Does anyone have an answer to this one?

anniegbrambles

alwaysonthego wrote: »

you are right, although a verbal agreement is actually legally binding, it is very unlikely it will stand in court and is harder to proove

The trouble with that is they already have possession of her money - so it would cost even more money to take them to court to get it back - if she won the case of course. I think we'll just have to swallow it and warn everyone else off these unscrupulous people.

Bamber19

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

The offer to treat (acceptance of the contract) is made when payment is offered. Failure to turn up so incurs a penalty charge. My dentist does the same!

What are you talking about? An offer to treat(invitation to treat) is merely when one informs the world at large that they are willing to negotiate for a contract, to say this is acceptance of the contract is just blatantly wrong.

uktim29

Butlers1982 wrote: »

threaten them with that and it should do the trick. come out with the " cold calling " legislation and cooling off period, that should change their minds.

Maybe im wrong though . . . .

Theres not much point in threatening something that you don't know about. More than likely they know the exact legislation with this sort of (I would say scam as it's a dodgy way of doing business, but infact it seems if you read t&c it does explain all) thing.

At the end of the day though it's like offers through email, with me it's delete.

RadoJo

Surely any legislation regarding cooling off periods is only relevant to purchases - correct me if I am wrong but this was a competition prize? Wouldn't the law see this as a different case, particularly with regard to the Ts and Cs which were presumably on the original competition entry that your daughter filled in?

Either way, I think you and your daughter have been unlucky, but not necessarily scammed - if you had booked any other appointment and not turned up you would expect to be charged, so I don't hold out much hope for a refund. These studios make their money by getting people in the door, making them look fab, and relying on the fact that people want to buy the pics. It is not their fault that there was a demonstration, yet they would have been out of pocket as they had an appointment no-show.

I do understand your frustration, but it might be best to think of it as a £98 lesson for your daughter in checking before handing over CC details, and just hope that you manage to recover something on top of that as a good will gesture...

hollydays

If she was told the only charge was a non refundable attendance fee of £1,and not told about any other charges including a non-attendance fee,she was scammed.

yeslek

if its a competition then why would she have to pay if she didn't turn up?
surely they would not lose any additional funds on a free treat weather she turned up or not

hollydays

Because,in theory they could have given the studio time to some other deserving "winner".The logic is purely commercial. Its to avoid timewasters.

RadoJo

I agree Hollydays - I think it will probably be the case that she entered a competition having been approached in the street, passed on contact details and signed to Ts and Cs there and then, which may well have mentioned the fee for a no-show. It would be worth asking if they have a copy of the entry for for the comp or whatever it was that prompted your daughter to give out her contact details. I would be surprised if they were actually breaking the law - although your daughter might have signed something without the full implications being made clear to her, the buck still stops with her if she has unwittingly agreed to anything.

Freddie_Snowbits

Bamber19 wrote: »

What are you talking about? An offer to treat(invitation to treat) is merely when one informs the world at large that they are willing to negotiate for a contract, to say this is acceptance of the contract is just blatantly wrong.

If it is not a contract, then she should sue for her money back. Though I say payment is acceptance. Just the same as when you buy a newspaper in the morning, newsagent says 70P, I give 70P, I get newspaper!

anniegbrambles

RadoJo wrote: »

I agree Hollydays - I think it will probably be the case that she entered a competition having been approached in the street, passed on contact details and signed to Ts and Cs there and then, which may well have mentioned the fee for a no-show. It would be worth asking if they have a copy of the entry for for the comp or whatever it was that prompted your daughter to give out her contact details. I would be surprised if they were actually breaking the law - although your daughter might have signed something without the full implications being made clear to her, the buck still stops with her if she has unwittingly agreed to anything.

Hello everyone - thanks for all your comments. I've contacted consumer direct but haven't heard anything back from them yet. I'll let you all know the outcome. Just to clarify how my daughter came to be a 'winner' - one of her friends was stopped in the street and asked for referrals! My daughter's details were given to this company at that point - innocently by her friend. My daughter knew nothing about it until she got the phone call from the company saying she had 'won' the makeover for herself and another person -me! She was told in this phone conversation that the only money she would have to pay would be the £2 attendance fee which would be non refundable should she fail to attend. She was not warned that they would take a further £98 at any time. She received a confirmation letter a few days later giving all the directions and details of what to wear and what they would do, etc. It was only after they took the money from her account that I noticed the t&c's on the back of the letter in very light small print.
I accept that she was a bit silly - but I still think that this company are unscrupulous in their behaviour and business methods. What is even more annoying is that the bank say there is nothing they can do as she authorised the payment. I argued that she only authorised the first payment of £2 - but that fell on deaf ears! I do not see how you can accept t & c's without clapping eyes on them first!
Live and learn