Bought expensive electronic item from Europe (I'm in the UK), do I have a right to cancel?

_random_user_name

Hi

I bought a pretty expensive electronic item from a Dutch retailer 3 days ago. For good reason I decided 2 days ago that I no longer want the item. Note it has not been shipped, they're not expected to have them in stock until Jan/Feb 2022. So I emailed the retailer requesting to cancel and a refund on my credit card, and now they're ignoring me.

So what rights do I have? I know in the UK we have a 14 day cooling off period for distance sales. I found a similar law for the EU but as we are not part of the EU now does it still apply for EU to UK sales?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Netherlands are in the EU so the right to cancel applies but will be more difficult to enforce. 

As far as I'm aware the law is governing the trader so should apply regardless of where the consumer is but again that comes back to enforcing your rights. 

If expensive means over £100 and it was an actual credit card S75 rights would make the card provided equally liable, whether this extends to your right to cancel I don't know.  

_random_user_name

it is over £100. the reason i want to cancel is that they changed the delivery time from "11-12" days (so i should receive my item by 21st december 21), to "expected in stock jan/feb 22", plus delivery time. so they've moved the goalposts just after my purchase. i can buy in the uk for a very small amount more and get it delivered much earlier. i'm going to phone my cc company now.

user1977

_random_user_name said:

I bought a pretty expensive electronic item from a Dutch retailer 3 days ago. For good reason I decided 2 days ago that I no longer want the item. Note it has not been shipped, they're not expected to have them in stock until Jan/Feb 2022. So I emailed the retailer requesting to cancel and a refund on my credit card, and now they're ignoring me.

It might be reasonable to allow them more than 2 days to reply before deciding that they're "ignoring you".

_random_user_name

yes possibly, its just they were responding within 60 mins beforehand, now i'm asking to cancel its been silence.

Sandtree

_random_user_name said:

it is over £100. the reason i want to cancel is that they changed the delivery time from "11-12" days (so i should receive my item by 21st december 21), to "expected in stock jan/feb 22", plus delivery time. so they've moved the goalposts just after my purchase. i can buy in the uk for a very small amount more and get it delivered much earlier. i'm going to phone my cc company now.

Small amount more after considering you'll have to pay VAT on the import and potentially Duty (given not many electronic items are manufactured in the EU) or did you forget to factor in the taxes you'd pay on importation (assuming its over £135 inc postage etc)?

You need to read the terms and conditions of the website to see what they say their cancellation policy is and which legal jurisdiction applies. Much of the UK consumer protection law stems from the EU and so there is likely to be similar protections assuming their law applies to the sale.

_random_user_name

Well, i'm a bit embarressed now , theyve emailed me saying they've cancelled the transaction.

Thanks for the replies.

ThumbRemote

_random_user_name said:

Well, i'm a bit embarressed now , theyve emailed me saying they've cancelled the transaction.

Thanks for the replies.

No need to be embarrassed, you had a perfectly valid question. Glad its all worked out OK.