Supplier Withholding Goods

RoyBarry

Hi all, I am hoping you knowledgeable lot will be able to offer me some advice please.


I wanted to get a log burner installed in my fireplace at home. We knew a friend of a friend who installs them for a living so asked him to do it and paid him the money to supply a burner for us. He ordered one from a store and paid for it in full. We have since been waiting for an age for him to fit it and after doing some chasing it transpires that he has yet to receive the burner from his supplier.


It turns out that the supplier is in dispute with my guy and believes he is owed money for a completely unrelated incident. He has therefore chosen to withhold our burner until he is paid this unrelated debt in full. My guy doesn't seem to care and I've got nowhere with him. He seems happy to just walk away from everything. My missus has tried to reason with the bloke in the store and he is refusing to budge an inch.


Is the supplier acting within the law by withholding the goods that I have ultimately paid for? If not, is there any legal action that I can take despite the fact that it wasn't technically me that bought it from him? I'm caught in between the dispute between these two and neither of them will care if nothing else happens which just seems completely unjust to me.


Any advice would be great. thanks.

dalek_karn

Your dispute lies solely with your 'friend of a friend' - the person to whom you paid the money and with whom you have a contract.

RoyBarry

dalek_karn wrote: »

Your dispute lies solely with your 'friend of a friend' - the person to whom you paid the money and with whom you have a contract.

This is my concern as my bloke couldn't give a toss. Even bearing that in mind, is it still legal for the bloke in the shop to withhold the goods? Surely there would be something my bloke could do if I could get him to take his finger out of his a**e? He can't just withhold goods because of an unrelated dispute, surely?

Oakdene

Your 'guy' needs to resolve the issue with the supplier.

dalek_karn

RoyBarry wrote: »

This is my concern as my bloke couldn't give a toss. Even bearing that in mind, is it still legal for the bloke in the shop to withhold the goods? Surely there would be something my bloke could do if I could get him to take his finger out of his a**e? He can't just withhold goods because of an unrelated dispute, surely?

Yes, it is perfectly legal. It is a matter of contract between those two parties.

Your continuing dialog with the end third party isn't helping you here. It is assisting the person you have paid in their efforts to "fob you off".

How did you pay "your bloke".. if it was by card, you can have your bank process a "chargeback" to recover your money on the basis that the goods or services were not delivered.

If it was by cheque, bank transfer or cash, I'm afraid you may have to gain recourse in the small claims court (depending on the amount).

RoyBarry

dalek_karn wrote: »

Yes, it is perfectly legal. It is a matter of contract between those two parties.

Your continuing dialog with the end third party isn't helping you here. It is assisting the person you have paid in their efforts to "fob you off".

How did you pay "your bloke".. if it was by card, you can have your bank process a "chargeback" to recover your money on the basis that the goods or services were not delivered.

If it was by cheque, bank transfer or cash, I'm afraid you may have to gain recourse in the small claims court (depending on the amount).

Thanks for the advice. I'm not in continued dialog with the supplier just to confirm. Beyond one phone call from my missus to discuss it with him we haven't dealt with him at all. And that was only after it became clear that the bloke we employed basically doesn't give a s**t and will happily walk away from everything.


We paid him cash so this is only going to get messy. Hopefully some threats of action will be enough to light a fire under him before we actually have to go all the way down that route. I'm not holding my breath

Oakdene

RoyBarry wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I'm not in continued dialog with the supplier just to confirm. Beyond one phone call from my missus to discuss it with him we haven't dealt with him at all. And that was only after it became clear that the bloke we employed basically doesn't give a s**t and will happily walk away from everything.


We paid him cash so this is only going to get messy. Hopefully some threats of action will be enough to light a fire under him before we actually have to go all the way down that route. I'm not holding my breath

Send a letter before action.

Gavin83

RoyBarry wrote: »

We paid him cash so this is only going to get messy. Hopefully some threats of action will be enough to light a fire under him before we actually have to go all the way down that route. I'm not holding my breath

I'm assuming you got a receipt or at least some evidence of the payment?

RoyBarry

Gavin83 wrote: »

I'm assuming you got a receipt or at least some evidence of the payment?

Yes, I'm covered on that front. He signed a receipt when I gave him the cash. I've also got text messages from him acknowledging the payment and explaining why I haven't got the burner. Whilst he's being a pain in the a**e I don't get the impression that he would go down the route of denying we paid him.

dalek_karn

RoyBarry wrote: »

Yes, I'm covered on that front. He signed a receipt when I gave him the cash. I've also got text messages from him acknowledging the payment and explaining why I haven't got the burner. Whilst he's being a pain in the a**e I don't get the impression that he would go down the route of denying we paid him.

Without trying to read more into this than is there, my concern would be that if he's not able to secure the goods due to a dispute with the supplier - and that's because he is in default with them thanks to not having paid them - or, because they won't give him credit and he's already spent your money (I say this since presumably, he could simply go to another supplier, but has not), this may not be so easy to sort.

I would recommend not speaking to the third party again, send a letter before action indicating clearly when you expect this to be resolved by, and "play hardball" at this stage.

If he's run out of money and is operating on the basis of "he who shouts loudest" then you want to be the one doing that.

RoyBarry

dalek_karn wrote: »

Without trying to read more into this than is there, my concern would be that if he's not able to secure the goods due to a dispute with the supplier - and that's because he is in default with them thanks to not having paid them - or, because they won't give him credit and he's already spent your money (I say this since presumably, he could simply go to another supplier, but has not), this may not be so easy to sort.

I would recommend not speaking to the third party again, send a letter before action indicating clearly when you expect this to be resolved by, and "play hardball" at this stage.

If he's run out of money and is operating on the basis of "he who shouts loudest" then you want to be the one doing that.

Top advice, thank you!