Help, Barclaycard refusing to assist us in Claim

RhysG1995

Hi,
I need some help regarding an ongoing issue with Barclaycard and Bensons For Beds. I originally asked for help last week on the forums.

I have copied the exact post from last week:

13th Feb 19 at 11:43 AM
#1
Good morning,
I am seeking some advice regarding a mattress I purchased for £500 from Bensons For Beds recently. The mattress arrived and when unpacked shows significant signs of the springs rusting. Further to this the fibres are all loose where they have not been finished properly. Naturally I contacted Bensons as this is not acceptable on a brand new product. The shop farmed me off and said to call customer services.

I contacted customer services who asked for evidence of the damage to the mattress which I provided. I sent them photos of the mattress showing all the defects I had found via email. Fast forward 2 weeks and they hadn't contacted us so I called them and waited 25 minutes to be told they can't assist me with this until they have checked the email.

At this point I contacted Barclaycard as I paid on the credit card and asked them to deal with it as it is unacceptable that a brand new mattress should already be soiled. Initially Barclaycard have been happy to take on the claim under S75. Since then Bensons have got in contact (presumably as Barclaycard have contacted them) and offered us a full refund. We have naturally agreed to this and said they can collect the mattress and we will take the refund and be done with the matter.

Since then Bensons have totally ghosted us again and have failed to make contact regarding the collection of the mattress and the owed refund.

Barclaycard have then contacted us and they are now saying that they don't think there is sufficient evidence for the claim (despite indisputable photographic evidence) and have said we can try a chargeback but this might be rejected and disputed by the retailer.

What are my options now? Any advice greatly appreciated.


New post:
I followed the advice offered to me on the forum and asked Barclaycard to do the charge-back, they said they are now refusing saying that we need to contact Bensons to collect the damaged mattress. We have already emailed Bensons twice and called them twice about collecting the mattress. On the phone calls they said they would have to figure out when it can be collected and call us back because apparently this can't be done. Surprise, surprise they haven't bothered to contact us nor have they responded to the emails which were sent 15 days ago.

Barclaycard are also claiming Visa are blocking them from refunding the money to us, whatever that is supposed to mean. I am at a loss of what to do. Barclaycard and Bensons are playing the blame game. Bensons just completely ignore you and Barclaycard move the goalposts every time you call them. Barclaycard keep saying we have to keep trying Bensons who never respond. Aren't they jointly responsible as it was paid on a credit card and it was £479.

I need some advice about proceeding. I am thinking we should call and make a complaint. Any advice greatly appreciated. This is stressing my mum out as her mother has just died and neither company is interested in helping.

Also where do I stand legally, we have been delivered new goods which were not as advertised.

DCFC79

At what point did you notice the issues ?
Im hoping it would be when it was delivered and when the delivery crew were still present ?


Could have rejected it and they take it back.


Anyways your contract is with the retailer, have you tried contacting them via twitter ? Id sent them an email the other week and after 3 or 4 days no reply so sent them a tweet and they replied.


If you go via the complaint route send a letter, briefly detailing the issue and state what or how you would like it resolved.


The card provider should be the next port of call if the retailer doesn't play ball.


You you could have just kept it to the same thread.

RhysG1995

I noticed the issues the day it was delivered and called them immediately to which they said they would need proof the mattress was damaged before they could do anything. We sent them an email showing all the damage.

Regarding contacting them on twitter. I have tried to contact them on twitter and facebook and they never respond. They just ghost you.

Other companies I have contacted through social media usually respond immediately.

Regarding a complaint, we have already tried to raise a complaint via letter, telephone and email and Bensons just ignore us every time.

This is why I was thinking complaining to Barclaycard would be the only option because Bensons will never respond. They are the most useless company in existence.

18cc

You are entitled to a section 75 refund as goods are not as described ie not new

you need to call back the card and say you want a refund and if they won't give you one then open a complaint

make sure you tell them it is a complaint. Tell them you have received unsatisfactory goods and the retailer is not responding. Keep it simple. give them some time to reply.

meer53

It's strange that Barclaycard are saying there isn't enough evidence ? Maybe their opinion of "indisputable" is different to yours ?

As you've been offered a full refund, this is the route you should pursue as a chargeback would fail. Make a complaint in writing to Bensons.

Nebulous2

One option is to go to small claims court. Letter Before Action then file a claim. I had a similar situation with Currys and Nationwide credit card.

Neither company was any help so I moved it on quite quickly. Not for the fainthearted but it produced results.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70914471#Comment_70914471

RhysG1995

Thanks to all for the replies.

Terry_Towelling

Apologies in advance for the length of this post. Barclaycard do have recourse to the Chargeback mechanism if you had defective merchandise delivered.

Sadly, it isn't quite so simple as that though. It is a Visa branded card, and the Visa Chargeback rules are quite prescriptive on what you as the customer must do before the Chargeback can be done (at least they were when I worked in cards many years ago).

From memory (and I think this is still true) the onus is firstly on you to engage with the retailer and to return the goods and ask for a replacement or a refund. If your negotiations fail, your card issuer will then be allowed to step in and process a Chargeback for you. They will probably ask you for proof that the goods have been received by the retailer and evidence of the defects.

You may think it unreasonable that you should have to do all the leg-work up front (and at your own risk). However, when the Chargeback right was introduced (some time in the 1990s) the banking sector that looks after the retailer-processing side of things would not agree to approve the new Chargeback rule because their retailers (some very powerful ones) felt it impinged on contractual issues between them and their customer and that the banks should keep their noses out.

Only by agreeing that the Chargeback would not be used unless the goods had been returned and negotiations with the retailer had failed was it possible to get full agreement to a Chargeback right.

Complications for you are that you have the promise of a refund but you still have the goods and Bensons seems to be dragging its heels.

Other Chargeback possibilities might exist - such as 'non-receipt of refund'. If things are still as they were in my day your issuer could make this work if you have a document from Bensons clearly stating their intent to refund (unconditionally) to the card number you have used in the sale. That card number and the amount must both be quoted in the retailer's document.

As for S75 of the CCA, you have the right to claim reparation from both the retailer and the credit card company if you can show that the retailer is in breach of contract. If you can't do that, it is unlikely that Barclaycard will accept any claim under S75 and you'd possibly have to prove your case in court. There are other legal avenues you can take (some described above) and some conferred upon you through the Consumer Rights Act.

As a matter of interest, how can you see rusty springs if they are within the mattress?

societys_child

As a matter of interest, how can you see rusty springs if they are within the mattress?

My thoughts as well, I doubt they are rusty.