference the circumstances make. I assume you've requested how they've reached this amount?

rustyboy21

The contract for the goods was with your mother, sadly, and unless the estate has been settled that quick and all left to you, then you have a chance.Refunds would be to the executors of the will, if there was a will made and not executed.
I think you are going to be purely down to the goodwill of the retailer, if they are offering any more than what they have already offered. They may have had to pay some money up front for the product, which they wont get back if they cancel with their supplier/manufacturer. I get charged 25% for cancelling a fire order from one of my suppliers, as they are made to order for us.


Try polite negotiation with them, it sometimes works wonders.

Hintza

As rustyboy says, any money refunded does not belong to you but to your mother's estate (which could in fact all be going to you) so you should be notifying the executor (which again could be you) to sort out.

mattyprice4004

At the end of the day they have a business to run, and while it's unfortunate it's not their problem - they've done nothing wrong.

Take the money.

Takeaway_Addict

Ask them for a breakdown of the costs and see if they are justifiable and go from there.

It is only fair that the company can deduct some of the money to cover costs. If they delivered it to the destination you would only have to sell it on to sort it out.

Hintza

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

It is only fair that the company can deduct some of the money to cover costs.

The company don't have to offer anything the contract is concluded upon delivery. All goodwill.

arcon5

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Ask them for a breakdown of the costs and see if they are justifiable and go from there.

It is only fair that the company can deduct some of the money to cover costs. If they delivered it to the destination you would only have to sell it on to sort it out.

This.

Start here by asking them for a breakdown of the amount they are deducting and how they have reached this figure.

Although I don't think her death changes the stores right to deduct losses - this loss does sound excessive.

It would have been nice though if the shop did the right thing and only deducted actual financial losses and didn't try claiming other ambiguous costs like admin etc. Which is what they seem to have done here.

Hintza

Why do they have to offer anything? The deceased's estate now owns some new bedroom furniture.

The OPs only hope in my view is the goodwill of the retailer.

Start asking for a breakdown of costs and you will potentially get their back up and a storage charge added on until you do collect or accept delivery.