Dreams Beds refused to cancel

D0natell0

Hi, I'm a newbie here, but hope someone can help.

I bought a mattress from a Dreams store, in the middle of September (almost 2 weeks ago), but changed my mind before delivery and I'm having trouble cancelling it.

To cut a long story short, they want to charge me £100 cancellation penalty (reduced from over £200 penalty after much arguing), which is still rediculous. Can you help?

I'm trying to get a full refund of my £500 deposit, paid on a debit card.

I agreed to pay a total of £1200 (admittedly a crazy amount for a mattress!), incl. delivery and disposal of the old mattress. The majority of the cost was to go on their 0% finance deal.

When I called the store to cancel they refused and claimed to "have no cancellation policy" but referred me to their head office. Their call system kept re-directing me back to the store, which was extremely annoying.

I finally found my way through to man who once again repeated that they "have no cancellation policy." Fortunately, I'd previously checked out my rights, so I was not taking no for an answer. He then offered to cancel in return for a 20% penalty fee, over £200 - rediculous! :mad:

I explained that this wasn't acceptable and asked to speak to someone more senior, but he claimed to be a senior manager. I explained that the contract was using "unfair terms" according to the consumer regulations act, but he wasn't budging. I then agreed to his penalty, but said I was extremely unhappy and would be contacting the national press to highlight his company's bad practice.


He's now called me back to offer to reduce the penalty to £100, which is better, but still ridiculous.
My reason for cancelling is that our circumstances have changed, we need the money to replace my wife's car which has packed up.


Can you advise how I get a full refund?

wealdroam

D0natell0 wrote: »

Hi, I'm a newbie here, but hope someone can help.

I bought a mattress from a Dreams store, in the middle of September (almost 2 weeks ago), but changed my mind before delivery and I'm having trouble cancelling it.

To cut a long story short, they want to charge me £100 cancellation penalty (reduced from over £200 penalty after much arguing), which is still rediculous. Can you help?

I'm trying to get a full refund of my £500 deposit, paid on a debit card.

I agreed to pay a total of £1200 (admittedly a crazy amount for a mattress!), incl. delivery and disposal of the old mattress. The majority of the cost was to go on their 0% finance deal.

When I called the store to cancel they refused and claimed to "have no cancellation policy" but referred me to their head office. Their call system kept re-directing me back to the store, which was extremely annoying.

I finally found my way through to man who once again repeated that they "have no cancellation policy." Fortunately, I'd previously checked out my rights, so I was not taking no for an answer. He then offered to cancel in return for a 20% penalty fee, over £200 - rediculous! :mad:

I explained that this wasn't acceptable and asked to speak to someone more senior, but he claimed to be a senior manager. I explained that the contract was using "unfair terms" according to the consumer regulations act, but he wasn't budging. I then agreed to his penalty, but said I was extremely unhappy and would be contacting the national press to highlight his company's bad practice.


He's now called me back to offer to reduce the penalty to £100, which is better, but still ridiculous.
My reason for cancelling is that our circumstances have changed, we need the money to replace my wife's car which has packed up.


Can you advise how I get a full refund?

Did you make the purchase in store?

If so, then you are totally reliant on any refund policy they may have.

What did you find out when you "checked out my rights"?

All sales in a store should be considered final unless advised otherwise.

If you bought in store, then these T&Cs apply, unless you can find unfair terms in them.

£100 is less than 10% of the purchase price.


Maybe this post entitled Is a deposit ever refundable? will help you:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/42873192#Comment_42873192

bris

No unfair terms, you entered a contract and have now broken it. They are entitled to their losses from you, this could be if they so desired the loss of profit, that's a hell of a lot more on a £1200 mattress.


You are getting off lightly at £100, both parties ale legally binding on a contract. You would have had similar rights if they broke the contract.

bsod

8.14 If you fail to pay the full price of the Goods or fail to take Delivery or to collect the Goods within 28 days of the scheduled delivery date, We will be entitled to cancel the Order and you must pay all amounts stated in the Order in addition to our reasonable administration costs, which may be up to 20% of the cost of the Goods. This charge may, at least in part, reflect the price at which we are able to resell the Goods.

