Next Directory £3.50 charge

polar_low_2

Did a search on this but didn’t find a great deal of information.

Requested a copy of the Next Directory a few months ago via this page:

https://order.next.co.uk/dir-mail.asp

and duly received the catalogue. Was slightly baffled a few days ago when I received an invoice for £3.50. Returning to the above form, there is indeed a small red text warning, which I presume I must have missed.

Have to say this seems a bit dodgy! The warning should be much bigger and if they want to charge you for it, why don't they ask for your credit/debit card details before they send the directory out? While I admit that the catalogue is of high quality and better than most, the whole under-hand way that they have chosen to go about this seems a funny way of attracting business. Did a bit of research on google and it seems other people have been caught out too:

http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=47514

Can they legally (sale of goods act?) charge you for something based simply on their possession of your name and address (plus a ticked box indicated you agreed to their terms and conditions)? I could enter my neighbour’s or friend’s name and address (never would though!), they would be sent the catalogue and a few weeks later receive an invoice for £3.50 all through no fault of their own.

Also what happens if I don't pay the charge? Would they really send the debt collectors around for £3.50?

telly-addict

I ordered a Next directory previously and was aware of the charge. I agree if there isn't clear and obvious information about the price it is a bit dodgy.

Anyway, I decided not to bother with the Spring/Summer one and advised them accordingly. I was quite surprised when they sent me a complimentary copy anyway! I'm not sure if this would work for everyone?

criminal_smile

polar_low wrote:

Can they legally (sale of goods act?) charge you for something based simply on their possession of your name and address (plus a ticked box indicated you agreed to their terms and conditions)? I could enter my neighbour’s or friend’s name and address (never would though!), they would be sent the catalogue and a few weeks later receive an invoice for £3.50 all through no fault of their own.

Also what happens if I don't pay the charge? Would they really send the debt collectors around for £3.50?

You have entered into a contract to buy this book, and as such are liable for the debt.

The law which covers this order is The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. They state that you have 7 working days from the day AFTER delivery in which to return the goods and request a refund. Any postage charges back would have to be borne by you though. If the book is sealed, it would also have to be returned sealed (unopened).

Would the debt collectors call? Probably, but they would have added on their fees by that time as well.......could be a bit dearer than £3.50! :eek:

polar_low_2

criminal_smile wrote:

You have entered into a contract to buy this book, and as such are liable for the debt.

The law which covers this order is The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. They state that you have 7 working days from the day AFTER delivery in which to return the goods and request a refund. Any postage charges back would have to be borne by you though. If the book is sealed, it would also have to be returned sealed (unopened).

Would the debt collectors call? Probably, but they would have added on their fees by that time as well.......could be a bit dearer than £3.50! :eek:

Thanks, well I guess I’ll pay up then as it’s not worth the hassle/worry of an unfriendly knock at the door!

Understand about the 7 working days to return the catalogue, however I didn’t know about this charge until about 2 months after they had sent it. There was no information, as far as I can recall, regarding the £3.50 charge accompanying the directory.

But again, what would happen if I fill out a form for someone else without their consent/knowledge? Are they liable for the charge or not, and how can Next prove that they filled the form out?

Whole experience gives a poor impression of Next. Don't think I’ll be shopping from them in the future!

criminal_smile

Not entirely sure they could prove it, unless they log IP adresses of the PC the order is placed from, but that's not infallible either.

cardtart_2

I have had the same thing happen to me.I rang the customer services and explained that when I signed up I was in a Next store and this was done by entering me into a competition where the store assistant never explained about the charge and the lady knocked off the charge and apologised ,so definitely worth a try

SnowyOwl_2

Is it true that when you apply for a Next Directory they set up an account for you, like a credit card, and do a credit history check on you? I only suspect this and have thus avoided ordering a catalogue as I don't want an unnecessary credit check done on me.....I would order in store and pay in store and use the book to browse at home. Does anybody know?

Wig

Snowy owl,

Hi, it says in the T&C's 2nd paragraph that by applying online you are opening an account with them and a credit check will be done. If you just want the catalogue maybe they have them instore for sale?

Polar-low,

Hi, I think they have been up front enough not to be described as dodgy, they have used a red font to try and make it stand out more, however, the red font can be tricky to read and can make it easier to miss, I think their intentions are honorable. They put the 3.50 warning in red on the right hand panel and on the left hand panel at the bottom, and on the first line in the T&C's. So you missed it three times.

Your question of putting other peoples names in, If this happened they could not legally charge the person 3.50, and the person would not be legally required to return the catalogue, but would be legally required to make the catalogue available "for collection" at reasonable times.

The persons credit history will result in a small black mark (3.50)which the person will then demand that Next puts an addendum on the record that the bad credit reference was issued in error due to circumstances. (It cannot be removed AFAIK).

But I doubt many people would enter someone elses full particulars, including an email address, unless they knew them and had a grudge against them - but this is hardly a revengeful exercise is it? sending them a next catalogue.

If they wanted to get serious, they might check their IP log but that isn't going to tell them much. They might also have a log of your cookie and cookies go by the name of the machine, so if your machines cookies are called "DavidPrice" and your name is David Price" well that's fairly good evidence. They could write to the ISP about your IP No. possibly the ISP may refuse to cooperate unless legally bound to do so, i.e. Next goes to court to get an order on the ISP.
I suggest that you write a wee letter/email saying that you did not see the charge warning, you accept that it is there and are willing to pay, but you would like to ask two questions..

1. Could they please increase the font size of the warning to at least double the size of the surrounding text. Because you have discussed this online and other people say they also missed it.

2. Could they see their way to reducing the charge by 50%.

You might get lucky.

polar_low_2

Wig wrote:

Polar-low,

Hi, I think they have been up front enough not to be described as dodgy, they have used a red font to try and make it stand out more, however, the red font can be tricky to read and can make it easier to miss, I think their intentions are honorable. They put the 3.50 warning in red on the right hand panel and on the left hand panel at the bottom, and on the first line in the T&C's. So you missed it three times.

Hi, yeah I accept I must have been a bit slow to miss their warning three times and will duly pay their £3.50 charge. But for the sake of argument, I interpreted this form:

https://order.next.co.uk/dir-mail.asp

as a request for a catalogue and was not expecting to hunt around the rest of the page or their terms and conditions for possible charges. It is in this respect that I maintain to describe their practices as maybe slightly ‘dodgy’. When you go and pick up a catalogue at Argos, you do not expect to pay for it. You say they have been ‘up-front’ but if they do want to charge you for it, why not be completely honest and ask for payment before they send it to you, not a relatively small unclear warning indicating “we’ll send it to you, open an account and at some unspecified point in the future send you a bill for it.”

Maybe dodgy is too harsh a description, but I would certainly say that they are employing unique and to some extent questionable techniques (especially if you are colour blind for example). The possibility of £3.50 on a persons credit history, as you suggested, seems to indicate how this rule could be completely blown out of proportion, it’s a flippin catalogue not a £10k loan!

Sorry for this rant but their ‘demands’ for £3.50 has miffed me off a bit. They have certainly ensured that I won’t look upon them favourably when doing my clothes shopping in future and it is this general point that is the most important. Is it really worth risking future potential customers and giving a bad impression for the sake of £3.50. I’m just not sure what sense their business strategy is?

Wig

I would have thought a sensible business model for them to use would be to make the 3.50 refundable on your first order. But it's up to them at the end of the day.

The_Biff

My daughter used to get the catalogue & ask for a cheque from me to pay for it. She owed me loads & I would not give her one. This happened many times.
We got the odd reminder but nothing more.
I figure its their policy not to pursue these amounts.