Refund for cancellation of online order

gja

I ordered a bed and mattress online and paid with my debit card in full. I was given a delivery date, but two days before this date, the company informed me there would be a 11-12 delay on delivery. I called them and told them to cancel the order and requested a full refund. They told me I would be refunded in 5-7 working days. Is this normal policy or should I expect an immediate refund? I need the money back in my account to place an order elsewhere. What time frame would my consumer rights give for a refund and what should I do if I don’t receive the refund in the timeframe they have said? I’ve since read online reviews where some customers have waited a long time for refunds and I am now a bit concerned.

DiddyDavies

The legislation (Consumer contracts (information, cancellation and additional charges) regulations) state that a refund must be given without undue delay and at the latest, 14 days from when you advised the retailer of your wish to cancel so 5-7 working days is well within what they are required to do.

mattyprice4004

Card companies can’t refund immediately, the process takes several days. Just how it is unfortunately 

born_again

Strange but true fact.
It takes a retailer as long to enter a credit as it does a refund, they just press a different button. Credits do not require any authorisation by the card provider.
So the question is, just where is the delay. Certainly not the receiving bank as the 1st they know of it is when it hits the account.
Strangely that just leaves retailer or their bank.

IvanOpinion

born_again said:

So the question is, just where is the delay.

My understanding is that delays are basically of our own making.  It takes time for a transaction to work its way through the system and there is a time period during which certain payment methods can be reversed (consumer protection) so basically they have to wait for this to expire before issuing refunds.  If they issued before that time then the consumer could get a refund from the company and reverse the payment and therefore get double refunds (an old trick that used to be played).

Sometimes our rights work for us other times they are less than optimum.