Littlewoods direct stole £300 from me.

TonyTheSuperPerson

Don't know if this is the right forum, feel free to move it wherever.

I've been considering getting an Xbox 360 for sometime and finally decided to get an Elite when I saw a deal on hotdealsuk from Littlewoods Direct.

I preordered with littlewoods when the price was 329 and got it down to 289 after vouchers and I used the buy now pay May 2008 voucher.

I called them when the price drop was announced but they said, unlike every other retailer, they weren't aware of this and would not be moving their price ever.

I spoke to a manager and had to spell out the address of the bbc site covering it to her and tell her what a colon was (she typed h-t-t-p-c-o-l-o-n-/-/). She called me back the next day to confirm they absolutely would never change the price.

It's now 299 on the site.

One of the two vouchers was a £10 off voucher. Instead of taking it off the price, they had to credit it to my account. This didn't bother me much but it's a little odd.

The worse thing is though, remember how I said I used the buy now pay May 2008 code? I called twice to confirm that I would be paying May and was told - once by the manager - both times with my account details in front of them, that this was the case.

Today I checked my bank account and they'd taken £299 out of my bank account as soon as I'd placed my preorder on the 20th, before I called them and before they told me - while looking at my order details - that I wouldn't be paying until May 2008.

My bank account is empty and I'm over my overdraft with at least half a dozen charges due from other payments that have since come out. I don't get paid until the 15th of September.

Any advice is welcome, feel free to spread this around to forewarn people.

TonyTheSuperPerson

Here's a section of my order confirmation email:

Qty
Item
Expected Delivery

Price
Discount
Discount
Code

1"Elite" 360 pack PU1531AEstimated delivery by Fri 31st August

£ 329.00
£ -32.90
XX277

Order Discount
ZQ271

£ -10.00

Promotions AppliedBuy Now Pay Later -XX305
Sub Total£ 329.00 Total Discount£ -42.90 Delivery£ 3.50 Total Including Delivery£ 289.60

nmm

As far as i know you have to pay via their flexible account for the Buy Now Pay Later terms to be used. I guess you used a debit card if it came straight out of your bank account??

TonyTheSuperPerson

Just heard this from someone else. They confirmed to me twice that wasn't the case.

NovaBlack_2

best bet is to go officially and complain... and i mean trading standards.. http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/links/links.cfm

the website here is also great and points out alot of your rights


get a reference number for your complaints. THEN phone up littlewoods again and speak directly to someone in charge i.e. manager/superviser

tell them you take the matter VERY seriously, quote your complaint numbers. tell them that you have gone overdrawn because of their mistake. when you were told you would not pay till may was it by email or phone? if twice by phone surely they must have some record of the call they can check. if by email send them a copy of that.

If the deal ha been misrepresented to you then that could be construed (im not saying it is) as a breach of the sale of goods and services act. it is good to also point this out to the manager. say that you would not have been induced to agree to the deal , had the pay may 2008 term not been misrepresented to you. and when you checked it was further misrepresented. point out that at this point you would be happy if you just recieved a full refund for £329 , but if you do incur charges due to overdraft facilities due to a delay in time from them not sorting this out immediately, you will pass this on to your legal advisor. more often than not this should help.

The other 100% garunteed thing to do to get your money back if theyve dispatched the elite to you is either not to accept recorded delivery so it goes back to them, or accept it and manually return it for a full refund using their specified return policy (perhaps you could even return it instore). and dont accept any of the 'we can only refund at the new lowered price' crap. they have to refund you what you paid so if they ever ask you for a receipt send them a COPY. you are FULLY WITHIN YOUR RIGHTS to return any product you buy during the initial cooling off period. this is given to you by statute, and no retailer can argue this. (and i think its 30 days but NOT 100% certain it could be slightly less)


id suggest you check out littlewoods own stated returns policy. :



Returns Information

How much does it cost?
Our Returns service is FREE!

How do I return/exchange an item?
We recommend that you use our Home Delivery Network as the most convenient way to return items. Simply call us on 08705 99 11 11 and make arrangements for the collection*.

Alternatively, you can return your goods via the Post Office. Please ensure items are adequately packaged and labelled, and your completed returns note is enclosed.

*Whilst we make every effort to collect your returns on the day specified, we cannot guarantee collection on that day, or accept liability for collections made outside of this time-scale. We cannot accept liability for out of pocket expenses or other costs incurred due to failed or delayed collections.

