changes in order by European supplier

missionary_2

My wife often buys clothes from a German mail order company who have a system whereby they send out orders at the close of each ‘offer’ which can be several months into the future. She always pays via the same credit card. They charge at the time of order yet can take several weeks before dispatch.

One order they dispatched, but mailed her to say that several items were cancelled at their option, therefore they refunded that balance of the non-dispatched items - having retained her funds for several weeks.

My wife wanted those items, so having been told that they were not being sent, she went back to the supplier's catalogue to buy alternatives.

A parcel arrived containing all the items ordered originally including those that had been allegedly cancelled by the supplier.

The supplier had already debited the credit card by the amount equalling those items that they said they had not cancelled, though made the charge before at point of order. Therefore some items were delivered but not charged for.

Now, some 3 months later the company have written to my wife and told her that there was a 'bug' in their system and that they now require payment for the items sent, originally cancelled and then refunded. They agree they had originally cancelled them but now want her to confirm receipt of the items, with the implication that if she does not pay for them, they will debit her credit card regardless.

The T’s & C’s define a 14 day cooling-off period for the purchaser but do not describe a similar period for the supplier. She appears to have no redress on spending that sum with the same company for alternatives, due to the company telling her that the items originally ordered would not be sent.

My wife now has duplicates of the original items ordered but not complained to the supplier.

So where does she stand now please?

unholyangel

So did your wife contact them to inform them of their error when the items that were supposed to have been cancelled turned up?

bris

So you had the items for 3 months and now you have been caught you are complaining? If you made them aware of the mistake when they sent the items 3 months ago you could have sorted it then but instead you kept stum.
You owe the money so pay it.
You don't have a legal get out clause if that's what you think and as you originally have authorised the payment for the said items they have six moths to debit the funds without your authority again.


You could call the bank to stop the transaction but that could just start legal action against you.

peachyprice

If your wife had been honest with them during the 14 day cooling off period in the first place she wouldn't be in this predicament. Sounds like she though she'd got away with getting the cancelled goods for free instead of contacting them and telling them of their mistake.

End of the day, she's had the goods, she owes the money, simple as that.

[Deleted User]

I'm afraid no one has a 14 day "cooling off" period for goods received in error and not paid for.

I'm tempted to say more, but I'll just state that you are wrong to even consider that you have any right to these goods without payment. After keeping them for three months and without informing them of the error, all you have is an obligation to pay up.

[Deleted User]

Sounds like a very complicated way to go about ordering goods lol.

Your wife had a responsibility to let the trader know the goods had turned up, she could have returned them immediately (then seen if the postage costs could be refunded although they may well not have been).

She didn't, she now has duplicate items and has to pay up. She received them. Her decision. But surely you realise this wasn't the right thing to do?

missionary_2

Well, my wife appears to have been made out to be some sort of arch criminal. So please be assured that we are pensioners who have lived professional lives and are not crooks.

Having worked extensively overseas, my wife particularly has relied on mail order shopping, with delivery coinciding with our return to the UK for leave etc.

We have had a lot of experience dealing with overseas mail order suppliers and always exercise some caution. If not, in the past we have ended-up being charged twice quite innocently, hence my query about the legal position. We have no problem paying for the goods but wanted to find out the legal position in the UK, before we are caught once again paying (being debited) a multiple of times.

My thanks for all contributions.