littlewoods: only use codes that are sent to you!

ffacoffipawb

Somebody's having to work late .....

Your message

To: [URL="mhtml:!!0C5E52CF-71BE-4595-B140-6A5706CF8D89}mid://00000625/!x-usc:mailto:CEMqueries@littlewoods-online.com"]CEMqueries@littlewoods-online.com[/URL]; Groarke, Anne-Marie
Subject: Re:
Sent: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 xx:xx:xx +0100

was read on Tue, 2 Oct 2007 19:2x:xx +0100

treasureirealnds

Me and DH both got statements today with vouchers cancelled. I called, waited 11 mins to speak with someone.
He told me the voucher was only valid for a "friends and family" account and the one i have is a personal account. asked to change to a "F&F" but he wouldn't have it. was told supervisor woud call back within hour. Not heard a word!!

installspark

This has happened to me as well with Littlewoods - paid by card, although strangely enough not on my Kays credit account.

Mr Newton Jones will be getting the following letter this morning:

Mark Newton-Jones
Chief Executive
Littlewoods Shop Direct Home Shopping Limited
First Floor
Skyways House
Speke Road
Liverpool
L70 1AB


1st October 2007



Littlewoods Account reference xxxxxxxx


Re: Complaint – Breach of Contract

Dear Mr Jones,

With reference to the above agreement I do not acknowledge ANY debt to your company.

It is with great regret that I find myself writing to you; however your company’s representative, xxxxxxx, has failed to address an important issue following my telephone call this evening in relation to unexpected correspondence received from the company.

On 25th July I made an offer to treat for an item I wished to purchase at a cost to myself of £1.10. The company accepted this offer to treat by sending me a confirmation of the order by email. My card was debited with the sum of £26.10, at which point a contract was formed between myself and the company to supply me with the goods as ordered and at the price confirmed in the confirmation email. Subsequently the company refunded to my card the sum of £25.00 on 25th July 2007, received to my account 27th July 2007. The contract was fulfilled by the delivery of the item a few days later.

Today I received a statement demanding the sum of £25.00. The company is now in breach of its contract under its own terms and conditions and in any event under contract law.

Your terms and conditions state:

2. Ordering Goods
2.1 All orders placed through our website will be subject to our acceptance of the order.

2.2 When you submit an order to us on our website you will receive a 'bounce back' confirmatory email of this order saying that we are processing your order. You will then receive a second email from us acknowledging your order and giving you estimated timescales for delivery. You should check both emails for accuracy and let us know immediately if there are any errors. Neither of these emails constitute acceptance of the order by us. Your order will be accepted by us (and a contract will then be formed between us) when we despatch the goods to you. Title to the goods will pass to you on delivery.

And

3. Processing your orders and payment
3.2 Whilst it is our intention to keep our website up to date and error free, product description or pricing errors may occur. If we discover such an error after you have submitted an order to us, we will contact you prior to accepting your order with the correct details. You may then either cancel your order or re-confirm it based on the correct information. If we are unable to contact you, we will treat your order as cancelled.

Also

Order Acceptance
Your order will be accepted by us, and a contract will then be formed between us, when we despatch the goods to you.

In relation to paragraph 3.2, as detailed above, no contact was made by your company to inform of any pricing error, and the company was contracted to supply the goods to the total cost to myself as detailed on the order.

Referring to my telephone conversation with xxxxx, whilst he was polite, he was refusing to listen to what I was trying explain about contract law, and how the company has no right to demand payment after the contract has been formed and fulfilled. He refused to let me speak to a manger, at first stating there were none available. When challenged about there being no managers in the contact centre, he admitted that it was his manager who was not available, but no other managers will take calls off agents who are not members of their team. Shankar then proceeded to try to tell me that he had had over twenty similar calls today about the same query, I am not interested in this fact, true or not, nor was I interested in him telling me that over half of these calls had agreed to pay; this may well be because the other parties do not understand contract law and their rights.

There are no monies due to the company from myself, and should the company persist in pursuing this matter a counterclaim for breach of contract will be made and the following charges made:

My time 1 hour @ £20 per hour £ 20.00
Telephone 18.6 mins @ 20p per minute £ 3.72
Postage Royal Mail Special Delivery £ 4.30
Court Fee £ 30.00

Total £58.02

This letter also constitutes formal notice to the company that the amount the company is demanding is in dispute. The Office Of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance- Unfair Business Practices July 2003 states that whilst this alleged debt is in dispute and being investigated you must cease all collection activity. Failure to do so will result in this matter being notified to the Office of Fair Trading and may constitute harassment contrary to section 40 (1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1970.

