Section 75

tds

Update: I sent Creations a Section 75 claim letter and it took them 3 months to respond. They sent someone to inspect the damage to the furniture who said it could not be fixed.  They eventually sent me an offer letter by post offering to deduct the cost of the faulty goods and give me a refund of £233.  I accepted this offer.  However they sent me an email today 3 weeks later to say they had made an error and I now owe them £233 and they will send me a new Final Response letter in the post in 3 to 5 days. Are they allowed to do this? I queried this with them and explained that I had already accepted their offer they basically said if I wasn't happy then I could contact the Ombusman
Can someone clarify if they can change the original offer letter once I have accepted it
Thanks 

liggerz87

To contact the Ombusman you'd have to make an official complaint then wait 8 weeks for creation to try sort it then go Ombusman sorry not much help

Ectophile

You don't have to wait 8 weeks if you have already received their final response.

Manxman_in_exile

s. 75 and furniture?

Do you mean Creation Finance or Creations Furniture?  Or something else?

tds

Creations Finance
My question was: once a section 75 has been accepted and a written offer made and agreed can they retract their offer 3 weeks later and send a different one
Thanks

macman

A S75 can be reversed or amended, usually when the supplier successfully challenges it. Your card provider would have made this clear when you commenced the claim.

Manxman_in_exile

I think under contract law it depends on whether or not they made what is known as a "unilateral mistake" in offering you £233. 

Basically a unilateral mistake would, for example, be one where you should have realised straightaway that their offer must be a mistake.  So if the furniture in question only cost you £180, but they offered you £233, you could be expected to realise that they'd made a mistake.  But if the furniture cost you £233 or more (or if you were reclaiming £233 or more) then it would seem to me to be reasonable for you to accept their offer of £233 at face value and they should not be able to retract it.

So when they offered you £233, did you think that was a fair offer or couldn't you believe your luck?  It'll depend on the facts in each case.

[EDIT:  If they've basically refunded the full price, you no longer own the furniture and it becomes the property of the bank or should be returned to the supplier unless the bank tells you otherwise.  I'm sure this is obvious to you but there is another thread on this board where somebody thinks they are entitled to a refund AND to keep the item in question... ]

Argue it with them that they made you a fair offer and that you accepted it in good faith.  Say that there was nothing to objectively suggest to you at the time that their offer was a mistake, and that they therefore cannot retract it now.  If they don't agree you'll have to complain according to their complaints procedure and if you get nowhere go to the FOS (but I understand they have a massive backlog of complaints against finance companies to deal with).

However, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not 100% certain about this.  If I were you I'd wait to see what other posters advise in this situation.  I'm not sure if special rules apply to s75 claims.

Manxman_in_exile

macman said:

A S75 can be reversed or amended, usually when the supplier successfully challenges it. Your card provider would have made this clear when you commenced the claim.

I didn't think s75 claims could be challenged by a supplier after a card supplier had made a decision?  (That would sort of defeat the purpose of the statutory provision, wouldn't it?)

I thought it was only chargebacks (which are subject to the provider's own T&Cs) that could be challenged and reversed?

Apologies if I've got that wrong... 

sheramber

If they have deducted the cost of the faulty items where did the £233 come from?

Manxman_in_exile

sheramber said:

If they have deducted the cost of the faulty items where did the £233 come from?

Doesn't the OP mean that Creations Finance have deducted the cost of the faulty goods (£233) from the price he originally paid, and have refunded it to him?  eg He originally paid £633.  Goods to the value of £233 were faulty so the finance company refunded £233 to the OP.  (And now they are trying to claim it back from him).

Am I missing something obvious?  It is late...