Bank Charge Back and Supplier now wants broken product back that was discarded

powerful_Rogue

FuzzyDuck1 said:

refund or chargeback you still got your money back. Sorry to say but you have made a big error by disposing of the summerhouse. 

It would have had to have been disposed of either way, the company refused to collect and refund. Was my partner supposed to have left a dangerous item up in his property forever just because the company failed his consumer rights just in case one day they may want it back? Would the supplier have been liable for the damage caused to other peoples property from parts of their product blowing around or if my disabled partner or his young daughter got injured from it would they have been liable for their injuries? This is all the information I need as at this point the supplier don't know that the product has been disposed of and im trying to prepare for a possible legal claim from them so I need to find the legislation that details the rules and regulations surrounding this matter and it is not very easily sought on the internet. Thank you 

The crux of the matter is you can't have a refund and keep the item. How do the company know you have disposed of the item and it's not erected in your garden with the refund in your bank. To absolve yourself of any liablitly there are stages you have to go through before you can dispose of the item, which you didn't do.

You said you took the summerhouse down, you also have a responsability to secure the item.

In the current situation i'm afraid it's not what you wanted to hear. The chargeback will be returned as you no longer have the item. If only you had come on here sooner.

mattyprice4004

You didn't explicitly say you were going to dispose of the item if not collected - unfortunately I think that'll come back on you. 
Legally the company can still chase you when a chargeback has gone through - you can't have the product and a refund, so they're entitled to use the legal system to recoup their costs. 

As much as I have sympathy and detest companies that sell shoddy goods, I think you've left yourself wide open here.

FuzzyDuck1

The crux of the matter is you can't have a refund and keep the item. How do the company know you have disposed of the item and it's not erected in your garden with the refund in your bank. To absolve yourself of any liablitly there are stages you have to go through before you can dispose of the item, which you didn't do.

You said you took the summerhouse down, you also have a responsability to secure the item.

In the current situation i'm afraid it's not what you wanted to hear. The chargeback will be returned as you no longer have the item. If only you had come on here sooner.

We weren't to know earlier otherwise we would have asked for advise sooner. We actually paid someone to disassemble it and dispose of it as my partner and I are physically disabled so couldn't take it down ourselves after paying someone to erect the faulty damaged item in the first place. This is a nightmare. So the company, sell shoddy, not as described goods and refuse to collect and refund and then can leave the customer out of pocket which is against what it says in the consumer act that the customer shouldn't be out of pocket. They were clearly in writing asked mid May to collect and refund and they didn't and we hear nothing and they don't return our calls either to discuss the matter further and all of a sudden now they have charge back claim which they have said they aren't disputing now want the damaged parts back. Something seriously wrong here with the system. There was  no information given surrounding this through the bank,no information on line to clarify this and the customer now left without in fact worse off as they had to pay erection and dismantling fees as they wouldn't get back to us and ignored our request to collect it within 14 days of our last email. It was on day 15 after that correspondence that we contacted the bank.

Spank

You can't expect to keep the money as well as the item (doesn't matter that you disposed of it they can't take it back) & you know than in the middle of this pandemic companies arent delivering/retrieving goods at the same speed as they were before.
I'm sorry but it's gonna cost you.

swingaloo

FuzzyDuck1 said:

No, in our last correspondence to them, we asked them to collect and refund within 14 days and that was over 5 weeks ago now as we contacted the bank when they didn't do this within this time and had no response from them.

But you said in a previous post that you had asked for either a refund, for them to come out and look at it or a partial refund. Did you actually give them notice that you would dispose of the item if they didnt collect by a certain date as you should have done.

You also mentioned that you did the charge back as it was getting close to  days yet you had only had the summer house for  weeks? I also think  you should take issue with whoever built the summer house, if parts were missing or broken why would they try to erect it. You say the roof was not held in place as you didnt have the correct parts so it was inevitable that there was going to be a problem in stormy weather. A quick Google would have told you that you needed to keep the item for collection till you went through the correct process. I fear you have been too hasty in disposing of it.

Supersonos

FuzzyDuck1 said:

refund or chargeback you still got your money back. Sorry to say but you have made a big error by disposing of the summerhouse. 

the company refused to collect 

Did they actually refuse?  Do you have a letter/email where they say they will not collect it even though you asked them to?  That could change things in your favour.

unholyangel

FuzzyDuck1 said:

baza52 said:

tonyhender said:

You won chargeback and you where right to dispose of the summer house.

sorry but that quote is wrong. You cant just throw something away and get a refund. They are entitled to have the product back.
I also think the chargeback will be reversed.

Also, it wasnt a refund we received as the company refused us one. We understood that with a refund you return the item, we offered for the company to collect and refund  but they didn't. This is charge back which works differently to the usual refund process from my understanding, although there is very little infromation on the legalities surrounding a charge back other than the financial process.

The point is that you obtained your money back as you rejected the goods as not conforming the contract. When you reject goods, that means you consider that they are not yours, they belong to the retailer. As such, you have no legal right to dispose of anything belonging to another purely because it is not yours. 

It's covered by Torts (Interference with Goods) act 1977 under uncollected goods. Basically, there is a statutory duty of care when you come into possession of something that belongs to another. You should take reasonable steps to restore it to it's owner. What's reasonable depends entirely on the facts of the case. If you found £100 in a wallet with personal details (bank card or driving licence perhaps) then reasonable steps would likely to be track them down. If you found £100 in the middle of a forest and you didn't come across anyone else then reasonable steps may be reporting it to the local police station - in case the owner is looking for it. 

Finders keepers and you snooze you lose might be catchy phrases but that's all they are - they have no legal backing I'm afraid. Not unless you consider 6 years (time limit for action found on tort or breach of contract) snoozing. 

I'm not saying you haven't taken reasonable steps. Just that disposing of the goods can potentially open a can of worms if the correct procedures aren't followed. And that's legally - chargeback is dependent on the card issuer (visa/mastercard) & whatever policy they chose to have. 

born_again

A chargeback is over and above your legal consumer rights.
So the company has 2 options reject the chargeback (many companies not aware they can do this) Hence why they may now have contacted you.
But if they do not contest the chargeback, then they could take you to court to recover the funds.

You mention that you were close to the 120 days to dispute. As someone else mentioned given all the issues with broken & missing parts. Why or how was it actually built in the 1st place?

pinkshoes

 We actually paid someone to disassemble it and dispose of it as my partner and I are physically disabled so couldn't take it down ourselves after paying someone to erect the faulty damaged item in the first place. 

Well your first port of call is to contact the person who you paid to take it down and get rid of it.

What did they do with it??? Can they get it back? Can they write a statement saying that the structure was unsafe and there was no way to secure it safely?

452

pinkshoes said:

 We actually paid someone to disassemble it and dispose of it as my partner and I are physically disabled so couldn't take it down ourselves after paying someone to erect the faulty damaged item in the first place. 

Well your first port of call is to contact the person who you paid to take it down and get rid of it.

What did they do with it??? Can they get it back? Can they write a statement saying that the structure was unsafe and there was no way to secure it safely?

That statement wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on. Of course it could have been made safe and secure it's only a shed.