Help/advice with Shopify, Section 75 Claim and an unresponsive merchant

Delta_Gamma

Hello,
I made a purchase on a website for a 35mm film camera on 26/04/2020 using my credit card for £215.00 - payment was cleared by 28/04/2020 and the shipping policy of this merchant is dispatch orders within 2 working days of ordering. I received no dispatch confirmation by 01/05/2020, so attempted by email to ask the merchant the status of my order, but I received no reply.

I called the merchant up on 01/05/2020 after managing to find a mobile number on the website and asked him - I was told, in a distant and unconcerning tone, it had already been dispatched earlier that day and it would arrive within the next 3-5 working days (so now the merchant has set a time frame for delivery). I 'vaguely' heard someone in the background mumble something along the lines of "block him so he can't contact us again" - but as the call wasn't recorded, that isn't really evidence.

Yesterday, 12/05/2020, I sent another email to the merchant saying that my item has not arrived and that this contract between him and I is now time essential, as advised by CAB, and that another 7 working days (by Thursday 21 May 2020) will be given to deliver my order. Failure to deliver will terminate the contract between us and a full refund without penalties is to be given, and if no refund is given then I will claim under Section 75 via my Bank. Also, under the Distance Selling Regulations, the merchant has 30 days to fulfil the order and remains liable until the item is delivered, but that doesn't really help me if I the merchant isn't being responsive.

But here is the issue - I think that my claim under section 75 will be invalid because the merchant uses Shopify, as it shows up on my credit card statement as "SP* [merchant name]", and there is not direct link between me, the credit card company and the merchant. So that means I will likely need another way of getting my money back. There is no proper postal address for the merchant, just a town and a postcode so I can't go to a small claims court as I need the full name and full address to serve notice to. 

I would really appreciate some help/advice because clearly this merchant doesn't want to play ball and my options of getting my money back is narrowing down to none. In hindsight, I should have gone with eBay but I didn't... at least with eBay they are responsive when contacted; lesson learned there.

digalumps

Do shopify have any protection policy? I have never used them so don't know the answer to the question but I'd be surprised if there is no no protection in place?

Failing that you could try your credit card even as you say there is not a direct relationship you might get lucky. Go for a chargeback for goods not supplied

Delta_Gamma

digalumps said:

Do shopify have any protection policy? I have never used them so don't know the answer to the question but I'd be surprised if there is no no protection in place?

Failing that you could try your credit card even as you say there is not a direct relationship you might get lucky. Go for a chargeback for goods not supplied

Funny you should mention the protection policy - I looked that up after posting. They have a “contact us If you haven’t received your goods after 30 days” and I suspect that will be some sort of chargeback... ironically, 30 days from placing the order lands on 26/05/2020 and my deadline is 21/05/2020, so I might wait a little longer and try shopify first before anything else. It’s just infuriating that some people don’t like to play by the rules.

digalumps

Yes I would definitely go through shopify claims first - it sounds very straightforward i.e. you haven't received your goods

 hopefully they will refund you

Delta_Gamma

digalumps said:

Yes I would definitely go through shopify claims first - it sounds very straightforward i.e. you haven't received your goods

 hopefully they will refund you

Update - having decided to wait until 30-days had lapsed under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, my item hasn’t arrived and I decided to contact Shopify This morning.
After a few hours, I got a reply with words to the effect saying, “we don’t offer refunds, we don’t meddle in merchants business, contact your bank”.

So, I’ve posted off a claim under Section 75, but after seeing Martin Lewis on TV a few nights ago, even if the bank rejects my claim, going to the Financial Ombudsman will apparently cost the bank more than if they honoured my claim... so even though it’s taking a long time get my money back, I’m not too disheartened about it; at the moment - it could all change between now and then. 

jonesMUFCforever

I hope you did not specify S75 (and I hope they ignored you) - this is a simple chargeback for goods not received.

Delta_Gamma

jonesMUFCforever said:

I hope you did not specify S75 (and I hope they ignored you) - this is a simple chargeback for goods not received.

Even if I did mention it, why would it matter and why do you hope they ignored me? I paid on credit card over £100 as I said in my OP so I am able to claim under S75. Shopify have clearly stated they won’t issue refunds. The retailer has failed to deliver within 30-days under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Either way, I will do whatever I can to get my money back from this retailer; I’m not the only buyer who has been treated in this manner by this retailer as it seems. 

jonesMUFCforever

A little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing as the proverb goes.
S 75 may take months - the card lender will ask for the other side'story and weigh up on the balance of probability who is right. To us here it is obvious you will win but a chargeback would have been credited back almost immediately.

born_again

Delta_Gamma said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

I hope you did not specify S75 (and I hope they ignored you) - this is a simple chargeback for goods not received.

