Deposit Paid - price not honoured

indian_summer

So you wanted to buy your dream ring,your fingers were swollen at the time but to secure a discount you were told you must pay the deposit now or no discount.

You were also told that the ring wouldnt be made until the balance was paid.

Circumstances meant you couldnt complete the sale,you were happy to forgo the discount on the basis that your deposit would be held to use at a future date against any purchase.which you were told on the phone?

You then find out that they offer this discount all the time so in effect they lied to you in the first place and pressured you into a sale at a time when you couldnt give an exact size due to swollen fingers?

As said you should have waited but,I can imagine you were excited at the prospect of such a large saving so on impulse went ahead.
Had the sales assistant been truthful in the first place maybe you wouldnt be in this position?

I think the store is well out of order.

fm32

indian_summer wrote: »

So you wanted to buy your dream ring,your fingers were swollen at the time but to secure a discount you were told you must pay the deposit now or no discount.

You were also told that the ring wouldnt be made until the balance was paid.

Circumstances meant you couldnt complete the sale,you were happy to forgo the discount on the basis that your deposit would be held to use at a future date against any purchase.which you were told on the phone?

You then find out that they offer this discount all the time so in effect they lied to you in the first place and pressured you into a sale at a time when you couldnt give an exact size due to swollen fingers?

As said you should have waited but,I can imagine you were excited at the prospect of such a large saving so on impulse went ahead.
Had the sales assistant been truthful in the first place maybe you wouldnt be in this position?

I think the store is well out of order.

Yes you totally understand the impulse of sure a large saving of over £500 bit now that's what they are taking off my money now and only gone me credit so they can't charge me what they want.

fm32

eskbanker wrote: »

Yes, apart from a bit of compassion you're missing a detailed discussion about contract law and what actions OP should take to get out of the situation rather than continuing to highlight how she got into it.

I think even OP accepts she's not entirely blameless here but that doesn't give the shop the right to ignore the laws of the land....

Well said - I'm not blameless what so ever. As below this person sums it up very well

stuart30

eskbanker wrote: »

Yes, apart from a bit of compassion you're missing a detailed discussion about contract law and what actions OP should take to get out of the situation rather than continuing to highlight how she got into it.

I think even OP accepts she's not entirely blameless here but that doesn't give the shop the right to ignore the laws of the land....

Lacking compassion..hardly.

Its pure common sense..i wouldn't buy a shirt 3 sizes to small,id wait until such time i was that size.

Why put down a large amount of money on a custom made item that wont fit and you dont know when it will,hence unable to proceed with sale...makes no sense.

fm32

I was simply securing the discount - as I thought!!
It's a big discount!! Or was meant to be!!
People pay of on large amounts of money all the time. My friend is paying off her wedding ring in a local jewlery shop from away before this and she isn't getting married until Easter 2018!!
It also meant a that all expenses for wedding are not left to last minute. A wedding ring is a little different to a shirt!

phillw

fm32 wrote: »

I was simply securing the discount - as I thought!!
It's a big discount!! Or was meant to be!!

Companies don't offer discounts like competitions and the discount voucher has no inherent value to them. They offer them to drive sales then and there, not because they want to offer you a discount in 6 months or 12 months time. It's possible that they have their prices set 20% higher and will offer anyone a discount if they feel like it. Comparing prices between jewellers is really hard because the quality of the stones affects the value of the ring. You might find a ring £100 cheaper than anywhere else, but the scrap value might be £200 less.

It doesn't sound like at any point they said that it was open ended after you paid 50%, they kept giving you deadlines to pay the rest. You chose to ignore those deadlines and prioritised other things in your life.

I'm not saying you shouldn't get your money back (less any costs they have incurred due to you messing them around) but they've obviously switched off after becoming aggravated by the situation and aren't making decisions in their best interest.

Right now it seems they'll take their chances that you will either give up asking for your money back or that your excuses will make you look bad in small claims court. They feel as justified as you do. So they probably aren't listening to what you say, because they expect you'll just come out with an excuse, and are just going to say no and stay firm. Equally I'm not sure that you're listening to them, as you're still trying to justify your actions and have your mind set on a resolution that they don't sound as if they will agree to.

The only way I can see you moving forward quickly is if you can talk to them and say that you were completely to blame for how this has dragged on & that you apologise for letting your personal circumstances cause the business relationship to break down but that you wish to move forward and ask to see evidence of the costs they have incurred, get a copy of it to show to your partner and then ask for a refund of the money paid, less those costs, so that you can avoid going to small claims court.

I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a ring without seeing the diamond under a Loupe first and make sure I had a record of any inscription or inclusions. If I wasn't going to spend a lot of money then I'd probably head to somewhere like argos.

fm32

Having spoken to consumer line they advised they cannot lay down terms and conditions after the voucher didn't have any neither did I even get the receipt!
After speaking to a solicitor then said ask them to extend the promotional discount that they said Friday was deadline for - so I did and they replied saying doing 20 percent off over bank holiday weekend but from Tuesday diamonds are increasing they told me all this to make me even pay the money at the time. She also confirmed that I don't know when the wedding is however it taking 10-12 weeks for rings - if this was case no ring would have been even in store until Feb and then they rang me everyday for three weeks - complete lies!
I'm getting comparison prices from a jewellery shop in local town tomorrow and I will have a better idea then about prices, something which I never thought about doing simply because people told me they were so competitive

fm32

Got prices and realised that even the price they quoted in oct is ome £500 more expensive than in another shop, however in another around same price.

that with them only honouring £700 of my money - losing £500 and not giving discount if I don't order today I will be out exactly the same money if I bought the ring in the other shop and then can try and recover my money. The shop is t going to do me any favours they want me to accept this offer quickly and under their terms - again another tactic to get it settled.
Local shop will get rings in for me to look at with my engagement ring - and I will asked them how much freight costs are. They said they were also charging me to get the ring hallmarked - I rang this office in London and got a standard fingered of £13 plus vat along with special delivery postage is another £13 special delivery each way so if it equals £50 that's it. To keep over £550 of my money seems to be far too much and not even offer a refund for rest puts me in a position that I still have buy a ring of them and pay whatever they quote!

stuart30

fm32 wrote: »

I was simply securing the discount - as I thought!!
It's a big discount!! Or was meant to be!!
People pay of on large amounts of money all the time. My friend is paying off her wedding ring in a local jewlery shop from away before this and she isn't getting married until Easter 2018!!
It also meant a that all expenses for wedding are not left to last minute. A wedding ring is a little different to a shirt!

I fully understand the bit about wanting to secure a big discount,that makes perfect sense.

Being a man and married..i dont really get the bit about choosing a ring whilst preganant,as you say your fingers swell and not sure ring size.

Couldnt you have had a ring made to a size you was pre swelling or just waited until after fingers returned to normal.

I should add when i bought my wedding rings i just went to the shop and bought them...:o

Hope you get most of your money back and maybe let the shop know you"ll be leaving a review of how they have dealt with you on Trust Pilot...worth a try.

Marchitiello

@fm32 just follow up with a formal request for full refund as no T&C were shared with you at moment of paying the deposit, reinstate that all you were made aware to be doing was to put a deposit down to secure a promotional price and that you felt pressured in doing so by their sales person. When two week later you were made aware of them wanting you to close the transaction within that time frame, that no ring had yet to be ordered etc, you were in your full right to get a full refund back and by them refusing at that point may have broke several laws (distance sale, right to change your mind, mis-selling, etc) and therefore you are willing to persue the matter in a court of law as well as through your credit card provider. Leave all the other emotion and chit chat and comments on what you should have done out of it. If what you have reported is true, it boils down to my summary above.