Entitled to deposit back?

SGwilli

I was hoping you may be able to offer some advice.

I recently paid a ‘non refundable’ £600 deposit via bank transfer, to a business account for 2 kittens.  

Before paying the seller I explained how nervous I was about paying the deposit they reassured me and sent me various documents to prove they were legitimate. They are listed at companies house. I also did a video call to see the Kittens existed.  So I paid the deposit and an invoice was sent to me, although my name is incorrect on the invoice.

After the deposit was paid, the person contacted me the very next day asking for more money, as they had a crisis.  I said a stern no as I had done what was required of me.  There crisis had nothing to do with my transaction for a kitten.  After some thought, I asked they return my money as I felt they broke the trust between us and I had no faith in them.  They refused.  After back and forth, and long story short they agreed to return the deposit as a gesture of good will, once they have found a new buyer.  However, I honestly do not believe there is any intention to return my money and feel they are simply stringing me along.  It’s been 2 weeks, I would have been due to collect the kittens on 31st January.

My questions are:

1). How long should I be expected to wait for the deposit to be returned, not sure what is fair? 

2). If it isn’t returned, could I take legal action at the small claims court?  

My thinking is I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on In court as I paid via bank transfer, and their ‘non refundable deposit’ term.  As no contract was signed surely there is no contract between us, so they can not keep my deposit?  I have the conversation between us in writing via WhatsApp.  

Any advice??

davidmcn

Contracts don't even need to be in writing, never mind signed. If the agreement was that you get the kittens on 31 January, they're not in breach yet (though the whole thing sounds like a con - what's the total you agreed to pay, and why pay such a big deposit?).

Aylesbury_Duck

I suspect you've been conned by one of many, many dubious web-based pet sellers.  The golden rule when buying puppies and kittens is always, always go and visit the home, see the litter's mother, check as much as you can that it's actually the seller's address you're visiting, and so on.  It's too easy to con people with photos, videos and a facebook spiel.

At least you have what seems to be a business account and an address.  Many people don't even have that.

Gavin83

I'll assume for a second it isn't a scam. Ultimately you've agreed to a contract regardless of it being in writing or not and you've now broken that contract. However they aren't necessarily entitled to keep your whole deposit. Essentially they can't benefit from the broken contract but they also aren't expected to be out of pocket either so they should be returning the deposit minus any expenses they've incurred reselling the kittens.

Have you spoken to them recently? I can see why they're holding off of refunding you currently given that they may well not know what their extra costs are yet. You could send them a letter before action and take them to the small claims to recover the money but it is likely to take some time. If they're communicative I'd probably be inclined to give them a bit longer, otherwise I'd send the above LBA. 

SGwilli

They are still communicative, so I’ll at least wait until the date I should have collected the kittens.  Wasn’t sure if I’d be wasting more money by going to a small claims court, if I have no chance of winning.  I’ll look into LBA.  Many thanks for your responses!

donnac2558

You said you agreed to wait until they found a new buyer.   They might not have found new buyers and it took take months?

You go to the small claims and all they have to say is we have not found buyers yet.   Just something to think about.

I do think it is a scam though.

[Deleted User]

I’d say you have lost the money and you’ll have no chance of getting it back. Lesson learnt. 

cymruchris

I hope I'm wrong - but smells like a scam to me - for now if you've agreed to collect the kittens on the 31st of January - that's the best you can do if they don't find a buyer. As much as 'some kittens' exist as you've seen them on a video call - there's nothing to stop them selling them 10 times over (or more) and not actually be based where they said they were. For now best stay on their good side - and see what happens when your 'pickup date' approaches. 

How far away do they live?

davidmcn

SGwilli said:

I recently paid a ‘non refundable’ £600 deposit via bank transfer, to a business account for 2 kittens.  

Before paying the seller I explained how nervous I was about paying the deposit they reassured me and sent me various documents to prove they were legitimate. They are listed at companies house.

How do you know that the people you've been in contact with (and the bank account you sent the money to) are actually connected to the limited company whose details you've seen?

bris

A  possible con but again lets say it's not. In this case the ball is in their court

You agreed to buy 2 kittens and paid a deposit to confirm this., contract created.

You then cancel this contract with an excuse that legally wont hold up. 

You are not entitled to just get your money, they have to mitigate this loss which they say they are prepared to do when the kittens get re sold.

There could still be a cost to you though because it's not that straight forward. Lets say you agree to pay £1200 for the kittens, they now need to sell them for this amount for you to get your whole deposit back, they can still deduct reasonable costs associated with the resale, advertising ect. If after the agreed collection date they are still not sold they can keep trying to sell them and possibly even have to sell them cheaper, this is all part of mitigating your loss and perfectly legal,  you now lose the price reduction from your deposit. So they only get £1000 for them you get £400 less advertising and costs to keep them after 31st January. So as you can see you don't just get to walk away, there are consequences to breaching a contract. 

DiddyDavies

SGwilli said:

Before paying the seller I explained how nervous I was about paying the deposit they reassured me and sent me various documents to prove they were legitimate. They are listed at companies house. 

What is the name of the company concerned?
There is no problem with posting their name on here as company names are not private information and you won't be breaking any laws by sharing the details.