Our Home Approval Guarantee
We will replace or refund most items provided they are returned complete, unused and in their original packaging, with any appropriate security tags intact, within 14 days of receipt.

Exceptions to our Approval Guarantee
Our Approval Guarantee does not apply to some items or may apply only if certain conditions are met. We will advise you of these exceptions when placing your order. These items are clearly identified by this symbol on the relevant page or spread and any conditions are set out there. This does not affect your statutory rights.


Promotional Offers
All promotional offers must be returned in their entirety.

Unacceptable Returns
If you return an item to us outside the terms of our returns policy and Home Approval Guarantee and your statutory rights do not apply, we may not refund you. The item may be returned back to you at your expense. You will be notified of this and other associated charges. If you send the item back to us again, or refuse to accept delivery, this will be deemed to be an irreversible instruction for us to dispose of your goods without further notice.

Please note: Disposal will not constitute any admission on our part that we have failed in any way to honour our obligations to you in full and will not constitute any unlawful action against the goods.

Can I cancel my order?
For most items, you have the legal right to cancel your order within 7 working days of receiving the goods. However, this right does not apply to certain items such as personalised products, perishable goods and audio or video recordings or computer software which has been opened. If you wish to cancel using this right, you need to inform us in writing within 7 working days starting the day after you received the goods. You must take reasonable care of the goods and immediately return them to us in the normal way. We will not consider that you have taken reasonable care of the goods if they have been used in a way or to an extent beyond what would be reasonable when examining the goods in a shop before purchase.

---

So it seems clearly you can use littlewoods to return your item within 7 days using the service they provide for free to get your money back. !!! JUST DONT OPEN IT!








looking at the trading standards site it says :

(more specifically in relation to the the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended by the Sale & Supply of Goods Act 1994 and the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002)

Offences
If the seller is in business (rather than a private seller), he may have committed a criminal offence if he:

• gives a false description to the services he is providing e.g. falsely claiming to be a member of a trade association;
• advertises a misleading price;

i think you can clearly put these points to them!

A_Nice_Englishman

The Distance Selling Regulations allow a cooling off period of 7 working days
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0051-1111.txt

The only trouble with using them for the OP is that he wants the goods and he will still be stung for the bank charges. It sounds to me like Littlewoods may have made a mistake in charging him immediately. I would be nice to them, explain what happened and that you have incurred bank charges due to their unfortunate error. They may then be willing to refund the amount charged in error and compensate you for the bank charges.

Dave_Brooker

TonyTheSuperPerson wrote: »

Today I checked my bank account and they'd taken £299 out of my bank account as soon as I'd placed my preorder on the 20th, before I called them and before they told me - while looking at my order details - that I wouldn't be paying until May 2008.

My bank account is empty and I'm over my overdraft with at least half a dozen charges due from other payments that have since come out. I don't get paid until the 15th of September.

Any advice is welcome, feel free to spread this around to forewarn people.

They have not stolen your money.

HTH.

TonyTheSuperPerson

Not had time to read the whole thread yet (on my break) but thank you for your replies.

I called Littlewoods, they admit fault and are refunding me the 299.60. However this will take 5-10 days and i'm incurring charges in the mean time.

I have an address I have to send off to, to claim those back.

Bank offered me a loan - gee, thanks.

Dave_Brooker

TonyTheSuperPerson wrote: »

Not had time to read the whole thread yet (on my break) but thank you for your replies.

I called Littlewoods, they admit fault and are refunding me the 299.60. However this will take 5-10 days and i'm incurring charges in the mean time.

I have an address I have to send off to, to claim those back.

Bank offered me a loan - gee, thanks.

Given your delicate financial situation, should you really be buying a £300 games console?

NovaBlack_2

if you dont have to pay till may 2008 then why not Dave? monthly savings toward 2008 are alot easier than a lump sum.


hmm not to sure a bout a 360 elite tho. you pay £70 more for an extra 20gb hard drive... tahts it. youll never fill the standatd one 60gb anyway....

Ms are rip off merchants.. £70 for 20 gb lol. you can buy a 250gb one for a pc for around £40 now..

TonyTheSuperPerson

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

Given your delicate financial situation, should you really be buying a £300 games console?

My financial situation is only decilate because littlewoods dropped something on it.