Breach of contract?

fivebobeach

Can someone on here clarify this for me please?


We have all come across the online retailers who 'refuse' to deliver to Northern Ireland, really makes me angry, but anyway...


Was shopping online last night and made a purchase from a mainland supplier offering free delivery over a certain spend. I made payment, and received a confirmation email right away - product purchased.


This morning I received a further email telling me the order had been processed, and looked forward to receiving it.


30 minute later I got a phone call from the supplier, apologising, and explaining that their delivery company was no longer delivering to Northern Ireland. She asked "could she issue me a refund"?


I was !!!!ed off quite frankly, have been here before and am fed up with it, but reluctantly accepted.


Now, having thought about it, the fact she asked "could" she issue me a refund, got me thinking could I have said NO, and insisted I want the product as agreed? Even better, can I call them back and still do?


There was nowhere on the site said they didn't deliver to NI. and I'd already gotten 2 confirmation emails.


Were (are) they in breach of contract?


Anybody?

Sugarmummy

I think if you hadn't accepted the apology and refund at the time, it could have been seen as a breach of contract? I'm thinking that since you accepted the refund then the contract has now ended. I could be wrong just my thinking. You should have pushed for them to post, they could have found another delivery company surely they just didn't want the hassle. ��

Mr_Bun

This really !!!!s me off:mad:
Happens all the time!!!
I once made a purchase on eBay for an item costing £50 from a seller in England.It was widely available but all the other sellers had a delivery charge of £20 to here or just didn't deliver.
I found this one seller who made no mention of it anywhere on their listing,they were offering free delivery.
I placed and paid for the item,got confirmation email,etc,few days later got an email saying there would be a delivery charge to N.I. I told them there was no mention of it on their listing and that if they didn't honour the sale I would leave negative feedback on them.Iem arrived two days later:T

Cotta

I had an issue with postage once with the stipulation stating that to avail of the postage discount the postal address had to be within the UK. Once the order was placed I was told NI was excluded as it was outside of the UK to which I stated that this was not the case. After a conversation the supplier agreed to ship at the stated price.

RikM

While it's annoying that they didn't honour the contract and may well be in breach, what could you get out of it? A refund? They gave you that...

fivebobeach

As you say I already got a refund, well spotted, hardly the point of the post though is it?


The point of the post is for clarification and future reference, both for me and others on here (even you) who may come up against something similar in future.
I was taken unawares when I received the phone call, maybe if I had been sure of my rights I could have reacted differently - isn't that what this forum's about?
Anyway, as to what I could maybe have gotten out of it. If I had been aware they were in breach of contract I could have insisted they honour it, as it's now costing me £30 extra to buy the item somewhere else! Or maybe I could have negotiated a donation towards the extra cost?

RikM

Well no, but the point of the refund is that you suffered no loss from the broken contract. It's difficult from that point to argue that you have a right to anything more. If there were consequential losses (like the delay in receiving the item caused you to miss something else or caused you to have to pay something to someone else), then that's different. But causing you to buy somewhere else? I don't think that would be considered a problem under law.
Think about the consumer laws: the best you get for a faulty product is the original contract honoured, or your money back.

fivebobeach

Whooooooooooosh!

getzls

Something I tried to buy for the grand total of £1 once.
Got an email saying not Ni even after they UK delivery.
After a few emails to and trough they finally said our Courier won't deliver to NI.

I send them a laughing email in reply to that one

guiriman

Last company I came across doing this also sold via Amazon in addition to direct sales. So I nipped over to Amazon and paid the same price then they were forced to deliver to NI and also lost out on whatever exorbitant commission Amazon charged them. Not too smart on their part...

donnac2558

Some years back a very famous department store in London told me, 'Their courier did not cross water.' I asked if they used Vampires?:rotfl: Now they do cross water.

On Ebay I was looking at duvets found ones I really liked. Read the small print which stated FREE SHIPPING to Republic Of Ireland and UK. Northern Ireland was £20! Contacted them and it turns out they got confused which one was part of the UK:beer: I did get free shipping.