Restaurant fresh meal kit not delivered - what are my rights for a refund?

Basilboodie

We ordered a fresh meal kit (containing seafood as well as steak) from a restaurant, Haar at Home, to be delivered on the 23rd December. On the 23rd their was no tracking update for me from the courier APC. There was a general message on their main site that since 20th they had been unable to guarantee next day delivery, and there was no further info I could track. Someone from Haar called me and asked if I had heard from the courier as they had not. She said they would continue to try to contact them and let me know an ETA, but if it was the following day then the food would be safe due to it's packaging etc. I wasn't happy about this at all but seemed to have no option. I had no further information from them on the 23rd at all.

At 9am on 24th I contacted her to ask about it. She said she was just about to start calling them again, but the food would be fine when it arrived as it was tested in the packaging for 48 hours. I pointed out the 48 hours would be up in 3 hours time, at which point she told me that the courier did not always put the right time of receiving it on their site, and she could guarantee it was packed and sent later than that on the 22nd - very strange. Anyway, I was promised delivery that day, and that I would be contacted with an ETA. Since then I have heard nothing at all. When i did get a bit specific with my questions she did actually say that they were not responsible once the package had reached the courier.

I gave them a couple of days to see if they would rectify it all, then emailed them requesting a refund, and I have still heard nothing. I appreciate there hasn't been a week's worth of working days since then, but they have been advertising to send food out continuously during that time (ie, working), and I would have expected them to contact me regardless to rectify the situation. I have no idea where I go from here to get my money back. All i can really find is that they have a duty to keep me informed as to the delivery time, but can't find anything that tells me what my rights are in terms of a refund when this sort of thing is not delivered. Any advice or insight would be appreciated, thank you.

visidigi

If the courier didn't deliver that's still up to to Haar to deal with - your order hasn't arrived in time and they will need to refund you.

How did you pay? How much was the order?

TELLIT01

Your contract is with the supplier, not with the courier.  You are entitled to a full refund and it is then up to the supplier to try to recover any losses from the courier.

Basilboodie

visidigi said:

If the courier didn't deliver that's still up to to Haar to deal with - your order hasn't arrived in time and they will need to refund you.

How did you pay? How much was the order?

Paid by debit card, and it was about £90.

Thank you. I guessed the contract was with Haar, but I just do not know how to get them to deal with it. I looked at their handful of reviews on Trip Advisor and a similar thing seems to have happened to someone else earlier in the year. I guess i will just have to start bombarding them with emails and calling them with a with held number to actually get someone to take some responsibility. It is certainly not a way to build customer trust.

visidigi

Dont bombard them. Formulate structured conversation with them, on email initially, move to an actual LBA Letter Before Action and then money claim online if it gets that far.

You need an audit trail and you need to keep your cool. It will work out in the end I'm sure, hopefully before the latter is needed. They need to be give a little bit of time to take it up with the courier - but ultimately that shouldn't get in the way of your refund too much as that's their issue to solve, but they don't want/won't want to refund until they have proved its a courier error, not customer error (like the customer was out, asked for a safe place release etc).

Basilboodie

visidigi said:

Dont bombard them. Formulate structured conversation with them, on email initially, move to an actual LBA Letter Before Action and then money claim online if it gets that far.

You need an audit trail and you need to keep your cool. It will work out in the end I'm sure, hopefully before the latter is needed. They need to be give a little bit of time to take it up with the courier - but ultimately that shouldn't get in the way of your refund too much as that's their issue to solve, but they don't want/won't want to refund until they have proved its a courier error, not customer error (like the customer was out, asked for a safe place release etc).

Thanks, great advice. I am wondering what you mean by "the customer asked for a safe release". Does the fact that there is a "if not in please leave here" make a difference?

I ask because in the phone call on the 24th where she was insistent that it would arrive that second day (and was obviously tired of my concern) I said that one of my concerns was that someone had to stay in all day for another day waiting for its arrival. The email on despatch had said that we had to be there to receive it as it is food (absolutely fine with that). She said it was ok, the courier would just leave it with a neighbour. When i said we had none, she pressed to ask for a safe place to leave it, which I told her after a few tries, but  we did not leave the house at all that day either SO i knew it would not need to be used. It struck me as wrong that she was wanting to know that info when it was a condition of delivery that someone be in to receive it. 

