Can I claim for time wasted on the phone etc.....

miserable_ol_so_n_so

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Are you considering your own case? Why waste energy on wondering what would happen to everyone else? Are you infirm?

No I am not but am interested in what happens if someone is and is is being trampled upon in this way. I would expect there to be a way for such an individual to obtain justice by instructing a solicitor to take legal action and recover the refund as well as legal costs.

miserable_ol_so_n_so

Rainbowgirl84 wrote: »

I'm wondering how you are going to apportion liability between the the merchant and the credit card company in your claim?

If it did go to court, I envisage the truth to come out. Either the bank did not return the money or the merchant received it but failed to make the necessary arrangements to send it to me. I would expect the judge to get to the bottom of this and rule accordingly.

wealdroam

miserable_ol_so_n_so wrote: »

I would expect the judge to get to the bottom of this and rule accordingly.

Then make sure you list them both as defendants.

cookie365

Unless you're not telling us stuff, the merchant has correctly made the refund. You should be focusing your energy on your card provider, who will have the money in a suspense account.

unholyangel

miserable_ol_so_n_so wrote: »

I thought they charge £250 per letter and were I to engage one, it would be for the Solicitor to obtain justice from two very large organizations. The £140 is significant to me.

There are many "legal" companies who will send template solicitor letters for just a few quid. However imo its a waste of money if you're semi competent as you're required to send a letter before claim/notice anyway and a well worded one will have more effect especially with companies who probably deal with legalese and solicitors every day (so aren't intimidated by them like your average joes).

miserable_ol_so_n_so wrote: »

No I am not but am interested in what happens if someone is and is is being trampled upon in this way. I would expect there to be a way for such an individual to obtain justice by instructing a solicitor to take legal action and recover the refund as well as legal costs.

If someone cannot manage daily affairs, they would likely have some sort of carer or someone with POA to do it for them. Legal costs are not recoverable in small claims except in very limited circumstances - such as the other parties conduct has been wholly unreasonable (simply disagreeing you have a claim against them is not unreasonable).

Even in higher courts, it used to be that costs were recoverable if they were reasonable and necessary. However since the 2013 reforms, now costs are only recoverable if they are reasonable, necessary & proportionate.

Regarding the £100 for time spent....the law expects you to spend time & effort trying to resolve disputes in a bid to avoid court action, its a natural result of any dispute and is to be expected. The general principle is that where one party is in breach, they are liable for the reasonable actual losses incurred by the other party but to go beyond that would be punishment & penal in nature (which is not what civil law is about) rather than restitution.

Could you imagine if such claims were allowed? For example say the refund has been made to the card. Should the retailer bill you for the time their employees have spent on the matter? It then becomes a question of when enough is enough. Have you spent enough time or too little/too much? No, costs for inconvenience are given a dim view by the courts and for good reason.

miserable_ol_so_n_so

cookie365 wrote: »

Unless you're not telling us stuff, the merchant has correctly made the refund. You should be focusing your energy on your card provider, who will have the money in a suspense account.

No question of me not telling any stuff. The merchant mentioned early on that under such circumstances, the bank puts it in a suspense account. The credit card provider said straight away that is incorrect and the money would be returned to the merchant within 48 hours.

societys_child

Don't know why you didn't send a letter headed COMPLAINT to each of them?

meer53

If you haven't made a complaint you're going to look a bit silly. You have to give them chance to investigate fully what has happened, making an official complaint forces them to look into it and respond to you. If it's still not resolved then, you can take it to the FOS for free.

miserable_ol_so_n_so

naedanger wrote: »

If your case meets the requirements for a Section 75 claim then I suggest you take that route rather than legal action. You can claim for costs and inconvenience (though there is no guarantee you will get what you claim).

One advantage of going down the section 75 route is that the credit card company can be held responsible even if the fault was due to the retailer's failings.

For details of a Section 75 claim see the following article:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

If you do go that route then put your complaint in writing.

I started looking at this and I must say it looks great. My only problem is that it is more hassle more work more waiting. I really do not want any of this. All I want is the refund, just the refund that is legitimately due to me. I am elderly and though I personally am in perfect health, I am a carer for my other half who has not one but two chronic conditions. So here I am having to waste so much time over incompetence of two commercial giants with hundreds of staff at their disposal. It would be nice to hand this over to a solicitor to pursue but then you come up against not getting solicitors costs reimbursed.

What if I were to engage a personal assistant to make all these phone calls to the merchants call centre and the banks call centre? If I then got invoices and paid their costs for hours they spend dealing with the call centre will I be able to claim for that?

miserable_ol_so_n_so

societys_child wrote: »

Don't know why you didn't send a letter headed COMPLAINT to each of them?

I didnt think of that but then what difference does that make. We are where we are. In all the correspondence I have sent I have made it abundantly clear that I want this refund.