I expect your reply within seven days of receipt of this letter, and await your reply

Yours faithfully

bewildergirl

Brilliant letter. One for the savebox!

I had a dispute with them recently, had the "full" amount taken from my debit card even though the contract was for a considerably smaller sum, sent many an email to them, and up till yesterday hadn't even received any goods. As yet I still only have one of two items.... They tried to fob me off with a smaller part refund as a gesture of goodwill even when they'd agreed to refund the full amount, but I disagreed that there was any goodwill in that gesture at all. In the end I do have email confirmation of the full refund amount but have yet to see it materialise into my bank account.

wirehair

Thanks so much Installspark , used your letter as a template , much apprieciated .

bazza_g

First post on this board so please go gentle on me!

I too used the £25 voucher code successfully and have since discovered the voucher cancelled with £25 now owing on my account.

I spoke to Littlewoods on the phone and using the two arguments below have had the £25 credited again to my account leaving the balance as zero.

1) After my payment was accepted and the goods recieved our contract was completed - if they realise they have undercharged me they can't come crying 2 months later to get their money back - it just doesn't work like that.

2) Most importantly was the way the voucher was handled. I didn't use the code to pay £4 for the sports shirt I ordered. I paid £29.99, gave the voucher details and then was refunded £25. It was THEIR decision to refund the £25 to me and THEIR responsiblilty to decide the validity of the voucher at that point. Again, they can't come back to me 2 months later saying they made a mistake and begging the consumer for money.

Please don't let them get away with this - they are acting as pure "chancers" trying to recover a mess at their end.

Good luck everyone.

bazza

supermezzo

Can they take money off my credit card 2 months down the line then? Or will they (possibly) write to me and ask for the £10 voucher I used the other day?

afm_2

I have also received the letter saying that the £25 voucher was cancelled exactly two months after receiving the goods. Of course, I thought it was illegal and contacted "Consumer Direct". They have informed me that as I've paid for the goods 2 months ago and Littlewoods have debited the funds from my bank account, they can not ask me for any more money. If they have made a mistake in the first place, then they should bear the cost of that mistake. I am are under no legal obligation to pay the additional £25; the contract has been executed.

So, I won't pay for this. I will just make one phone call and inform them that I won't pay, that what they are doing is illegal and that I demand that they solve this and close my account with them. After this, I won't bother anymore as I have the right for not paying it.

Btw, can you please let me know which is the telephone number that you are using? I don't want to use the 08705 number that came in the bill.

Thanks and don't pay for this. You are protected by the law.

grandslamgirl

I too placed an order with littlewoods using a code and paying by debit card.
They took the full amount and then refunded the discount (can't remember how much £13 i think).
Two days later though they refunded the full amount again and cancelled my order. Some problem with my address i later found out. Bottom line is that i ended up £13 (or however much it was) up. They had no recourse for that mistake and they have none for this debacle. Keep fighting guys

ffacoffipawb

installspark wrote: »

This has happened to me as well with Littlewoods - paid by card, although strangely enough not on my Kays credit account.

Mr Newton Jones will be getting the following letter this morning:

Thanks for that, brilliant and I plagarised it as it was so good!

I have got Jean Berry of Sefton Trading Standards on the case and all correspondence I make is being copied on to her.

This is her last response ....

Hi ffa

I have received your latest e mails concerning this problem and I am
faxing details to Liverpool Trading Standards to see if they are aware
that this is a problem. However, my advice concerning a recorded
delivery letter to them is still good as this is evidence that you have
formally challenged them over the matter. Mark your letter complaint
and ask them to reply in 10 days.
Best Wishes Jean

I have their "not interested" e-mails and read receipts from Anne-Marie Groarke their solicitor. This is proof of my dispute.

I have copied Watchdog** ([EMAIL="watchdog@bbc.co.uk"]watchdog@bbc.co.uk[/EMAIL]) and Liverpool Echo on my e-mail version of your fantastic letter as well as [EMAIL="mark.newton-jones@littlewoods.co.uk"]mark.newton-jones@littlewoods.co.uk[/EMAIL] (which must be valid as I haven't got a DAEMON invalid e-mail address bounce yet)

** (the new series of Watchdog starts tonight on BBC1 at 8pm - very timely!)