Retailer dispute with Aqua Credit Card + Section 75 & Pre-orders & Paypal

littly_kitty

I am thinking of preordering a £199 item from Gameseek (they take money at the time of the preorder). The reviews for this company are mostly positive although there are a few where people complain that they never received their item or a refund.

If the worst was to happen, how good would Aqua be at getting my money back?

I know legally a credit card company has liability. But from my parents experience with credit cards, the process can vary wildly. For example, they have found that Barclaycard provide exceptional service in such situations, where as MBNA tend to be a bit of a hassle to deal with as they require lots of forms to be filled in first and also have waiting periods for the retailer to respond.

So has anyone had any experience with Aqua retailer dispute resolutions? Do they solve the matter fairly easily and quickly?

Update:
Also does Section 75 apply to pre-orders. I know that there was an incident with Phones 4U iPhone preorders and a comment from Which Magazine said that you only have 120 days to make a section 75 chargeback claim

Update 2

I wonder if paying by PayPal might be a good idea.
Generally, it’s not, as you lose the section 75 protection from the card company.
But PayPal offer 180 days to settle a claim. Gameseek take money from the day of the preorder (rather than shipment), but 180 should be enough time to raise any claim.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Nasqueron

There aren't a lot of posts on here about Aqua and S75 setup but each lender can follow their own procedure, there is no obligation on the lender to just give you your money back under an S75 - they can investigate and make you follow their complaint steps. Some as big as Barclays may choose to just do it and go from there

A recent one was below but the user JCOOGAN77 has not logged in sice the post in 2016 so don't post on there asking for advice - there Aqua basically said they'd do it but wouldn't refund until they got the money back from the retailer which sounds like they did a chargeback

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5458293

Just follow the process below as needed

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

If you are worried about Gameseek why bother with pre-order, you rarely get anything worth paying for in my experience, I'm guessing it might be something like the Nintendo Switch? Just wait until it comes out and get from somewhere else

littly_kitty

Is there any info about section 75 and pre-orders? I know that there was an incident with Phones 4U iPhone preorders and a comment from Which Magazine said that you only have 120 days to make a section 75 chargeback claim (Although I assume that was for debit cards, which is slightly different from Credit cards that apparently have no time limit on claims).

Normally I would wait until release, but I have some discount vouchers for preorders.

[Deleted User]

As above WAIT until whatever it is, is on general release then buy, why do anything but?

Shakin_Steve

venison wrote: »

As above WAIT until whatever it is, is on general release then buy, why do anything but?

Because he has some discount vouchers for pre-orders.

eskbanker

littly_kitty wrote: »

I know that there was an incident with Phones 4U iPhone preorders and a comment from Which Magazine said that you only have 120 days to make a section 75 chargeback claim

littly_kitty wrote: »

Is there any info about section 75 and pre-orders? I know that there was an incident with Phones 4U iPhone preorders and a comment from Which Magazine said that you only have 120 days to make a section 75 chargeback claim (Although I assume that was for debit cards, which is slightly different from Credit cards that apparently have no time limit on claims).

You're mixing up section 75 and chargeback, which are two different processes - section 75 applies to credit cards and relates to your legal rights under the Consumer Credit Act, whereas chargeback is a scheme operated by Visa and Mastercard. It's only the latter that has the 120-day limit, see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback for a side-by-side comparison between the two....

littly_kitty

I wonder if paying by PayPal might be a good idea.
Generally, it’s not, as you lose the section 75 protection from the card company.
But PayPal offer 180 days to settle a claim. Gameseek take money from the day of the preorder (rather than shipment), but 180 should be enough time to raise any claim.

Anyone have any thoughts?

eddddy

littly_kitty wrote: »

I wonder if paying by PayPal might be a good idea.
Generally, it’s not, as you lose the section 75 protection from the card company.
But PayPal offer 180 days to settle a claim. Gameseek take money from the day of the preorder (rather than shipment), but 180 should be enough time to raise any claim.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is legislation. Ultimately, a court can enforce it.

You have up to 6 years to make a claim for breach of contract and therefore make a section 75 claim.

Paypal Buyer Protection is a scheme run by a company. A 'faceless' administrator working for the company has complete discretion over whether you get your money back or not.


Personally, I would be happier trusting Aqua, followed by the Financial Ombudsman, followed by the UK courts - more than I would trust Paypal.

Arleen

eddddy wrote: »

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is legislation. Ultimately, a court can enforce it.

You have up to 6 years to make a claim for breach of contract and therefore make a section 75 claim.

Paypal Buyer Protection is a scheme run by a company. A 'faceless' administrator working for the company has complete discretion over whether you get your money back or not.


Personally, I would be happier trusting Aqua, followed by the Financial Ombudsman, followed by the UK courts - more than I would trust Paypal.

Which looks like a "no brainer go for 75" in theory, but takes a very different turn in practice. As unlike claims under s75 which require filling forms and following often long procedures, paypals route is much simpler and faster (did both on more than few occasions). And unless your item was excluded from protection (check for that during checkout) you simply go online, mark the payment to request a refund and as explanation put in "never received goods" and almost always that will be the end of it and you will get your money back in few days/weeks.

It's a bit ironic that a private company handles it better than a legislation-led route approach, but paypal spent many years on this process, and over that term worked out very rigid process and policies that deal with merchants who have higher than usual refund rates.

chattychappy

A S75 dispute with a CC is just like any commercial dispute. If I do some work for you and you are unhappy, I can "make" you fill in loads of forms, provide evidence etc etc. I can invent whatever procedure I like to fob you off, delay you. I can say that this is "my procedure". Of course, I might be very reasonable and pay out promptly once I realise you have a good case. BUT, you are always able to go to court and sue me. Then civil procedure rules govern the process.

Same with S75. The CCs foot the bill and I'm sure they know from experience that if they present cardholders with a few forms/demands for independant evidence/telephone queueing systems then they'll just give up and go away.

S75 is law. You always have the "backup" of suing the CC (you can do this online) if you feel that their demands are unreasonable/disproportionate. You will still need to prove your case, but it will be the "neutral" court deciding whether you have done so, not the "biased" CC who take the hit.

Arleen wrote: »

It's a bit ironic that a private company handles it better than a legislation-led route approach, but paypal spent many years on this process, and over that term worked out very rigid process and policies that deal with merchants who have higher than usual refund rates.

And in the context of what I wrote above, perhaps Paypal are more "neutral" because they are not taking a hit.

littly_kitty

Paypal can be hit and miss. My friend recently received a wrong item. It was a made to measure product and Paypal were not much help even though she was in the timeframe. She had to go the credit card company (Halifax Clarity) to get her money back (which I was surprised as legally, the credit card company were under no obligation help). The credit card company wasn't as efficient as Barclaycard, and it did take a few weeks, but I guess as long as she got the money back, that was the main thing.

In my case, I guess I could ask my parents to buy my item on their Barclaycard. But looking at the reviews, the risk of something going wrong are very low, so I probably will use my Aqua (as it will give me the chance to build up some credit history, as I rarely spend that much on it).