Started court action to get refund on faulty goods

Watergirl

Thanks all, really appreciate the help, especially the repeated help Unholyangel. Paid with PayPal, using Amex. It was only cheap; about £65. You're completely right about the whole work thing.

However, it's just so hard to know what to do when you've done all you can to get it sorted easily. We were permanently available for pick up. They repeatedly let us down and ignored us. We have had the item for 2 months waiting for pick up and refund. They said that their supplier had a SAP software update, which is why they couldn't pick it up, but that sounds nonsense. I have been left feeling they know they can't resell the item as it's wrecked, but they don't want to pay to pick it up and then have to refund us. They were contacted 5 times in total to sort it. Then they had 14 days from date of letter before action. At no point did they try to arrange pick up. I guess they assumed we would go away and not pursue our refund.

System

You should have just claimed with paypal. You would have got your refund, and they'd have to collect the sink.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security

A judge won't like their time being wasted

Watergirl

Then that should go in our favour, as it's not us wasting their time. We are not just claiming for the cost of the sink if you read the OP. PayPal won't pay out for the other things and it was reasonable to attempt to amicably resolve this with the company prior to doing a PayPal claim. Had we known it would take 5 emails/letters and calls and they would renege on the collection date, then perhaps we would have done this. We do not have the benefit of hindsight.

System

But would it be fair to say every single one of your "losses" could have been mitigated by starting a paypal claim?

Watergirl

Having never done a PayPal claim, I have no idea how they work, but are you saying that I should have started a PayPal claim as soon as I received the damaged goods? At what point should I have started the claim? Can you claim before attempting to resolve something directly with the company? Will PayPal just find in my favour?

Yes I would not have experienced any loss had I been able to do this, but why would I start a claim unless I was working on the assumption that they were not a reasonable company to do business with? Logic would suggest that you simply speak to the company to get them to collect and issue a refund. If they are a good company then I wouldn't want to be responsible for a black mark against them with PayPal. Hence why I mention hindsight. Until all of this happened I wasn't to know they were not a good company to deal with.

System

You are saying you want your costs awarded, but you need to show you mitigated what you could. These are the kinds of questions (and others have posted more above, e.g lunch breaks) which you need to answer to prove you have lost money. It's a £65 item, I hope your additional costs don't come across as unreasonable too.

Paypal claims are very easy to do and generally biased towards the buyer. When you open a claim paypal ask the seller to resolve the issue first, within a set time limit, if they fail to sort it, it automatically escalates and paypal step in. The usual outcome is a refund at this point, unless the seller can provide evidence to dispute your claim.

You might want to consider a sensible partial settlement, refund of the goods, plus your current court costs. Forget about your other losses.

unholyangel

Watergirl wrote: »

Having never done a PayPal claim, I have no idea how they work, but are you saying that I should have started a PayPal claim as soon as I received the damaged goods? At what point should I have started the claim? Can you claim before attempting to resolve something directly with the company? Will PayPal just find in my favour?

Yes I would not have experienced any loss had I been able to do this, but why would I start a claim unless I was working on the assumption that they were not a reasonable company to do business with? Logic would suggest that you simply speak to the company to get them to collect and issue a refund. If they are a good company then I wouldn't want to be responsible for a black mark against them with PayPal. Hence why I mention hindsight. Until all of this happened I wasn't to know they were not a good company to deal with.

It doesn't help in this instance but in future, try to make the card payment direct . Debit cards usually have a chargeback feature (only in certain circumstances though - like non-receipt of goods/refund) through visa/mastercards own policy. If the item is over £100, try and pay directly by credit card - as then its covered by section 75 of the consumer credit act which gives you the exact same rights with the card company that you have with retailer (and if your bank refuses your section 75 or your chargeback claim, you can refer it to the financial ombudsman rather than having to pay to take them to court).

I've always said the best way to judge whether a company is good or not is how they deal with matters when things go wrong - even the worst company can seem super when everything goes to plan!

Do keep us updated on your progress and let us know if you need anymore help Just try not to get too stressed about it and good luck.

InquisitiveMind

As someone who has recently lost his mother too, supporting your partner with the loss of his mother is more important than £65 and the stress of dealing with the company. The path of least resistance would probably have been a claim with paypal.

LilElvis

InquisitiveMind wrote: »

As someone who has recently lost his mother too, supporting your partner with the loss of his mother is more important than £65 and the stress of dealing with the company. The path of least resistance would probably have been a claim with paypal.

It depends how much someone needs that sum. For some that amount of money might mean that they can't afford to feed their family for a week. Life does have to go on, regardless of loss or other pressing situations, and sometimes dealing with the mundane or irksome is actually a release as it is a way of gaining control when other things are out of your hands.

Watergirl

Thank you LilElvis, couldn't have said it better myself and was quite hurt by the previous comment, albeit from someone I don't know. I've already clearly stated that I don't know anything about Paypal (I don't even have my own account). Had I known I was going to have problems and had I known I could do that, then of course I would have done that. The assumption that my Husband is the only one grieving is also misplaced. My Mother-in-Law was like a mother to me as well and I helped with everything at the end. Devastated doesn't even begin to describe how we are both feeling, but I'm the main earner in our family and trying hard to preserve every penny because when I go on mat leave soon, I will only get a very small amount of money being self employed.

Thanks for all replies. After reading Mutzi's comments about Paypal, is that option still open to me? Basically I'd like to get this resolved in the easiest way possible. I don't feel able to deal with going to court etc, mentally or physically right now. They have accepted that they owe the money. I'll email them today with dates that we are available for them to collect their item. I've already rejected their offer to pay for the sink, because I thought we'd be out of pocket with court fees, but someone mentioned that I can ask for that to be added. Can I still do that now and if so how?

Thanks again.