Website refuses to refund cancelled preorders paid for upfront with PayPal.

Golgo13

Title says it all really. 

I have circa £250 worth of goods on preorder with a certain website. I used their PayPal option so I can pay for the preorder up front while I have the funds. However, I’ve decided I want to cancel these preorders now,  but the website does state that they will not refund PayPal preorders, they will just give store credit. The owner of the website has posted in numerous Facebook groups that this is because he doesn’t want to be charged the fees by PayPal. But I don’t want store credit as I don’t intend to use said website anymore. 

So my question is, is this a breach of my consumer rights? Can they refuse to give me my money back if they haven’t yet fulfilled my preorder? 

visidigi

Depends on the terms of the cancellation. a Pre-order is an order, so if they say if you pay with paypal and you cancel its refunded via credit then this is not a breach of rights.

I don't blame the retailer for this policy - PayPal's new policy is seriously poor.

theonlywayisup

Where is the company based - as consumer rights will depend on that.  How long ago did you order?

Day_Of_The_Doris

visidigi said:

Depends on the terms of the cancellation. a Pre-order is an order, so if they say if you pay with paypal and you cancel its refunded via credit then this is not a breach of rights.

If it's a UK based website and the order was made by a consumer, then I disagree and it is more than likely a breach of rights under the Consumer Contracts regulations.
These regulations are very specific in that a consumer who cancels IAW the reg's must be refunded by the same method as they paid unless they expressly agree otherwise (a term of a website is not an agreement) and a store credit is not a refund.
If the seller in question doesn't want to pay Paypal fees, they shouldn't choose to accept payment this way in the first place.

Golgo13

theonlywayisup said:

Where is the company based - as consumer rights will depend on that.  How long ago did you order?

It’s a UK company and I have five preorders with the oldest being around two months ago. 

visidigi

Day_Of_The_Doris said:

visidigi said:

Depends on the terms of the cancellation. a Pre-order is an order, so if they say if you pay with paypal and you cancel its refunded via credit then this is not a breach of rights.

If it's a UK based website and the order was made by a consumer, then I disagree and it is more than likely a breach of rights under the Consumer Contracts regulations.
These regulations are very specific in that a consumer who cancels IAW the reg's must be refunded by the same method as they paid unless they expressly agree otherwise (a term of a website is not an agreement) and a store credit is not a refund.
If the seller in question doesn't want to pay Paypal fees, they shouldn't choose to accept payment this way in the first place.

That applies to refundable purchases. The term in effect here is that if you choose to pay by payment process X then the consequences are Y. The OP hasn't yet said if this is the only method by which they can purchase. 

The buyer is choosing to cancel the transaction, not the seller. A very important distinction in this scenario.

Day_Of_The_Doris

visidigi said:

That applies to refundable purchases. The term in effect here is that if you choose to pay by payment process X then the consequences are Y. The OP hasn't yet said if this is the only method by which they can purchase. 

The buyer is choosing to cancel the transaction, not the seller. A very important distinction in this scenario.

But if the buyer is choosing to cancel the transaction and the Consumer contracts right of cancellation is applicable, it doesn't matter about "payment process x" and "consequence y".
The only thing that matters is the buyer's statutory rights, something that can't be overridden by the terms of the contract.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

visidigi said:

Day_Of_The_Doris said:

visidigi said:

Depends on the terms of the cancellation. a Pre-order is an order, so if they say if you pay with paypal and you cancel its refunded via credit then this is not a breach of rights.

If it's a UK based website and the order was made by a consumer, then I disagree and it is more than likely a breach of rights under the Consumer Contracts regulations.
These regulations are very specific in that a consumer who cancels IAW the reg's must be refunded by the same method as they paid unless they expressly agree otherwise (a term of a website is not an agreement) and a store credit is not a refund.
If the seller in question doesn't want to pay Paypal fees, they shouldn't choose to accept payment this way in the first place.

That applies to refundable purchases. The term in effect here is that if you choose to pay by payment process X then the consequences are Y. The OP hasn't yet said if this is the only method by which they can purchase. 

The buyer is choosing to cancel the transaction, not the seller. A very important distinction in this scenario.

Not sure what you mean? 

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/29/made

(2) The cancellation period begins when the contract is entered into and ends in accordance with regulation 30 or 31.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/34/made

(7) The trader must make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as the consumer used for the initial transaction, unless the consumer has expressly agreed otherwise.

Seems pretty clear to me?

Golgo13

visidigi said:

Day_Of_The_Doris said:

visidigi said:

Depends on the terms of the cancellation. a Pre-order is an order, so if they say if you pay with paypal and you cancel its refunded via credit then this is not a breach of rights.

If it's a UK based website and the order was made by a consumer, then I disagree and it is more than likely a breach of rights under the Consumer Contracts regulations.
These regulations are very specific in that a consumer who cancels IAW the reg's must be refunded by the same method as they paid unless they expressly agree otherwise (a term of a website is not an agreement) and a store credit is not a refund.
If the seller in question doesn't want to pay Paypal fees, they shouldn't choose to accept payment this way in the first place.

That applies to refundable purchases. The term in effect here is that if you choose to pay by payment process X then the consequences are Y. The OP hasn't yet said if this is the only method by which they can purchase. 

The buyer is choosing to cancel the transaction, not the seller. A very important distinction in this scenario.

Just for clarity then the site offers preorder by credit/debit cards and the funds will be taken when the goods are despatched, or by PayPal where the funds are taken when you place the preorder. 

When you are preordering something that isn’t due until 2021, it’s safer (in my opinion) to pay up front when you have the funds available than to risk not having the money when the item releases. 

theonlywayisup

Assuming the purchase is covered by the Buyer Protection Programme, why not just open a dispute on Paypal?

bris

theonlywayisup said:

Assuming the purchase is covered by the Buyer Protection Programme, why not just open a dispute on Paypal?

Because there is nothing to dispute with Paypal. The seller has done nothing wrong as far as Paypal is concerned.  The goods aren't missing or snad, the seller isn't a con man it's a legit business deal that would be honoured.

The OP's rights lie with the CCR's but Paypal are not involved in this.