Please help!!!!!!

Kezbobs74

Please could anyone advise me?? I ordered a wedding dress in Sept 16 and set up a monthly payment plan. I was told my dress would not be ordered until 50% of the dress had been paid. At the time I was in the shop, my friend (now ex-friend) dealt with my purchase as she works there. I did sign a quote sheet but was not made aware at the time that the terms and conditions were on the back of this form. I also wasn't given anything to bring home either with any details of my payments or amount due. Due to various reasons my partner and I have delayed our wedding indefinitely so I want to cancel my dress. I've now been told by the shop I'm entitled to no refund on any of the money I've paid. This is stated in the terms and conditions on the back of the form I signed but it's my word against my now ex friends who's swears she read t&c's out to me at time of order. I know this is a lie. There's also no list of t&c's on shop website either. Also, she sent a copy of my quote sheet to my partner which had all the details of my dress, style, price, details of my monthly payments. Isn't this a breach of my data protection rights? Is it right that the shop can keep all my money for something that doesn't even exist? The dress hasn't been ordered or made yet. I've had no fittings or anything, just my initial 1st appt to try dresses on. ( Sorry if this is all a bit jumbled but any advice would be much appreciated) Thanks.

fleshandbone

That is unreadable, can you break your post up a bit instead of just one big text block.

alumende27

First of all you need to be professional about this when dealing with the shop and not let it get personal, even if you did the original transaction with a now ex friend.

Unfortunately, you made the original contract whilst in the shop which does limit your right to cancel somewhat at this stage.

You may find the information here useful:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/changed-your-mind/cancelling-a-service-youve-arranged/#cancelling_sale_made_on_business_premises

It sounds like you would need to put forward a clear argument that you believe you are entitled to the return of your deposit (minus any compensation for their financial loss) simply because they haven't laid out any money for the dress itself yet and hope you can negotiate the return of some or all of what you've paid so far.

That said, it's hardly the shop's fault if you decided to indefinitely postpone your wedding after ordering your dress.

Labsuper

Kezbobs74 wrote: »

Please could anyone advise me??


I ordered a wedding dress in Sept 16 and set up a monthly payment plan. I was told my dress would not be ordered until 50% of the dress had been paid.


At the time I was in the shop, my friend (now ex-friend) dealt with my purchase as she works there. I did sign a quote sheet but was not made aware at the time that the terms and conditions were on the back of this form. I also wasn't given anything to bring home either with any details of my payments or amount due.


Due to various reasons my partner and I have delayed our wedding indefinitely so I want to cancel my dress. I've now been told by the shop I'm entitled to no refund on any of the money I've paid. This is stated in the terms and conditions on the back of the form I signed but it's my word against my now ex friends who's swears she read t&c's out to me at time of order. I know this is a lie.


There's also no list of t&c's on shop website either. Also, she sent a copy of my quote sheet to my partner which had all the details of my dress, style, price, details of my monthly payments. Isn't this a breach of my data protection rights?


Is it right that the shop can keep all my money for something that doesn't even exist? The dress hasn't been ordered or made yet. I've had no fittings or anything, just my initial 1st appt to try dresses on.


( Sorry if this is all a bit jumbled but any advice would be much appreciated) Thanks.

There you go guys.

steampowered

The basic legal position is that you do not have any right to change your mind. You would only have a right to cancel your order or get a refund if the product was faulty.

The law does give you a right to cancel distance sale contracts, such as items ordered online within 14 days of receipt. However this does not apply to personalised items, so if they would have to make a wedding dress to your measurements that won't help.

It sounds like you agreed to buy a wedding dress. The fact that you decided to pay through a monthly payment plan doesn't make any difference to whether you have a right to cancel. You won't have a right to get a refund unless the shop told you it would provide a refund when you placed your order.

If the T&Cs were physically attached to the form you signed, they will be binding. If you decided not to read them that was your decision - the shop isn't required to explain them to you.

But I actually don't think the T&Cs matter because it doesn't sound like you would have a right to a refund even if there were no T&Cs.

brewthebear

you might as well just carry on and finish paying the dress for when the wedding does take place that way you wont lose

George_Michael

steampowered wrote: »

The basic legal position is that you do not have any right to change your mind. Once you agree to buy a product, you are required to buy it. You would only have a right to cancel your order or get a refund if the product was faulty.

That is incorrect.
Even when signing a contract and agreeing to buy goods or services, you still have the right to refuse to complete the purchase.
The caveat with this is that although you might decide to cancel, you can still be held liable for any losses or costs incurred by the trader because of your cancellation.
In the OP's case, the retailer can't legally keep all of the money paid so far unless they can prove that this money only covers the costs of the initial appointment and any associated administration costs.

steampowered wrote: »

But I actually don't think the T&Cs matter because it doesn't sound like you would have a right to a refund even if there were no T&Cs.

You do know how contracts are formed don't you?
If one party wasn't made aware of or given an option to read any T&C's, the other party can't then hold them liable for T&C's that didn't exist at the time the contract was formed.

NotRichAtAll

brewthebear wrote: »

you might as well just carry on and finish paying the dress for when the wedding does take place that way you wont lose

pretty much what i was thinking rather than loose my money just buy it

shaun_from_Africa

steampowered wrote: »

If the T&Cs were physically attached to the form you signed, they will be binding. If you decided not to read them that was your decision - the shop isn't required to explain them to you.

Kezbobs74 didn't state that they decided not to read the T&C's. they stated that they were not told that the T&C's were on the back of the form, hence they didn't read them.
Under the Unfair terms in consumer contracts legislation, a consumer can't be held to terms and conditions that they were not aware of at the time the contract was entered into.

DoaM

Did OP sign the form?
Did OP sign the form without actually looking at it?

I think OP might be on sticky ground if the above is true. I'm not sure its incumbent on the seller to explicitly state the T&Cs are on the back of the paperwork, albeit I'm happy to be shown otherwise.

agrinnall

George_Michael wrote: »

If one party wasn't made aware of or given an option to read any T&C's, the other party can't then hold them liable for T&C's that didn't exist at the time the contract was formed.

But the other party says that the OP was made aware of the T&Cs, and having signed the piece of paper that they are on makes her case a lot weaker. She'd now have to convince a court that her ex-friend is lying and that she only looked at one side of the piece of paper.

OP, what percentage of the dress have you already paid for, and if you stop paying now will the shop ask you to pay any more? If it's a relatively small percentage and you don't have to pay more then it may be better to cut your losses and stop now, otherwise I'd agree that continuing to pay and taking delivery of the dress is probably the best option (but make sure you examine it properly before accepting it as they may not be motivated to do a good job now).