11. Cancellation:

11.1 Once the Order has been signed You cannot cancel it, except under clause 8.6 of these terms and conditions.
11.2 You are entitled to amend Your Order free of charge within the first 48 hours. After this time we reserve the right to charge reasonable administration costs in respect of any amendments, which may be up to 20% of the cost of the Goods. This charge may, at least in part, reflect the price at which we are able to resell the Goods.

shaun_from_Africa

bris wrote: »

No unfair terms, you entered a contract and have now broken it. They are entitled to their losses from you, this could be if they so desired the loss of profit, that's a hell of a lot more on a £1200 mattress.

They only way that they could claim for loss of profit would be if they never managed to resell the mattress in the future, something that is extremely unlikely to happen.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

How did they persuade you spend £1200 on a mattress? If you can demonstrate any of the sales fluff is untrue and thus you was misled they'd need to cancel with no fee.

unholyangel

bsod wrote: »

8.14 If you fail to pay the full price of the Goods or fail to take Delivery or to collect the Goods within 28 days of the scheduled delivery date, We will be entitled to cancel the Order and you must pay all amounts stated in the Order in addition to our reasonable administration costs, which may be up to 20% of the cost of the Goods. This charge may, at least in part, reflect the price at which we are able to resell the Goods.

11. Cancellation:

11.1 Once the Order has been signed You cannot cancel it, except under clause 8.6 of these terms and conditions.
11.2 You are entitled to amend Your Order free of charge within the first 48 hours. After this time we reserve the right to charge reasonable administration costs in respect of any amendments, which may be up to 20% of the cost of the Goods. This charge may, at least in part, reflect the price at which we are able to resell the Goods.

I'm unsure whether that last bit would stand up or not. For example, they can't charge reasonable administration costs just because you breach the contract, they'd only be entitled to either their actual losses that could not be reasonably mitigated or a reasonable and fair pre-estimate of their actual losses.

As for the bolded part:

6.1.6 Inadequate rights for the consumer. A term can also be unfair if it
undermines the consumer's legitimate cancellation rights. Clauses
frequently state or imply that the consumer cannot cancel the contract in
any circumstances, or only with the supplier's agreement. In law, each
party has a right to end the contract if the other commits a serious breach
of it. A term that purports to rule out all possibility of cancellation by the
consumer is potentially misleading and unfair.

6.1.7 Again, there is normally no objection to terms which merely reflect the
ordinary law. A cancellation clause may fairly forbid consumer cancellation
where the supplier is not in breach of the contract, and alert the consumer
to his or her liability in damages for wrongful cancellation (see Groups 4
and 5 for what is unlikely to be unfair).

D0natell0

Here's what I found on the Citizens Advice website:

Some contracts contain standard terms that the law says are unfair because they give the trader an unfair advantage over you, or take away your legal rights. The law which says these terms are unfair is called the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

Examples:

a term that makes it very difficult for you to end a contract - for example, a term making you pay high termination charges or give a long notice period.

Some would say that charging 20% cancellation fee would appear therefore to be "Unfair" according to the law.

Any more views?

cono1717

On the other hand you could argue they are mitigating their losses for your breach of contract, in that case 20% sounds extremely fair.

wealdroam

D0natell0 wrote: »

Here's what I found on the Citizens Advice website:

Some contracts contain standard terms that the law says are unfair because they give the trader an unfair advantage over you, or take away your legal rights. The law which says these terms are unfair is called the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

Examples:

a term that makes it very difficult for you to end a contract - for example, a term making you pay high termination charges or give a long notice period.

Some would say that charging 20% cancellation fee would appear therefore to be "Unfair" according to the law.

So how much would you consider reasonable?

Is 8.5% reasonable?

I ask because the seller is proposing to charge you 8.5% not the 20% you keep mentioning.

D0natell0 wrote: »

Any more views?

My view remains the same.
I.e. you are totally reliant on any refund policy they may have and all sales in a store should be considered final unless advised otherwise.

Did you find the post entitled Is a deposit ever refundable? any help?

D0natell0

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

They only way that they could claim for loss of profit would be if they never managed to resell the mattress in the future, something that is extremely unlikely to happen.

Couldn't have said it better!
:T