Could I request a chargeback for this?

smulx

Just hoping for a bit of advice as I'm not sure if Halifax would let me do a chargeback for this situation. 

Might be a scenario that not many people are familiar with so I'll try to explain. A US company that arrange private autograph signings advertised that they had arranged a private signing with a certain celebrity. I purchased an autographed picture, but as the signing is happening in the future, the item I purchased doesn't exist yet, so there's no chance they could have sent me anything at this point. A few days later, I found out that they aren't actually holding a private signing, they're just sending all of the items across the country and someone that doesn't normally deal with this type of thing is going to arrange everything. These events, due to the number of items involved, are extremely difficult to manage and if not done right, things get mixed up, people end up not getting what they asked for, the quality of the finished product can end up poor, among other things. Due to this, I wasn't really happy with my purchase and decided I'd rather not go ahead. It had only been a couple of days so I figured I should be able to cancel. I sent an email request and they didn't respond. Also sent a Facebook message and that also went unanswered. I did some digging, and it turns out the company have an awful reputation for their poor communication and poor organisation. Many people were expecting deliveries relating to other signings months ago and there are no updates and no communication at all. Due to this, I definitely don't want to do business with the company as it seems their service is terrible and there's a high chance of having even more issues later. 

I don't know whether I'll be able to do a chargeback though, as it doesn't really fit the normal criteria for this type of thing. I changed my mind about the order, but there's no way I can get a refund as the company just don't respond to their emails or messages. I'm not sure I could claim on the basis of right to cancel, I don't know if that will apply with the company being based in the USA. Their website says the UK is one of the countries with which they do business, so I don't know if they're obligated to abide by our consumer rights laws. 

Hope this makes sense. Any advice would be appreciated. 

kaMelo

The service you paid for hasn't happened yet so you cannot claim not to have received the service you paid for until it's happened and you haven't received the service, if that makes sense. As such I don't see how you could initiate a chargeback yet.
Also you cannot use a chargeback because you simply changed your mind.
I think you need to look into their cancellation and returns policy firstly before exploring other options.

smulx

I know that simply changing my mind wouldn't be sufficient to do a chargeback, but I thought the additional factors might change that. A consumer would normally have a right to cancel period, but the company make it impossible to go down that route. It seems they completely ignore all attempts to communicate with them. Their website doesn't specifically mention cancellations, but says to email them for any order amendments.

[Deleted User]

Chargeback (and indeed, S75) are for where a service hasn't happened yet. Whatever the company's reputation, you still need to give them a chance to provide this service - if you don't get what you paid for or don't get anything, then you would have a case but the bank won't entertain either request based on you having cold feet.