Can I cancel and get a full refund

tortoiseshellcat

We ordered a carpet and some other flooring from Flooring Megastore after speaking to the people in the warehouse - who were very friendly and helpful - they said we could probably have it all delivered and fitted in just over a week or so. Anyway I ordered online, it gave me a choice of delivery dates so I chose Thursday 10th or Friday 11th August. I had an email a couple of days later saying there was a delay and the order wouldn't be delivered until 19th August. A couple of days later I got an email saying that their fitter was booked up and then going to be on holiday until the beginning of September. Basically it looks like it's going to be a while between getting the carpet delivered and getting it fitted. Also I know I cannot take any time off work in September to be around while the carpet gets fitted.
I'm thinking practicality wise this isn't going to really work so thinking of cancelling my order. However in the terms and conditions it says something about taking 25% for restocking fees on boxed items. The boxed items cost about £300. It als mentions restocking fees for the carpet which cost over £450. The terms and conditions are worded in quite a complicated way. I just wondered if anyone has any advice please. At the moment it is only 7 days since my order and I paid by credit card. The goods have not been received yet.
https://flooringmegastore.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

glentoran99

They only have one fitter? Sounds like a bit of a cowboy outfit

tortoiseshellcat

No but only one in our area.

unholyangel

Did you read this part of their T&C's?

i) If you are contracting with us as a consumer, you may cancel a Contract at any time within fourteen working days, after the day after you received our Order Acceptance email (not the Order Acknowledgement) subject to the terms of clauses 5.3 to 5.9 inclusive. In this case, you will receive a full refund of the price paid for the Products in accordance with our refunds policy (set out in clause 10 below) provided that you comply with clauses 5.2 and 6.3.

However worth noting it should state 14 days. Not working days.

Also, have you received both an order acknowledgement & order confirmation? You could also try the tact that in order to be valid acceptance, the terms of the acceptance must exactly match that of the offer. Your offer was to buy carpet & flooring to be delivered on 10th or 11th, they have responded with a date of 19th august, which would be a variation and therefore amounts to a counter offer rather than acceptance and you are free to accept or reject their counter offer.

tortoiseshellcat

Thanks unholy angel I will check my emails from them. I'm concerned about this bit though:
vi) For all boxed items, such as wood flooring, laminate flooring, carpet tiles, luxury vinyl tiles etc, goods can be cancelled & returned, however, the boxes must remain fully intact and must not be damaged. A handling/re stocking charge with manufacturer will apply at 25% the value of your order.
Surely there shouldn't be a restocking charge if they haven't sent it.

dj1471

It's unlawful to charge a restocking fee for returns/cancellations during the cooling off period anyway.

unholyangel

tortoiseshellcat wrote: »

Thanks unholy angel I will check my emails from them. I'm concerned about this bit though:
vi) For all boxed items, such as wood flooring, laminate flooring, carpet tiles, luxury vinyl tiles etc, goods can be cancelled & returned, however, the boxes must remain fully intact and must not be damaged. A handling/re stocking charge with manufacturer will apply at 25% the value of your order.
Surely there shouldn't be a restocking charge if they haven't sent it.

The law is pretty clear - they would only be able to make a deduction from the refund if they informed you of all your rights, the conditions for exercising those rights etc in a durable medium (websites arent durable, email is but again, links to websites sent within an email are not). Your handling would need to be beyond what you would be allowed to do in a shop and that handling would need to diminish the products value (and they could only make a deduction for the diminished value - they can't deduct 25% unless the goods diminished in value by 25%).

However, no point going into that imo. Personally I'd maintain that the terms of the acceptance did not exactly match the terms of the offer therefore, there is no contract - just a counter offer from them which you can accept or reject (and a counter offer also would destroy your original offer).

Any term which would have the effect of making the contract binding on you but allowed them to vary terms would be an unfair term (and legally unenforceable). A contract can't just be legally binding on one party - it needs to be legally binding on both.


But contact them first making them aware you specified 10th or 11th, they've been unable to meet those dates so you'd like a refund and see what they say.

bris

From what I gather, speaking to the warehouse staff etc then it seems they have visited the store, saw what they wanted then ordered online.


If this is the case then its not a distance sale so the 14 days is no longer valid. Was a positive date set? If not then you need to warn them via a "time is of the essence" letter to give them a chance before cancellation.


Perhaps the OP could clarify exactly how they viewed and ordered.

unholyangel

bris wrote: »

From what I gather, speaking to the warehouse staff etc then it seems they have visited the store, saw what they wanted then ordered online.


If this is the case then its not a distance sale so the 14 days is no longer valid. Was a positive date set? If not then you need to warn them via a "time is of the essence" letter to give them a chance before cancellation.


Perhaps the OP could clarify exactly how they viewed and ordered.

Their ordering process gives you the option (its not mandatory) of providing a first date choice and a second date choice if you want your products delivered on a specific date.

Hence my comment above that theres no point going into those details when there doesn't seem to be a contract.

tortoiseshellcat

Thanks for your replies in the terms and conditions is mentions something about time not being of the essence so I guess that gets them out of people cancelling due to the time scales.
We viewed in the shop and the store emailed us what we would need to order e.g. Which underlay etc we then ordered online. The people in the store were really helpful it's just annoying there is a delay on the goods from the date I specified on ordering. Also annoying their fitter won't be able to fit as soon as we were given the impression he would.

tortoiseshellcat

This was the reply I received when I asked for clarification that I would receive a full refund if I cancel:
(I don't understand the second paragraph, it doesn't make sense to me.)

Thank you for your email.

You're welcome to cancel however there may be restocking charges incurred depending on what point we're at with receiving your material into our warehouse. For example if you cancel your order on the 6th working day and your material has already been cut/boxed/dispatched etc and is en route to us we'd then need to return it back to the manufacturer where they will incur restocking costs.

It might be worth getting a verbal confirmation from a fitter that they're definitely able to secure you in for a provisional install date based on the lead time for the items to arrive to you before placing the order.

Warm regards,