Refunds claim via Chargeback and Section 75

atig

Hello. Below, I have outlined my issue and the procedure I have undertaken so far.

Issue
After attending a promotional seminar, I had paid a (four figure sum) for a 2-day on-premise educational course in March 2015 through my CC in full. The course was in April 2015. After signing up, we were given 1 video, as a preparation for the actual course itself in March 2015, which I viewed and was excited for the course itself. I attended the first day of the course, and found that the entire first day was word for word copy of the video itself, being delivered by a person (no exaggeration). Hence, I wasn't happy with the course content and educational information provided. The educational value of the content was in no way near to what we were lead to believe in the promotional seminar nor was it worth the value charged.

Thus, I decided not to waste my time on Day 2 for the course and asked a refund from the company, which of course they declined (else, I wouldn't be here ). They also kept stating their cancellation policy which had passed before the course start date. But again, it wasn't about cancellation, as I wanted to learn but wasn't happy with the services that they delivered. A week before starting the course, I asked for their refunds policy in case of unsatisfactory course content. And they didn't have one and dodged the question. The company and I have had some emails back and forth regarding this, but it got nowhere.

Actions so far
So, I contacted Citizen's Advice Bureau, and they advised making a formal complaint to the company in question; stating Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (5&7) and Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. They also mentioned Section 75 through the CC provider.

I have the formal complaint letter ready. I also contacted the CC provider stating the situation. They were all good about it and were happy to deal with it. They have asked me a detailed letter stating what's on claim and why, which I have ready as well. They also said, instead of going through Section 75 as first resort, they would try to do a chargeback from Visa/Mastercard. If that doesn't work out, it would automatically fall into Section 75 which takes slightly longer. Just as a note, the charge on my CC has already been paid in full by me.

Question
1. Should I send the formal complaint to the company or wait for the result from CC provider regarding chargeback / section 75 first?
2. If the chargeback is successful, would I be in debt with the company, hence prone to debt collection hounds?
3. If the chargeback is not successful, and it does go the section 75 route and if that is successful, would I be prone to debt collection hounds?


Thank you.

InsideInsurance

Have to admit havent read the whole thing but the questions are easy to answer without doing so.

1) You may as well continue all avenues but if you end up somehow with multiple refunds you'd need to give one back

2) A chargeback is simply you being given the money back from the merchant. The merchant is perfectly entitled to pursue you for it if they think you owe it

3) S75 claim comes initially from your banks pocket, given they've paid it to you then they arent going to chase for you to pay it back unless some new evidence or such comes to light. They do however "inherit" your right to get the money from the merchant and are entitled to attempt to do so.

In theory if that action meant your bank went to court and the merchant was found not liable that means your bank was never liable and so they could ask for the monies back.

In practice I know many who have been pursued after doing chargebacks but never any from a S75 claim - but they are rarer.

meer53

How do you know what the second day included ?

There is no chargeback available for quality of goods/services. Don't quite know what your CC intends to use for a chargeback reason as you chose to leave the course ?

What breach of contract can you provide to enable a Section 75 claim ?

grumbler

meer53 wrote: »

...There is no chargeback available for quality of goods/services. ...
What breach of contract can you provide to enable a Section 75 claim ?

Poor quality of services is a perfect reason for s75 claim.

Not that I am saying that it's easy to prove that the quality is worse than promised.

meer53

grumbler wrote: »

Poor quality of services is a perfect reason for s75 claim.

Not that I am saying that it's easy to prove that the quality is worse than promised.

Correct, but not a reason for a chargeback so it's a bit pointless the CC issuer going down that route first.

As the OP declined to complete the course, it will be a bit difficult for them to claim it wasn't what they expected. I don't think there's a valid claim either way really.

atig

meer53 wrote: »

How do you know what the second day included ?

There is no chargeback available for quality of goods/services. Don't quite know what your CC intends to use for a chargeback reason as you chose to leave the course ?

What breach of contract can you provide to enable a Section 75 claim ?

At the end of first day, they declared what they were going to cover on the second day, which was basically a tutorial on how to use a software - which was 1. not mentioned when the course was sold 2. is a gross misappropriation of the cost vs service provided.

From what I read about section 75, if one is not happy with quality of goods / service, and the merchant refuses to refund you for it, then you can make a claim for it.

I first contacted the merchant and wanted to resolve it amicably, but they refused stating cancellation policy, which I feel is irrelevant as I am talking about the quality of their course content. I also feel they missold what they were going to teach by omitting key aspects. I have entire promotional event recorded on my phone. If I knew before hand they are going to spend 1 day on replaying the video, I certainly wouldn't have paid for the course.

atig

InsideInsurance wrote: »

In practice I know many who have been pursued after doing chargebacks but never any from a S75 claim - but they are rarer.

In the case where I am pursued, through whatever routes, what are my options in that case?

InsideInsurance

meer53 wrote: »

There is no chargeback available for quality of goods/services. Don't quite know what your CC intends to use for a chargeback reason as you chose to leave the course ?

See https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/business/files/chargebacks-reason-codes-guide.pdf

So for Visa there is V53 is: Not as described or defective merchandise – the cardholder is stating that the service/goods that they received were either defective, counterfeit or not what was originally described to them by the merchant

Mastercard has M53 Not as described – the cardholder is stating that the service/goods that they received were either defective or not what was originally described to them by the merchant

Presumably the OP will argue it was defective on the grounds that it was not as described to them

atig wrote: »

In the case where I am pursued, through whatever routes, what are my options in that case?

As you are the defendant you only have two options, pay or defend. It is the claimant that has the most options open to them