SiliconChip

visidigi said:

Dont bombard them. Formulate structured conversation with them, on email initially, move to an actual LBA Letter Before Action and then money claim online if it gets that far.

You've missed out the Chargeback step, which should happen before sending an LBA and from what has been described should be successful.

Manxman_in_exile

@Basilboodie

Go back to Haar at Home and quote to them s28 and s29 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.  s28 says that if there is an agreed time or period for delivery then the trader must deliver "without undue delay".  If the trader does not do so, you can treat the contract as at an end and get your money back.  s29 says that goods remain at the seller's risk until they come into your physical possession or are delivered to someone you have nominated.  This means it's the seller's problem to sort out with the courier.  If the goods aren't delivered you can get your money back.

Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)

If they don't budge after you've told* them that, they might crumble after a Letter Before Action.  Whether you are expected to try a chargeback before doing that, I don't know.  (I'm not sure there is anything in law that requires you to do so.  If they are in breach of the legislation I think you are entitled to just go ahead and send an LBA threatening to sue them if they don't refund.  But no harm in asking your bank for a chargeback).


*email them with the above link to the legislation.  I think it's harder to ignore a link to legislation you've sent them.  Follow up with a 'phone call too if you like.

[Edit: to clarify, I would tell Haar that s28(6)(b) and s28(9) of the Act apply:

(6)If the circumstances are that—

...

(b)delivery of the goods at the agreed time or within the agreed period is essential taking into account all the relevant circumstances at the time the contract was entered into, or

...

then the consumer may treat the contract as at an end.

...

(9)If the consumer treats the contract as at an end under subsection (6) or (8), the trader must without undue delay reimburse all payments made under the contract.  

I would suggest that regarding the delivery of perishable food - including seafood - just prior to Christmas, that "delivery at an agreed time or within the agreed period is essential taking into account all the relevant circumstances... " ]

SiliconChip

Manxman_in_exile said:

If they don't budge after you've told* them that, they might crumble after a Letter Before Action.  Whether you are expected to try a chargeback before doing that, I don't know.  (I'm not sure there is anything in law that requires you to do so.  If they are in breach of the legislation I think you are entitled to just go ahead and send an LBA threatening to sue them if they don't refund.  But no harm in asking your bank for a chargeback).

I'm sure there is no expectation of doing a Chargeback, but why wouldn't you? It seems a far more straightforward way of getting money back than jumping straight into the legal route, which is likely to take far longer and will require fees to be paid and added to the claim if it goes beyond the LBA step.

Manxman_in_exile

As I understand it, chargeback is not a legal right that a consumer can enforce.  It's based on an agreement between Visa and Mastercard that allows card issuers to make refunds to cardholders from trader's funds rather than from their (the card issuers) own money - as happens with a s75 statutory claim.  Thus it is always advantageous to a card issuer to pursue a chargeback rather than a s75 claim - even when a s75 claim is more appropriate and is more beneficial for the cardholder

The problems I have with chargebacks are (1) that their rules are rather idiosyncratic (eg you can't make a claim for non-delivery so long as a purchase has been delivered to ANY address - even the wrong address!!!) and (2) a successful chargeback, unlike a s75 claim because a chargeback is not a legal right, does not give a consumer any legal protection against later being sued by an aggrieved merchant.  See here for an example:  Credit card company refunded under s75, now the retailer is wanting me to pay them back - Page 6 — MoneySavingExpert Forum  (NB - that thread title is misleading, it was a chargeback not a s75 claim.  The OP thought it was a s75 claim but the bank treated it as a chargeback)

In this case, the transaction falls below the s75 threshhold so the OP can only either (1) threaten to sue or (2) try a chargeback.  I'm not telling the OP NOT to make a chargeback claim, I'm simply pointing out that I don't think they are required by law to do so before suing.  Yes - a chargeback might be, and probably will be, quicker than actually suing, but it might not be quicker than sending a well-argued LBA supported by links to the relevant legislation.  And a "successful" chargeback is not always the end of the matter any way.

Perhaps I'm just not a fan of chargebacks...