Even if I did mention it, why would it matter and why do you hope they ignored me? I paid on credit card over £100 as I said in my OP so I am able to claim under S75. Shopify have clearly stated they won’t issue refunds. The retailer has failed to deliver within 30-days under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Either way, I will do whatever I can to get my money back from this retailer; I’m not the only buyer who has been treated in this manner by this retailer as it seems. 

Who is the retailer?

Always better to ring than send a letter. As the way most banks work. Mail is received, then sent to scanning. Then loaded onto system. Then if lucky put in the right departments queue to be worked. Even if it is done right, you can be looking at a week, never mind how long it will then take for someone to get round to looking at it.

S75 costs the card provider. These can take months to be resolved. Especially at the moment
Add if you you used a 3rd party, you may not even be covered. No debtor/creditor link..
Consumer Rights 2015 has nothing to do with your card provider. That is YOUR legal right to take the retailer to court. But as this sounds like a non UK company.
Chargeback gets claimed back from the retailer. Will not take anywhere near as long to get resolved.
Hopefully your card provider will just do a chargeback

Delta_Gamma

jonesMUFCforever said:

A little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing as the proverb goes.
S 75 may take months - the card lender will ask for the other side'story and weigh up on the balance of probability who is right. To us here it is obvious you will win but a chargeback would have been credited back almost immediately.

A little bit of knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but it is not half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

born_again said:

Delta_Gamma said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

I hope you did not specify S75 (and I hope they ignored you) - this is a simple chargeback for goods not received.

Even if I did mention it, why would it matter and why do you hope they ignored me? I paid on credit card over £100 as I said in my OP so I am able to claim under S75. Shopify have clearly stated they won’t issue refunds. The retailer has failed to deliver within 30-days under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Either way, I will do whatever I can to get my money back from this retailer; I’m not the only buyer who has been treated in this manner by this retailer as it seems. 

Who is the retailer?

Always better to ring than send a letter. As the way most banks work. Mail is received, then sent to scanning. Then loaded onto system. Then if lucky put in the right departments queue to be worked. Even if it is done right, you can be looking at a week, never mind how long it will then take for someone to get round to looking at it.

S75 costs the card provider. These can take months to be resolved. Especially at the moment
Add if you you used a 3rd party, you may not even be covered. No debtor/creditor link..
Consumer Rights 2015 has nothing to do with your card provider. That is YOUR legal right to take the retailer to court. But as this sounds like a non UK company.
Chargeback gets claimed back from the retailer. Will not take anywhere near as long to get resolved.
Hopefully your card provider will just do a chargeback

I won't name the retailer on here - I do not name and shame them.

I did ring the bank and asked on how to get my money back due to the retailer failing to deliver my item within the default 30-day period, they have sent me a "claims form" (it doesn't say chargeback or S75 claim) and asked for evidence - which I have collected (everything form the order to my emails to them) and sent back next day guaranteed delivery; I have not told them anything about wanting to do a S75 claim. I was told that the bank would make a decision under which scheme would be best to claim the money back. Given how much was paid and the payment method used, my view is that it will likely be S75, but that is up to the bank.

I never said anything about the Consumer Rights Act having anything to do with my card provider - they are two separate things. Consumer Rights acts lists out my legal rights as a consumer, one of which states that if my item is not delivered within the default 30-day period then I am entitled to a refund. S75 is listed under the Consumer Credit Act which details how I can get my money back if I paid on credit between £100 and £30,000 and the item is faulty, the company has gone into admin etc.

As I said in earlier posts, there is no full postal address on the retailers site so I cannot go to a small claims court. The retailer is apparently based in the UK as they have a postcode that I found in their T&Cs hidden away on their website, but that is it.

The bank has eight weeks to reply to my claim, if I haven't heard by then, I can then take my claim straight to the FOS without the need for a deadlock letter (according to Which?).

I know this will take time and I am a patient person, companies are quick to take money away but make it difficult to get it back. But as I said, I will do whatever I can to get my money back.

Life__Goes__On

Delta_Gamma said:

The bank has eight weeks to reply to my claim, if I haven't heard by then, I can then take my claim straight to the FOS without the need for a deadlock letter (according to Which?).

There is no set time on a claim,  the 8 weeks start if you make a complaint.