Advice please - Zenith Home Improvements

TamTheArab

I had a windows/doors company cold call me at the house, as I was needing a new front door we engaged him and had a follow up visit from a salesman.
The saleman was very nice and charming, and was at the the house for a few house whilst we discussed the various options and we decided to apply for credit through their system.
All appeared to be going well and he then said there was an IT problem and he'd get back to us in the morning.
He then asked us for my debit card details for the fee of £199 so that once everything was sorted IT wise, he could proceed.

The next day, he called to say that the credit check had failed, and we said for him just to cancel the order.

fast-forward 2 weeks and I have now discovered that the fee of £199 has now been taken from my bank account.

upon calling the company, I have been informed that this was nonrefundable as the fee was an "admin charge" for "doing the credit check and entering the contract".

i dispute this assertation.

We were under the impression the £199 for a deposit to secure the deal.

We had told the sales rep at the time that there was a decent possibility that we would be refused credit, and at no point were we told that this fee was nonrefundable.

we knew there was a decent chance of being knocked back for credit, so we would not have gambled £199 had we even known this was a nonrefundable fee.

Please help.

have we been hustled out of almost £200?
are there any options for claiming this money back?

photome

Not sure about how you get the money back

BUT this highlights again
1. dont do business with anyone who knocks on the door

2. always use a reliable/recomended local company not a national

hollydays

Did you sign anything..?..

Ectophile

You can always contact your credit card company and ask them to refund your money.

hollydays

Ectophile wrote: »

You can always contact your credit card company and ask them to refund your money.

It was a debit card

newatc

You could relate this to your bank and claim a Chargeback (effectively a refund)

TamTheArab

So after a few weeks back and forth with the dispute team from my bank, they have informed me that there is nothing that they can do and they've closed the matter at their end :mad:

So what's my next step?

I'll contact Citizens Advice and see what they say, but I think the bank refund would have been my best bet