Deposit Refund...

Hallow1842

Hi,

Just wondered is anyone out there could help clarify a quick point on deposits...

I recently ordered a two wedding rings for £900 and paid a deposit of £200 these were due to be picked up in April 2008. I no longer want the items and have contacted the jewelry and cancelled the order. They are now refusing to refund my deposit... is this right??? I wasn`t told at the time that it was non-refundable...

hjb123

Have you still got a receipt or contract or anything that shows what you paid and any terms or conditions?

Im sure someone else will be along with more knowledge to help you in a while. I think you may have a fight on your hands to get the deposit back, Ive always though that deposits were there for the reason that if the customer changes their mind they lose their deposit. Was the jewellers a big name chain?

System

i think generally deposits are non refunable , did they have any notices about refunds ? usually theres some kind of disclaimer if this is the case i would have thought there was little chance of getting your money back.

egamar

Hmmm .. I'm not sure of the strict legal position, but morally, if no work has been done to create the items in question (I assume this was bespoke work) and the jeweller has suffered no loss, it would be inequitable to refuse a refund "just because".

Could you have a chum go into the same jeweller, have a look for any notices, talk about ordering wedding rings and see if the words 'non refundable' are ever used?

If there are no notices and no use of the word 'non refundable' write to the jeweller making them aware of your findings and ask them for a refund, give them time to respond and if no luck, go to the small claims court (on-line for £35 I think - don't know their url off-hand, sorry).

That however is ONLY if the jeweller has suffered no loss. If they have suffered a loss, well, you are responsible for that and a little bit more for their trouble.

If you ordered recently for 6/7 months time, then a) I wouldn't have thought they'd done anything yet, and b) the price of gold has shot up, so they're sitting on a profit even if they did specially buy the gold for your ring (which, of course, they didn't).

To me this has such a ring of 'Bank penalty charges' about it that the principle that the penalty charge (forfeit of deposit) has to be reasonable would seem likely to apply (but IANAL).

Maybe take a £35 punt on the Small Claims Court and see what happens - even if there are notices and stuff and the actual loss to the jeweller is small....

Hallow1842

Thanks all for your advice, out of the blue they have since phoned me back and offered a £200 Credit Note... Its not the same as having the cash back but better than loosing it.

Thanks again.