Refusing to pay fully refundable deposit

smokindustbin

Newbie here and I appreciate any advice as to where I stand.

My Son saw a 2003 car for sale for £750 at a car dealership on a well known Web site. It was advertised to come with a 12 month MOT upon sale. I spoke to the salesman several times the same day to get info about the car.

 

We live 280 miles away from the dealership. The garage wasnt prepared to hold the car for us to visit and inspect and wanted a £200 deposit for the privilege. We were not prepared to travel all that way to find it had been sold during our six hour journey there, so agreed to pay a deposit.

 

Before paying the deposit I spoke to the office lady and got her to text me stating it is a "fully refundable deposit", which she did and I still have the evidence, there is other texts about the car from the same mobile number included. Minutes later I transferred the £200 by visa card to the garage named account. 

During the next 12 days the car failed its MOT twice but passed on the 3rd attempt (12th day). At this point we decided not to buy it. Not worrying at that point about the fully refundable deposit, we found another similar priced car somewhere else with an MOT and brought that one instead.

 

On the 12th October 2020 which was 14 days after paying the deposit we went into the Tier system Covid lockdown 2 and so not allowed to travel anyway. I have phoned the garage several times a week, every week since and got no answer, even though the landline number diverts to a mobile. I truly believe my phone number is marked as not to be answered.

 

Guessing the garage is not open due to lockdown 2 and now 3, I e-mailed them last month and finally got a response to look into it, but no admission, offer or payment of my deposit. After weeks of threatening to escalate the matter I e-mailed a Letter Before Action giving 14 days to pay back and got a reply saying “received thank you”. That time has now elapsed.

 

Do you think I have a good case to proceed to Court?

 

bris

Yes.........................

williamgriffin

What was the point in paying a deposit if it was refundable? You surely paid it to hold the car you were going to buy. 

George_Michael

williamgriffin said:

What was the point in paying a deposit if it was refundable? You surely paid it to hold the car you were going to buy. 

Provided that someone in the dealership agreed that the deposit was fully refundable, it doesn't matter what the point in paying it was for. The car wasn't purchased so the OP is entitled to their £200 back.
It's not necessarily a deposit to purchase the car, it could be a deposit to take it off sale whilst a decision is made. Something like this:
Holding Deposit | South East & Midlands | Steven Eagell

Why am I being asked to pay a holding deposit on a used car I’m interested in?

If you spot a vehicle we have for sale that you really want, our Sales Consultants may sometimes offer you the option to take it off sale for a totally refundable, holding deposit. Although the vehicle may still feature on our listed web sites, it is reserved for you and cannot be purchased by another customer, providing you time to make your final decision without any stress.

Do I need to leave a holding deposit?

No you don’t. It is completely optional but it means the vehicle you’re interested in cannot be sold to another customer by any Sales Consultant in any of the eighteen branches in our group, as long as you have a holding deposit on it.

Right, so if I place a holding deposit on the vehicle I am interested in, do I have to buy it from you?

Absolutely not. There is no obligation to purchase any vehicle from us if you leave a deposit. If you are no longer interested in the vehicle, we will simply refund your money.

The holding deposit does not form part of a contract and either party may withdraw from the sale without reason.

smokindustbin, as you stated that you paid the money by Visa card, which was it, a Visa debit or Visa credit?.
You have proof that you were informed that the deposit was refundable so depending on the payment method, you could pursue a chargeback or in the case of a credit card payment, a "Section 75" claim.

smokindustbin

williamgriffin said:

What was the point in paying a deposit if it was refundable?
Maybe you should ask them. As stated above, so they didnt sell the car while we were on route.   
You surely paid it to hold the car you were going to buy. 
Your words not mine. I surely paid a deposit to hold the car I wanted to look at.

Its not right to ask for a deposit to view . . . . . and then try to insinuate its a deposit to buy.

smokindustbin

George_Michael said:
smokindustbin, as you stated that you paid the money by Visa card, which was it, a Visa debit or Visa credit?.

You have proof that you were informed that the deposit was refundable so depending on the payment method, you could pursue a chargeback or in the case of a credit card payment, a "Section 75" claim.

Sorry, it was paid by visa debit bank transfer on my phone.
Thank you for the info in your last post.

williamgriffin

smokindustbin said:

williamgriffin said:

What was the point in paying a deposit if it was refundable?
Maybe you should ask them. As stated above, so they didnt sell the car while we were on route.   
You surely paid it to hold the car you were going to buy. 
Your words not mine. I surely paid a deposit to hold the car I wanted to look at.

Its not right to ask for a deposit to view . . . . . and then try to insinuate its a deposit to buy.

The only time I'd pay a deposit is to buy. 

smokindustbin

Been doing a bit more research.
I consider the only contract I made with these vagabonds was a verbal one to hold my money until saw the car. Nothing signed and no T/Cs. More weight below to my mis-fortune taken from gov.uk site.
.

Contracts that cannot go ahead due to lockdown laws

In some circumstances, due to lockdown laws, a contract cannot go ahead as agreed or at all, and is therefore ‘frustrated’. A contract will be frustrated as a matter of law if, due to no fault of the parties, something happens after the contract was entered into which means it can no longer be performed at all or performance would be radically different to what was agreed.

As a result, the contract comes to an end and, where consumers have paid money in advance for services or goods that they have yet to receive, they will generally be entitled to obtain a refund.

They will also not be required to make further payments.

In particular, for most consumer contracts, the CMA would expect a consumer to be offered a full refund where:

• a business has cancelled a contract without providing any of the promised goods or services
• no goods or services are provided by a business because this is prevented by the lockdown laws
• a consumer is prevented from receiving any goods or services, because, for example, lockdown laws in the UK or abroad have made it illegal to receive or use the goods or services

In most cases, consumers will contact a business to ask for their money back, but there is no requirement for consumers formally to communicate with a business before becoming entitled to a refund.

 

smokindustbin

williamgriffin said:

The only time I'd pay a deposit is to buy. 

Thats your opinion and you are very welcome to it.
I have only paid a deposit to view which was agreed by both parties.

Aylesbury_Duck

Absolutely move to court proceedings. There's little point in sending a LBA and not following through with it.

Bit of advice for your son: travelling 560 miles to buy a banger is crazy.  At that price range there must be a massive choice reasonably locally.  Had he proceeded with the purchase and anything had gone wrong in the early days of ownership, he'd be responsible for the cost of transporting a broken car 280 miles back to the dealer if he wanted them to fix it or refund him.

Nothing wrong with buying bangers, by the way.  I practise bangernomics myself.  Just crazy to go that far to get one, unless it's an absolutely unique model he really wants, of course. 

Elmer_BeFuddled

Aylesbury_Duck Like the bangernomics. done it all my life!