Goods not in stock, refund rights.

kdband

I ordered a new ride-on lawnmower from an online retailer, delivery time was listed as being 2-3 days.
After 3 days and hearing nothing at all, I rang them to be informed that the model I’d ordered wasn’t in stock. After several more phone calls over the next few days, I was told that they expected them back in stock within 7-10 days. I was offered a refund but decided to wait.
10 days later, still no news, I rang again. This time I was informed that there was ‘still’ no ETA for when it would be back in stock.
At this point I requested my money back. The following day I rang again, I was given apologies, but my refund had not yet been processed, I was assured it would be handled that day and would receive an email confirmation. That was last Friday, yesterday I rang them again (I waited until after the bank holiday), and got even bigger apologies, but it still hadn’t been processed, in fact it appeared that the previous person I’d spoken to hadn’t actually done anything.
Yesterday was 3 weeks since I placed the order.
I’ve already received the credit card bill and it’s due for payment next week.
I don’t want to pay for goods that I haven’t yet received.
I don’t believe the company are deliberately holding onto my money, I just think they are incompetent.
Before I ring them again today, I’d like to understand what my rights are, so that I can hopefully put some pressure on get them to take this a little more seriously.

Thanks in advance.

Kevin.

neilmcl

They have 14 days to refund you from the date of cancellation.

kdband

Oh, that's really not what I was hoping to hear.

Does the the fact that they took my money for goods that they never had have any bearing on the matter? They effectively strung me along for 2 weeks before I lost my patience. The only reason I didn't cancel earlier is because they led me to believe that it would be 7-10 days, then 10 days later they have no idea how long it will be.

Even now, they are still offering the same model for sale via their website, claiming a 2-3 day delivery.

If I have no legal way of forcing them to speed things up, what about other ways of pressuring them? e.g. do I have a case for reporting them to trading standards? Should I initiate a claim through my credit card provider? Or do I really have to wait until the 14 days are up?

Aylesbury_Duck

You can't force them to refund before the 14 day deadline. There's no case to involve TS, they haven't done anything wrong beyond being tardy and disorganised.

kdband

OK, so I can't force them, but if there's anything I can do to encourage them to be quicker, then it has to be worth a try. Otherwise I'm going to have to pay the credit card bill for something I never received. Even then, when they do finally refund, they will put the money back on to the card even though that bill would have been settled by then.

Regarding Trading Standards, would they not be interested in the fact that they are still offering 2-3 day delivery for something they know is not in stock and have no idea when it will be? Perhaps the threat of involving TS, might persuade them to get me out of their hair?

BTW, thanks for the answers so far, even though I was hoping for a different response.

Aylesbury_Duck

By my calculation you are now 8 days on from cancellation? So they have another 6 days to refund you. You need cooperation rather than confrontation because if you start suggesting TS they may just dig their heels in and leave it another 6 days.

Have you told them that your CC bill is due to be paid? Give them a bit of a sob story and try and persuade them to process the refund immediately.

shaun_from_Africa

It might be worth contacting your credit card company and explaining what has happened and ask them if they can put the payment for the lawnmower on hold.
They may well agree to this.

kdband

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

By my calculation you are now 8 days on from cancellation? So they have another 6 days to refund you. You need cooperation rather than confrontation because if you start suggesting TS they may just dig their heels in and leave it another 6 days.

Have you told them that your CC bill is due to be paid? Give them a bit of a sob story and try and persuade them to process the refund immediately.

Thanks for the advice. I have been frustratingly non-confrontational upto now, but it is getting harder to keep things cordial hence the reason for asking this question here before I call them again.

I first requested cancellation on 24th May, but as I said, they acknowledged but apparently ignored that request until I rang again the following day. As for the 14 days, that would depend whether we are talking calendar days, or working days. 14 calendar days takes me to 7th June which is only the day before my card company expect payment. If it's working days, then they potentially have an extra week.

I will call them again later today and explain the situation regarding credit card bill.

Aylesbury_Duck

It's calendar days, so they must refund you by 7th June.

kdband

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on this.

I called the company in question again this morning and spoke to someone in their customer services team. She was very apologetic and using phrases like "it's disgraceful that you've had to wait so long".

So finally it seems I'm getting some traction on this. The order has now been cancelled in 'my account', I've received an email for a credit memo and been assured the payment will be in my account within 3-5 days, possibly sooner as I paid with credit card.

Throughout this process I've tried to treat the people answering the phone with respect and received sympathy and respect in return. It's the people in the back office who were not doing their jobs properly. Although I've had to be persistent, the phrase that Aylesbury Duck provided above : " You need cooperation rather than confrontation ", is one worth keeping in mind for anyone else who finds themselves in similar circumstances.

Thanks again.