Carpetright dispute - can I ever get my money back?

IainM123

I currently have a dispute with Carpetright New Malden and was wondering what options I have available. I ordered a carpet on Saturday 22nd April (4 days ago) to be fitted 8 days from now (4th May) in a flat we want to sell. We had viewings on that Saturday and I wanted to make sure that I could cancel the order should we receive an offer on the property this week. In store the sales assistant told us that we could cancel without charge up until the carpet is delivered to their store, and that the carpet would be delivered on the 1st or 3rd of May, giving us plenty of time to cancel, so we bought the carpet.

Fast forward to today, and we have an offer on the flat, so I phoned up to cancel and was told that the carpet is already cut (but not delivered), and so I would have to pay a £200 cancellation fee. I spoke with the sales assistant, the store manager, the customer services team and the escalations team. The assistant insists that he told us that we had until Sunday to cancel the order. He is lying about this; at the store he was clear that the delivery date was the cut-off, and if we had known that the cancellation fee would apply if we cancelled at this early stage then we would have postponed the purchase. The manager, customer services and the escalation team simply reiterate that the policy is that the fee applies after the carpet is cut and that this is what we were told in store. Clearly we were mislead into buying the carpet on false information regarding when I could cancel without charge.

Is there anything I can do about this, and will I ever be able to get my £200 back? I've gone as high as possible at Carpetright and met a brick wall, and it is my word against the sales assistants. Would I have any chance using alternative dispute resolution? Would reporting them to trading standards have any effect?

EDIT: Might it be possible to make a chargeback claim with my bank?

Fosterdog

Do you have anything in writing stating their cancellation policy? Their website (under FAQs) states that there is a charge to cancel already cut pieces because they are then sold at a large discount as pre-cut rather than off the role.

If you don't have anything in writing stating cancellations are allowed and the terms of that cancellation and they can show that they do have their policy in writing and what the terms are then as you said it is their word against yours. You have no proof of what was said, they have a written policy to back up what they are now saying.

It may be worth contacting whoever made the offer on the flat and explain that you've already ordered a new carpet and see if you can get them to agree to cover all/some of the cost. If they like the carpet and had planned on changing it anyway they may well be happy with that

IainM123

Thanks Fosterdog,
Yup, their policy is upon cutting, it's just that this wasn't what I was told in store. Yes, I will see if the buyer is willing to foot the cost and get new carpet. The other thing I will do is postpone the installation until the offer is more secure and the solicitors are talking. That way I can cancel and suck up the fee if it looks like the sale is solid, but still get the carpet installed if it falls through.

CM66

Did you sign any paperwork, what does that say about cancellations?

IainM123

CM66 wrote: »

Did you sign any paperwork, what does that say about cancellations?

No, I didn't sign anything, but a link to their cancellation policy is written on the receipt. Online it states that the cancellation fee is payable from the point of cutting, not delivery.

DoaM

In consumer contracts T&Cs must be clearly expressed in writing (email is OK) ... a link to online T&Cs (which can change at any time) is NOT classed as clearly expressed therefore such T&Cs may not be adjudged as being binding to the contract.

Your problem will be in proving that you weren't advised of this aspect of the T&Cs.