Door to door scam

springuponus

Long story short, dutch guy in a fancy car arrives on my gran's doorstep selling kitchenware. Says he's come from an expo or something. Items that are branded are fake. Other items are unbranded but have fake warranties, labels and paperwork with them. Paid hundreds for items when likely not worth that much. Paid via debit card and have receipt. According to bank, payment traces back to a restaurant. Have contacted trading standards and the police regarding this and have a reference no. On the day of the incident the money hadn't gone through yet but bank said they won't/couldn't cancel. After getting police reference number etc bank still can't/won't reverse payment. No contact details given of this dutch guy so can't send items back. Is it a case of just cutting our losses and my gran learning a valuable lesson or is there a way to get her money back at all? Thank you for the help! :A

naedanger

springuponus wrote: »

Long story short, dutch guy in a fancy car arrives on my gran's doorstep selling kitchenware. Says he's come from an expo or something. Items that are branded are fake. Other items are unbranded but have fake warranties, labels and paperwork with them. Paid hundreds for items when likely not worth that much. Paid via debit card and have receipt. According to bank, payment traces back to a restaurant. Have contacted trading standards and the police regarding this and have a reference no. On the day of the incident the money hadn't gone through yet but bank said they won't/couldn't cancel. After getting police reference number etc bank still can't/won't reverse payment. No contact details given of this dutch guy so can't send items back. Is it a case of just cutting our losses and my gran learning a valuable lesson or is there a way to get her money back at all? Thank you for the help! :A

When did your gran buy the kitchenware? (I think there is a cooling off period with doorstep sales.)

springuponus

it was on Tuesday!

SailorSam

You have 7 days cooling off period.
Not sure though how it works with debit cards, needs to check with the bank. But first thing is to cancel with the company if you can.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/78/78-claiming-back-payments.html

springuponus

The company/saleman are uncontactable. The bank are the ones who told us it was a restaurant. How does the 7 day cooling period work if they're not able to be contacted?

We explained all of this to the bank but they did not want to know.

unholyangel

SailorSam wrote: »

You have 7 days cooling off period.
Not sure though how it works with debit cards, needs to check with the bank. But first thing is to cancel with the company if you can.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/78/78-claiming-back-payments.html

Where are you getting 7 days from? Are you sure you're not quoting from the repealed doorstep selling regulations instead of the current Consumer Contract (Information, Cancellation & Additional Charges) Regulations which give 14 days to cancel?

However be aware that this only applies to contracts over the value of £42.

Poppie68

A card payment has been paid into a restaurant bank account, they obviously have links to the Dutch man so a bit of research should wield a result. Your grandmother may have to result to court action if need be or a'friendly' visit by family members with the bought items in hand may see a refund come her way?
What is the name of the Dutch man(maybe fake) or restaurant?

SailorSam

unholyangel wrote: »

Where are you getting 7 days from? .

I was getting it from when i was doing door-to-door cold selling for DG.. But that was quite a while back. We'd get a sale on the night only to have it cancelled a couple of days later.
They always to told us to get to the house the next morning with a bottle for the husband and bouquet as a thanks, but it was to make them feel guilty if they were thinking of cancelling.

springuponus

we have the name of the restaurant but not the name of the man. The car he was driving was on dutch plates too.

Poppie68

springuponus wrote: »

we have the name of the restaurant but not the name of the man. The car he was driving was on dutch plates too.

Pay a visit to the restaurant and loudly explain that someone is selling fake goods to elderly people and using their bank account to deposit the money, and/or contact the press they love a story like this and will do the investigating for you if your not forward enough to confront them yourself.

Kernow666

highly suspicious thread get scammed sign up to MSE and ask for advice even though the police are already involved